A Thousand Years
by x-psychicfire-x
Summary: "Love me now. Think of me tomorrow. Remember me forever." 'A young medium learns more than she bargained for when she moves to Mystic Falls, Virginia for a fresh start.' Based off the song 'A Thousand Years' by talented singer-songwriter, Christina Perri. Klaus/OC (pairing) Damon/OC (friendship). Other pairings to come. Takes place TVD 2x1 onwards. Possibly entering TO later on.
1. Always and Forever

**A/N: Hey everyone! Thanks for choosing this story to read. I hope that you will enjoy it.**

 **SUMMARY: "Love me now. Think of me tomorrow. Remember me forever." Based off the song _'A Thousand Years'_ by talented singer-songwriter, Christina Perri. 'A young medium learns more than she bargained for when she moves to Mystic Falls, Virginia for a fresh start.' Klaus/OC (pairing) Damon/OC (friendship). Takes place TVD 2x1 onwards. Possibly entering TO later on. **

**Please note that this chapter is an introduction to the rest of the story, and will be referenced to a lot. Please let me know of any inconsistencies so I can go back and correct them. Cheers xx**

 **I have borrowed actress Jenna Coleman as a live model for how I envisioned my OC. Please review with your thoughts, and please no flaming.**

 **I don't own _The Vampire Diaries_ or any of the characters. They belong to J.L. Smith.**

* * *

 **ALWAYS AND FOREVER**

" _I would rather share one lifetime with you than face all the ages of this world alone."  
_ _ **~Arwen to Aragorn (LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring)**_

* * *

' **THE 'NEW' WORLD'  
** **Late 900s.  
** **GR** **ÁINNE'S P.O.V.**

My family came to the new world to avoid the plague wiping out those we loved and cared about. My parents had told me, when I was old enough to understand, that the Mikaelson Family – headed by the proud and aggressive Mikael – were among the wealthiest and respected Viking families from the Kingdom of Norway, all those years before setting sail for the new world.

When the plague first struck, it was the Mikaelson's firstborn who was among the few that first succumbed to the plague. So when stories about a faraway land were told that accommodated beings that were healthy, prosperous and blessed with the gifts of speed and strength, the Mikaelsons and my family were one of the few who didn't hesitate a chance at a new life in strange land. My parents immigrated to the new world with them. They were travelling with their own families, and hadn't met each other yet. And the Mikaelsons - Mikael and his wife, Esther; a hardworking housewife and a powerful witch - had Finnik, who was just a toddler, and a newborn Elijah.

The beings turned out to be a pack of werewolves, and to us, we saw them as our neighbours. The Mikaelsons, my parents and others lived together with them quite harmoniously for the next 20 years. During those years; Niklaus, Kol, Rebekah, Henrik and I were born.

It was little things at first: but I think my suspicions regarding Mikael truly began after Henrik was tragically and horrifically killed by a werewolf during a full moon. We were forbidden to venture out of those caves during those hours when we were supposed to be taking refuge away from the danger. The rage and grief Mikael displayed with Esther, was not likely to be forgotten for a long time by any of us; but none so much as Niklaus, who felt the guilt and remorse strongly.

* * *

On the morning of that terrible tragedy I was visiting Rebekah, my best friend and soon to be sister-in-law. She and I were childhood friends and inseparable, despite our two year age gap between us. I was nineteen; the same age as Kol, whom I was friends with also, but not as close as Rebekah and I were because of her status as the only daughter in the Mikaelson family. We spent most of our time together, helping each other with our chores, or spending our time helping Ayana; our families' friend who was a gifted witch.

Although, not as powerful as Esther.

Rebekah had been examining some necklaces and talismans dangling from ropes in Ayana's window, while I hovered in the background dusting and straightening up Ayana's wares.

"Ahh!" I jumped when Rebekah yelped in pain, and turned to see her rubbing her fingers. She glanced over at Ayana.

"Ayana, you burned me!" Rebekah scowled petulantly, and I rolled my eyes and took a hold of her hand, examining her slightly red fingers.

"It is not too bad. I think that you will live." I teased her, and Rebekah stuck her tongue out at me. Ayana chuckled at us indulgently.

"That is not yours to touch." She scolded Rebekah, gently. I stepped outside to wait for Rebekah, so we could resume our walk together when I heard the sound of running feet.

"Mother!" I glanced towards the scared voice, and felt my smile drop when I saw him: Niklaus; running as fast as his feet could carry him into the village with the limp and bloodied body of Henrik in his arms. My eyes widened in horror and Rebekah glanced up from the necklace she had been examining, and saw my horrified face.

"Gráinne? What's wrong, you look like you've seen a ghost." She stated, frowning with concern. I didn't respond and immediately tore out of the house. Rebekah followed me, and stopped dead in her tracks when she noticed Henrik, all bloodied and lifeless in their brother's arms. "Henrik!" She screamed, and followed.

"Niklaus! What happened!" I demanded urgently as Rebekah and I helped him lower Henrik to the ground. Niklaus was focused entirely on his baby brother.

"I tried to stop him, to tell him that it was dangerous, but he wanted to see the werewolves. I knew that father would be so furious if he found out, so I followed him to bring him back..." Niklaus cut himself off and I already knew what had happened next. Horrified, anguished tears were streaming down his face, and I glanced around desperately for something to help stop the bleeding. Finding nothing, I seized the hem of my dress, and using my teeth tore off lengths of material to use as a makeshift bandage, while both Niklaus and Rebekah watched, both too horrified by their baby brother's condition to help me.

Esther came running up to us, summoned by Niklaus' frantic screaming.

"No, no!" She exclaimed in anguish. Esther turned to the three of us, her eyes wild and desperate. "What happened?" She demanded. Niklaus seemed to wake up from his traumatised state, and gently pulled me away from Henrik. I threw him an incredulous look, before realising that I was trying to give aid to a corpse.

"Oh, please no. Henrik… he's just a child." I whispered, tears starting to form in my eyes. Rebekah pulled me into her arms, and we comforted each other as Niklaus struggled to explain what happened to Esther through his tears.

"The wolves! I am sorry, I'm so sorry!" He pleaded forgiveness from his mother, who immediately turned to Ayana, who had followed both Rebekah and I from her hut. She was staring at Henrik's body with sad, grave eyes.

"We must save him. Please, there must be a way!" She begged, with hopeful eyes. But Ayana shook her head.

"The spirits will not give us a way, Esther. Your boy is gone." She replied, regretfully. Esther's face crumbled into deep despair.

"No! NO!" She sobbed, and clutches Henrik's body, and we could nothing but just mourn Henrik. I couldn't believe it. Henrik was dead? This wasn't real, this couldn't possibly be real. It was just some cruel dream my brain had concocted for me due to a bad night's sleep. I was going to close my eyes, wake up, and find myself lying in my bedroom and be ready to face the day where Henrik would be alive and I wouldn't have to see the grief-stricken expressions on the faces of my fiancé and my best friend. So that's what I did; I closed my eyes and counted to ten before opening them again.

But nothing had changed.

I remember getting to my feet, turning on the spot and walking away from the scene. My hands were covered in Henrik's blood from when I was trying in vain to stop the bleeding. I was going to leave the family to grieve and make their burial plans in private, when suddenly, a hand unexpectedly grabbed mine. I glanced back expecting to see Rebekah, but saw Niklaus instead. His blue-green eyes were wide and vulnerable, and also looking quite hurt and confused as they questioned where I was going. Both he and Rebekah got to their feet and pulled me aside away from the commotion.

"Where are you going?" Rebekah demanded, tearfully.

I avoided looking into their eyes and instead focused on Henrik's blood on my hand trapped securely in Niklaus' grip, and smeared horribly on his dark tunic and white shirt. Technically, I was a part of their family the second I had agreed to marry Niklaus. But the engagement between us was still very recent, and I didn't feel it was right for me to be there.

"Giving your family the privacy to grieve." I replied quietly, wiping my eyes. Both of them frowned at me in confusion.

"What are you talking about, you are family." Niklaus stated. "You're going to be my wife, why wouldn't you be considered family?" I didn't reply, realising how foolish I had just sounded. Perhaps it was just my grief talking. I turned my gaze back to Esther still clutching her son to her and sobbing, while Ayana attempted to comfort her, and I couldn't help it. I could feel myself losing it and I immediately succumbed to tears as Niklaus and Rebekah both embraced me, struggling to hold back their own tears as well.

"No, Henrik, no…" I sobbed, clutching to Niklaus and burying my face into his neck. He was my friend; someone I really cared about and was looking forward to becoming his older sister … and he was just gone. A life snuffed out in a moment of carelessness. Little did I know that Henrik's death was just the beginning of a series of unfortunate events.

* * *

Since that terrible day; Niklaus, Rebekah and I attempted to stick with each other, whenever we could and whenever our parents gave us our freedom. The only time we parted was when we needed to return to our homes. We wanted to spend as much time as we could with each other, since life was short and once it was done it was done. We would soon realise in the very immediate future, how wrong we really were. Rebekah and I noticed that her parents had been acting very strangely and secretive. Rebekah later relayed a conversation she had eavesdropped on between her parents and Ayana to me. She was scared and worried about something, and was fidgeting with a flower she had plucked from the grass we were reclining on. Niklaus was unable to join us that spring afternoon. Mikael had 'volunteered' him to help out with some chores that apparently needed to be done then and there.

"I didn't mean to overhear, Gráinne, I swear. But it wasn't as though they were talking silently." Rebekah told me, slightly defensive, as though she expected me to dispute it. The feel of the springtime wind gently disturbed my hair and cooled my flushed skin. I could feel the warmth of the sunlight bronzing my porcelain skin a healthy gold. I opened my eyes and sat up frowning at Rebekah and her unusual paranoia.

"Rebekah, hush. You need to relax. Nobody is accusing you of anything." I told her. I could tell that she wanted desperately to tell someone what she had seen and heard. I placed a hand over hers and smiled. "What did you discover, sister?" Rebekah hesitated. "It is alright, your secret is safe with me." I promised. She seemed to relax a little before drawing in a breath to calm herself.

"I was preparing for bed, and I looked in and saw Mother, Father and Ayana standing in the main room talking by the fire. They looked like they were in a heated discussion about something." Rebekah replied, chewing her bottom lip.

"What was discussed exactly?" I asked, both wanting to know the answer and fearing what was about to be revealed.

"Calling upon spirits. Before the next full moon." She looked confused, and I did not blame her.

"What spirits?" I questioned. Rebekah shrugged.

"I am not sure, but whatever they were Ayana was refusing to summon them, saying that it was a crime against nature." My eyes widened.

Rebekah clutched my hand tightly.

"It will be alright, Bekah. Do not fret." I reassured her, weakly.

But our fears had been justified. The next full moon came and went, and for several days afterwards; I did not see neither Rebekah nor Niklaus, or even Elijah, Kol or Finn. Which brings me to the present: I am getting worried. I finally saw them today, but they maintained an arm's length away from me wearing expressions of deep frustration and anxiety. Especially, Niklaus and Rebekah, who looked like they were in constant pain and stopping themselves from doing something dreadful.

What on earth was going on? What had Mikael and Esther done to their children?

To my beloved Niklaus?

* * *

 **~:NIKLAUS P.O.V:~**

I never thought I'd say this, but our father's pride will eventually kill him one day … or us.

How could he do this to us? His children?

I'm just glad that my Gráinne had not been there that night. I knew that wine tasted foul. And it changed us into vampires after we were felled by Father's sword through our hearts! Mikael just had to do it, didn't he? But then again, I suppose it is my fault that they resorted to this. If only I had been more firm with Henrik, and made every attempt to stop him; then we wouldn't be put into a position where I had to stop myself from feasting upon an innocent bystander every time I left the house (which we were unable to leave until Mother could find us a permanent solution).

Pride; it is the one sin we cannot beat. And all because Father had to be better than our werewolf neighbours. Where they could bite, we were required to bite harder. They had agility, we were faster. Speed, strength, heightened senses… would it really be worth it in the end? I cannot erase the memory of Rebekah's look of complete horror when our father used his sword to slit the wrist of the human we were forced to feed upon to complete our transition, or when I winced when the smell of the blood invaded my senses.

" _DRINK!"_ I remembered father snarling at Rebekah who whimpered before he pushed her face down upon the girl's bleeding wrist. I was horrified when it became clear she was savouring every drop she lapped up like a cat enjoying cream. I admit, to my shame, that I felt much the same when it was my turn. Eventually, we were strong enough to be able to stand being around the humans were long periods of time, and I was relieved, as was Rebekah. Because it meant that we could resume our time with Gráinne without fear of killing her accidentally, equipped with special daylight rings with precious lapis lazuli stones mother had enchanted to protect us from the sun's lethal rays. Of course, we were not stupid. It did mean that we had to be cautious when it came to feeding, and not over indulge to the point of killing our prey.

I found our newly found bloodlust almost impossible to quench, but I was yet to realise that I was in fact much more dangerous than everybody first realised. What was supposed to be a routine hunt between Elijah, father and I turned into a night of discovery that my mother had been unfaithful, and that I was the result of their indiscretion; a most painful discovery that I shall never forget. Nor the look of absolute hatred that my father bestowed upon me that night, or the look of horror on Elijah's.

I attacked a human in a fit of anger and frustration because once again, father and I had exchanged harsh words with each other, and I killed my prey; dumping his corpse upon the leaf-strewn ground and his blood coating my hands, and smeared gruesomely around my mouth and dripping down my chin. That was when everything came tumbling down around me: I was a werewolf.

I screamed when my bones started cracking, alerting my brother and father to my side.

" _Niklaus!"_ I heard Elijah's urgent voice in the distance, but all I could think about was the excruciating pain I was experiencing.

" _What is happening to me!?"_ I pleaded to Elijah, desperately. I was utterly terrified and paralysed with fear. I heard Elijah running towards me, but then father spoke out.

" _Don't!"_ I heard him shout to Elijah, sounding alarmed. I fell to my knees and looked up at them, seeing the horrified and helpless expressions on their faces, as I curled into myself whimpering from the pain.

" _Father! It hurts!"_ But my father did nothing. That was the first time that I truly felt betrayed by my father; the man who was supposed to support and help me no matter what our differences were. My bones continued breaking and snapping like twigs, and I let out a passionate agonised scream that quickly shifted into an inhuman growl as I transformed into a werewolf for the first time. I shivered like a leaf and panted through the pain.

" _He's a beast! An abomination!"_ And with that one utterance, my attempts at reconciling with my father was abolished. Because it was obvious that he wasn't my father … and for the very first time, I was relieved that he wasn't. My real father was out there, somewhere. And I hoped that one day I could meet him, and hopefully get an explanation from him about why things have come about this way. About why I was being treated poorly for being the product of my mother's infidelity.

Did I ask to be born?

Do I not deserve to be loved and wanted by a father who would be proud to call me his son? I do not think that is asking much. I remembered sitting up, and glaring at Mikael whilst still fighting off the pain I was feeling.

Elijah told me later on, that my eyes had flashed gold and remained that way for the duration my shift. Things are not the same right now. Elijah is extremely wary of me, and Mikael … well, actually I could care less what Mikael was doing; but whenever I see him, it seems like he has a near permanent murderous, vengeful glare on his face directed not only to me, but also my mother who has been giving me concerned, and unless my eyes have been mistaking me, guilty looks when she believes I am not looking. I wish I could laugh – but it would be bitter and venom filled – as it seems doubtful that Mikael hasn't confronted her about my true father.

To be honest, I don't think I could truly forgive her either.

The others thankfully, are in blissful ignorance about this entire ordeal. Although, I am almost positive that Gráinne suspects something is amiss whenever we are alone together, and I try to shield her from Mikael as much as I can. I do not trust that the happiness that I feel whenever I am around her will not be shattered into a million pieces.

I am not that lucky.

Sometimes, I feel like I just want to pack my things, take Gráinne and run; as fast and as far as we can and never return. But I love my brothers and Rebekah, and I could never do that to them … and I never will.

* * *

 **~:GR** **ÁINNE'S P.O.V:~**

Something is not right, I can feel it.

Niklaus is acting very strange, and very possessive nowadays. So much so that he scares me a little. We're supposed to be meeting up tonight to have dinner with my parents. It was my idea; it looked like he needed to be away from his family for a few hours. He had hesitated, which caused me to frown. He used to jump at the chance to spend some time with them; trying to make a good impression with them presumably, to try and convince them that he wasn't at all like his aggressive, unapproachable brute of a father. Mother has always made it clear that Niklaus was a 'lovely boy', always polite and considerate of his elders, regardless of what Mikael said or how he treated him.

He is always welcome at my home.

"How about you come dine with us?" He suggested instead.

Of course, I agreed and for the rest of the morning and a bit of the afternoon we went for yet another stroll through the village, the woods and even the meadow where Rebekah and I sometimes came to sit and talk for hours in while we talked about what was bothering us or what we had been getting up to lately while we made daisy chains and flower crowns.

Niklaus remained quiet for most of the walk, only giving monosyllabic answers to the questions I put before him to pass the time. But at the same time, he didn't let go of my hand for one second, or held me close to his chest when we lay in the meadow; watching the clouds go by and enjoying the sunshine together. It was strange … _he_ was acting strange. Like he was anticipating something was about to go wrong and he was making every moment count while he still could. Like he was saying goodbye. _Hopefully not to me…_ I thought worriedly.

Something silver caught my eye and I noticed a ring on Niklaus' index finger. It was a new addition that I hadn't noticed before and I reached over and I picked up his hand.

"This is a beautiful ring, Niklaus. Did you make it?" I asked curiously examining the bright blue stone.

"No, mother did. She made us some heirloom rings so that we can pass them down to our children in the future." He explained and then started absently fiddling with my fingers. Just weaving them in and out of mine, playfully. I noted the dull tone he had used to answer my question, and I frowned and sat up, looking down at him.

"Are you alright, Nik? You do not seem like yourself lately." I was concerned, and Niklaus sat up avoiding my eyes for several moments before he responded by pulling me into a tight hug and kissing my temple.

"It's nothing you need to worry about, love. Our family have just recently learned something … unsettling, and we're just coming to terms with it." He reassured me, reluctantly. I nodded, but still felt he was not telling me the whole truth.

"Does it have anything to do with how the villagers have been treating you, Rebekah and the others?" I questioned, searching his eyes for a hint of deception. He smiled softly, and shook his head.

"Not entirely. But it is related." Niklaus replied vaguely.

I had noticed how different my parents and our neighbours have been treating him and my future brothers and sisters lately. Always cautious and wary if they ever spoke with them on the street. Making excuses to be somewhere else or that the house was in need of cleaning and it wasn't possible to provide them with entry into our home whenever Rebekah, Niklaus or even on a rare occasion, Kol came by to visit me.

Niklaus glanced at the late afternoon sunlight and sighed before getting to his feet and offering his hand. "We better go back. Pretty soon we need to retire to the caves for the night." He reminded me. I frowned as I took his hand and got to my feet with his assistance. I had almost forgotten that tonight was a full moon. So why did he sound so sad when he said that? Then I remembered Henrik and berated myself for being so tactless.

"Yes, of course. I almost forgot." I replied, smiling. He chuckled a little and tenderly kissed my hand when he got to the heart of the village.

"I will see you soon, my love." He promised before turning and walking in the direction of his house.

I watched him go before turning and heading towards home to gather what I would need in the caves tonight. But something was still nagging at me. I could not understand it. You could cut the tension at the Mikaelson home with a knife it was so thick whenever I came over to visit, and I could tell that Rebekah is getting worried as well.

I think I'm gonna go for another walk before I meet up with Niklaus in the caves for our dinner. I needed to clear my head. Although, I think I might be going crazy. Or at least getting a little paranoid, but I could've sworn that Mikael was glaring at me when I walked passed him just now. I haven't forgotten my suspicions about him for one second, but I didn't think he would be that bloody rude.

* * *

 **~:NIGHT:~**

All the villagers were in the caves, along with the Mikaelsons; who were the topic of muted conversation. I could not help but feel disgusted with them at present. Haven't they got anything else to do other than gawk and gossip about them? I returned to my meal with Rebekah, who looked a bit troubled.

"Something troubling you, Bekah?" I asked her, kindly. She immediately shook her head, glancing at the entrance to the cave.

"Not really. I'm getting worried for mother, father, Niklaus and Elijah. They have not arrived yet." Rebekah replied. My head snapped up at this and I glanced about, trying to pinpoint our wayward family members. But I could not find Niklaus anywhere. I frowned.

"How odd." I got to my feet, and Rebekah grabbed my wrist.

"Where are you going?" She asked, suddenly looking fearful. I gently shook her off.

"Relax, sister. I'm just going to look for them. I'll be careful, I promise." I reassured her, before making my way towards the entrance and beginning my search.

My anxiety was starting to steadily climb as I continued walking, searching for a sign or a whisper of Niklaus, Elijah and their parents. I was starting to worry that they were in trouble when I walked right out of the safety of the caves, exposing myself to a possible werewolf attack like poor Henrik. And there would be no Niklaus around to save me.

"Niklaus?" I whisper-shouted loud enough to be heard in the still night air, but not loud enough to draw attention to myself unnecessarily. "Elijah?" I stepped over a fallen log, and glanced around for something familiar. "Esther?" I started to turn back the way I came from, and walked backwards. "Mikael?" I gasped in shock when I tripped over something and I twisted my body instinctively to break my fall. I skidded forward, cutting up my hands and skinning the flesh of my knees. I shuddered from the pain, and sat up. Fresh blood beaded from the cuts in my hands and knees and started dribbling. Grimacing, I stood up and absently wiped my hands on my dress, smearing the blood; already hearing my mother's angry voice scolding me for the stains. I was about ready to give up and turn back for the cave when fire burst alight in the distance. I jumped back in surprise before I walked curiously towards the light.

I was not at all prepared for what I saw:

Esther was standing before a bonfire waving her hands and tossing objects into the flames whilst muttering something underneath her breath in a strange tongue. I believed that she was creating something to ward off any possible werewolf attack. And I thought my theory was proven correct when I heard low animal-like groaning and growling … until I glanced beyond the fire, and reacted in horror. Niklaus was being chained up to a wooden cross by Mikael, who by the looks of it was not having any luck at all because Niklaus was putting up a fierce battle against him. But then Mikael moved at an inhuman speed to pin him against the cross and I gasped inaudibly as Niklaus glared at him.

"Elijah!" Mikael yelled out, and I glanced over and saw Elijah standing off to the side, looking like he wanted to be anywhere but where he was. "Elijah, hold him down!" Mikael ordered him, fiercely. I glanced at him, shaking my head and silently pleading for Elijah to ignore his father and instead save Niklaus, who appeared to agree with me.

"Brother, please!" He pleaded, desperately. Elijah was barely making eye contact with Niklaus. "Don't let them do this to me!" Mikael shoved him violently against the cross, and turned his head towards Elijah.

"Do it now, boy! Now!" He roared. This time Elijah didn't hesitate and immediately came over and helped Mikael shackle Niklaus to the cross. _No… Elijah!_ I despaired, then felt anger rising in my throat like bile. I noticed the desperate look in Niklaus' eyes as he tried one more time to appeal to Elijah.

"Help me…!" Niklaus begged, causing Elijah to pause. But Mikael bodily shoved his second eldest son out of the way, as both parents began what looked like a sacrifice. I couldn't stand by and watch the man I love suffer.

I ran out into the clearing without thinking.

"NO! STOP!" I yelled. All four heads swivelled in my direction: one startled, one guilty, one outraged and one, the one I was trying to protect looked horrified and then fearful.

"Gráinne, get out of here! GO!" Niklaus struggled against the chains. Esther shuddered and the fire burned a little brighter before she walked towards her husband with a sober expression on her face.

"It is done." She confirmed, and Niklaus' face fell in anguish. I was confused, what madness did I just stumble upon? But I did not have time to ponder the possibilities as Mikael turned his attention away from his wife and onto me. I did not like the livid expression on his face. I glanced at Elijah who looked horrified as well, and we both watched as Mikael unsheathed his sword. My eyes widened in realisation.

"RUN! GRÁINNE!" Niklaus screamed.

I did not hesitate and immediately turned to flee for my life, but unexpectedly ran straight into the oncoming path of Mikael who had a menacing sneer on his face. I screamed with fright and Mikael raised his sword for a killing blow. But at the last second, Mikael was restrained by Elijah who turned to me.

"What are you waiting for, Gráinne, run! I cannot hold him off for long!" Elijah shouted, as he struggled with his father. I took off, listening to Niklaus screaming at me to run.

* * *

I ran as fast as my feet could carry me.

How could I be so foolish?

I knew that I had been marked and that the Mikaelsons had obviously done some sort of twisted ritual to Niklaus, or quite possibly themselves. And I knew that Mikael was definitely about to kill me … and it was all my fault for sticking my nose where it shouldn't have been. My long hair obscured my vision, and my heart pounded frantically in my chest as the adrenaline fuelled my every step.

"Father, stop! She doesn't understand!" I could hear Elijah's voice echoing behind me.

I ran faster.

Mikael had obviously broken free and Elijah was clearly pleading for Mikael to see reason.

"Mikael, she is innocent!" Esther chimed in.

I did not dare look back. I knew that the cave was my sanctuary. Surely Mikael would not dare attempt murder in front of innocent people? Suddenly, Niklaus appeared from out of nowhere, having clearly broken free from his restraints. I immediately started fighting against him, scared out of my mind. But he pulled me down into some nearby bushes and clamped a hand over my mouth.

"Hush, love. I'm trying to save you." He reassured me, and I immediately started panicking. "Gráinne, please. Trust me." Niklaus begged, looking hurt that I was frightened of him. I looked into his eyes and realised he was telling me the truth. I instantly calmed down and nodded, and he pulled away his hand and glanced around for any sign of Mikael, Elijah and Esther. "Okay, I think we're safe." It was clear he no longer trusted his family, and I didn't blame him. I saw anger, fear and betrayal reflected his blue-green eyes, and I never wanted to see those emotions in them ever again. They would be his undoing if he wasn't careful. He grabbed my hand and immediately took off in a randomly chosen direction. However, we didn't get far as something inhumanly fast slammed into him, holding him up against the tree trunk. I was thrown to the side, knocking the wind out of me. "NO!" Niklaus yelled, and I forced myself to my knees. "Father, please!" He begged from where Elijah had pinned him against the tree, and was trying to pry his brother's hand from his neck.

"Be silent, you stupid boy!" I paled when I realised how close Mikael was. I attempted to quickly get to my feet, but a large hand grabbed my shoulder and pulled me roughly to my feet before shoving me against another tree in full view of Niklaus. Mikael glared at me, and I glanced behind him at Niklaus, who was staring back at me with wild eyes. "Look at me, you stupid girl!" I obeyed him immediately, shaking with tears streaming down my cheeks. Mikael leaned in to whisper into my ear. "Let this be a lesson to you, girl. Never trust a Mikaelson."

Then he stabbed me with his sword.

The last thing I was fully conscious of was Niklaus' screams before everything went black…

* * *

 **~:NIKLAUS P.O.V:~**

"NO!" I shoved Elijah off me, and immediately scrambled to Gráinne's side, as Mikael pulled his sword free from her side. It was a mortal wound, something that was going to take a lot more than my blood to save her. "No, please! Gráinne, please! Stay with me. Please don't leave me!" I begged her tearfully. Gráinne merely gave me a lazy smile, cupping my cheek and using her thumb to wipe away my tears as I pressed down hard on her wound to stop the bleeding. But Mikael grabbed a hold of my shirt and started to pull me away from her.

"Leave her, boy!" He snarled. I turned and shoved him away.

"Get off me!" I roared, and shoved him back and turned to return to my beloved's side. But Mikael was persistent.

"Insolent boy!" He snarled, and I fought violently. Elijah came over to stop us, but Mikael was stronger. Suddenly, mother came running up.

"Mikael, stop this right now!" She demanded, sternly. Then her eyes widened when she saw me crouched over Gráinne who was slowly dying in front of me. Tears clouded my vision, but I could clearly hear my mother's words behind me. "Mikael, what have you done!?" She exclaimed and came to my side.

"I did what needed to be done. To teach him a lesson." Mikael replied, arrogantly, and I could feel a corrosive rage bubbling inside.

"This is not and never will be an acceptable punishment, Mikael. She was an innocent girl!" Mother argued. _Was?!_ I turned towards her.

"Mother, please! Save her, please!" I begged her, brokenly. This was Henrik all over again, except this time it wasn't a werewolf that had killed somebody l loved; it was Mikael.

Mother gave me an anguished look.

"I'm sorry, son. I cannot. She's almost gone." She told me, gently.

I would look back on this moment in the days to come, and truly wonder if she realised that those were the same words Ayana had told her when Henrik died. I swore my already sluggishly beating heart stopped. I turned to look down at Gráinne, and I listened to her heartbeat slowly beating out its last. Then a thought crossed my mind, and with that single thought I knew that I had seconds to act.

I leant down to whisper in her ear:

"I love you, Gráinne, so much. And I want you to know, that no matter how long it takes or how long I search; I will find you, and I will never let you go. I love you, always and forever." I promised her, before leaning down and kissing her brow and then her lips. I could taste the flavour of her blood, which coated her lips, bursting on my taste buds, and I shuddered with disgust. Then suddenly and violently, Gráinne jerked before going still. I let out an anguished cry and cradled her dead body to me, sobbing. I could feel my mother attempt to comfort me, and I let her; before I remembered why we were here in the first place, and I violently jerked away from her comfort.

I gathered Gráinne's body into my arms and stood up.

"Son…" Mother began, but I glared at her furiously.

"Don't talk to me." I warned her in a low, dangerous voice. Mother realised that she wasn't going to reach me, and immediately turned and walked away. Mikael had already left minutes before, having succeeded in ruining my life. Elijah came forward to assist me, but I growled underneath my breath. Nobody would stop me, carrying the evidence of their guilt back to the caves.

"Don't be foolish, Niklaus." Elijah warned. I immediately turned on him.

"Or you'll what?" I challenged him. "You have already betrayed me, and helped our parents curse me. Not to mention, you helped father kill the one good thing in my life. What more could you possibly take away from me?!" I snarled.

Elijah immediately got on the defensive.

"If I had known what father was going to do, I would've stopped him, Niklaus. I swear!" He pleaded. I scoffed and walked away from him. "Brother, please!" I ignored him.

There was much that I needed to do...

* * *

 **A/N: HAPPY NEW YEAR! May 2019 be better the last!**

 **So here's the prologue. I hope that you enjoyed reading it. This was an idea that would not go away after listening to _'A Thousand Years'_ a lot. Updates to come soon in the new year. **


	2. An Unexpected Journey

**A/N: Wow! 3 reviews, 9 Followers, 6 Favourites and 43 Views in one day?! That's really sweet, guys. Thank you so much!**

 **As a thank you, I've uploaded this chapter for you to enjoy.** Hopefully this will inspire some more reviews! **Just a little heads up that the majority of this story will be mostly from the OC's P.O.V.**

 **As always guys, please review afterwards and no flaming, please :)**

 **I don't own _The Vampire Diaries,_ just this story. All characters (with the exception of the OC) belong to J.L Smith.**

 **Enjoy xx**

* * *

 **AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY**

" _Until you step into the unknown, you don't know what you're made of."  
_ _ **~Roy T. Bennett.**_

* * *

 **Present Day, 2010.  
** **Grace's P.O.V.  
**

 **~:A THOUSAND YEARS LATER:~**

So there I was. Just sitting in my living room, minding my own business; sketching.

I always feel comfortable with a sheet of paper and some sort of drawing material, like a piece of black smudgy charcoal or an expensive good quality sketching pencil in hand. Once the pencil is in my hand, I just lose myself in my sketching and usually don't surface for several hours. By then, I'd have probably used up half a rainforest.

My laptop suddenly dinged, indicating that somebody had come onto Messenger. Setting aside my sketchbook, I picked up my laptop, thankfully not buried beneath the piles of crap accumulated on my coffee table and accessed Facebook messenger. It was Elena Gilbert, a pen-pal I had formed a friendship with back when I was bored and restless, and not even sketching could calm me down. It was odd, because I always get that way during full moons and I had no explanation for it. It was like it was psychologically in tuned to me.

Smiling, I accessed the blinking new conversation and read Elena's message:

 _Hey Grace! How's life?_ She wrote.

That was where I drew a blank. I frowned thoughtfully, as I decided on an appropriate answer to give her. Life nowadays sorta sucked and dragged for me. And I was actually trying to find something to do with my life. I had one year left to go on a correspondence degree in Professional Writing, and I was already attempting research on a novel I was trying to compose; but at the moment I had serious writer's block. A term my non-fiction creative writing professor scoffed at.

"There's no such thing…" She used to lecture us. Yeah, that's a load of bullshit. I had always wanted to throw back into her face: what do you think I was suffering right now? The story I was trying to bring to life was supposed to revolve around family, love, friendship and maybe a hint of betrayal that I could sneak in somehow, just to spice things up. But nope … drawing a huge colossal blank.

Fantastic … NOT!

I glanced down at the blank message bank before I sighed and decided to go with the honest truth.

 _Suffering for a massive case of writer's block._ I typed back, and stabbed violently at the enter key.

I reached over and picked up my mug of coffee and took a sip, grimacing almost immediately at how cold it was. I laughed when I realised that I had really gotten into the zone again when I was sketching. I got up off the couch and flipped on the TV as I went through to the kitchen to make a fresh cup. By the time I had made a new drink – Hot Milo with three extremely large teaspoons this time – and accompanied it with a couple of chocolate biscotti, Elena finally replied. It was odd, normally she was fairly prompt with her responses.

 _Sounds like that sucks. Maybe I can help?_ She replied. I raised an eyebrow. Exactly how bored was she that she'd help a virtual stranger with their unfinished attempt of a novel? I glanced at my watch and my eyes widened in shock as I realised how late it was and questioned why she was up so late when it was a school night?

 _Can't sleep?_ I asked, glancing up at the TV which was broadcasting infomercials about the new Nutrabullet, that's been quite popular for a tiny blender. Elena responded quickly.

 _Not really. My Dad was attacked last night and we've only just gotten back from the hospital._ I blinked at the monitor in astonishment. Wow, didn't see that one coming. Then something occurred to me. Hang on a sec…

 _Your dad? I thought he died in that car accident last year with your mum?_ I pointed out, questioning if I had suddenly dozed off and was having a very bizarre dream. Which of course, wouldn't be the first time. But so far, I haven't seen any appearances of my usual cast of REM induced characters, so I was most definitely awake still.

My computer dinged.

 _Oh right, you don't know. I recently found out that I was adopted. Who I thought was my dad was actually my uncle, and my uncle John turned out to be my biological father._ O-kay then?

 _Well, shit. That doesn't sound complicated at all. Is your, uh, 'dad' alright? What the hell happened?_ I typed back, feeling the curiosity mounting. Elena's reply was instantaneous.

 _It's a little complicated. But suffice it to say, he was stabbed and had four of his fingers chopped off with Mom's meat cleaver._ Yikes!

 _Wow… no wonder you can't sleep. Are_ _you_ _okay?_ I asked, feeling slightly concerned for the girl I have never met before in my life. Did I need to anonymously call the police for a possible domestic dispute?

 _Ha ha, I'm fine. Thanks for your concern. I don't really get on well with John, he's a bit of an arrogant, womanizing prick._ I nearly took a spit take, and had to take a few minutes to stop laughing so hard, that I ended up nearly coughing up my lungs.

 _Wow, Elena. Tell me what you really think of him next time. Meow!_ I typed back. I glanced at my watch again, and realised that I needed to get some shut eye before my move to a new location began tomorrow morning. I gathered up my empty mug, plate and switched off the TV set while I waited for Elena to reply to my message.

 _Sure, you'll be the first to know._ Elena responded. I giggled.

 _Well, Elena. I gotta sign off, I'm moving apartments tomorrow and I gotta get some shut eye._ I typed, and scooped my laptop into my arms, and carried my sketchbook and pencils in the other as I padded down the hall to my room, flicking off light switches with my elbow as I went.

 _Oh great! Where you moving to?_ Elena wanted to know.

I honestly had no idea, but my heart and my head was telling me to move to Virginia somewhere. They hadn't steered me wrong so far, and I'd always wanted to look up the local museums to research about the Civil War. Having been born in England, I was always keen to learn more about history, and I had been told that Virginia was one of the few states in America that was rich with history revolving around that particular era. Plus, it might give me some inspiration for a bit of progress in my novel research. I bounced down onto my bed and quickly responded to Elena's question.

 _My realtor has given me a few apartments to choose from. But I'll let you know when I've settled._ I replied.

 _Cool! Well, good night. I got school in the morning. Ugh! Talk soon!_ Elena replied, her words sounding a little more cheerful than when she first started this latest conversation.

She went offline, and I quickly switched off my laptop and stuffed it in my laptop case. Finally alone with my thoughts, I got myself comfortable up against my headboard and resumed creating my latest sketch. I was so focused upon my sketchbook, but I still wasn't quite sure why I had chosen specifically to draw this. But something told me that I had to document it, or I wouldn't be able to sleep well tonight. Not that my dreams were something I eagerly anticipated whenever I drifted off. It was rare that I ever had pleasant dreams, but when I did; the dream usually featured the blanked out faces of familiar, and yet unfamiliar strangers, but more often than not the presence of a handsome young man always whispering the same thing in my ear as he held me close in his arms: _I love you, always and forever_.

"What'cha drawing?" A juvenile European voice called out to me. I must've jumped ten feet into the air. I jerked my head towards the voice and saw my ghostly stalker sitting on the window bench, smirking at me.

"My suicide note." I replied, dryly, glaring a little at my friend Henrik, who laughed at my reply. "Do you get off scaring the hell outta me or something?" I demanded. Henrik shrugged nonchalantly.

"How else am I gonna get my kicks?" He responded with an innocent expression on his face. Innocent, my arse.

"Very funny." I retorted, before pulling up my legs and balancing my sketchbook on them. Henrik hopped off the bench and came over to sit next to me, peering down at the sketch.

"But in all seriousness, what are you drawing?" He asked, curiously. I shivered a little at his close presence (what is it with ghosts and the cold anyway?) and smudged the picture a little as I frowned down at it.

"I'm actually not entirely sure, to be honest. It just came to me." I replied. Henrik seemed to accept the answer, and sat back and continued watching me draw. After a while, he got bored and went back over to the window bench and stared out at the stars.

I paused for the moment and really observed him. There was something oddly familiar about Henrik, but for the life of me, I couldn't put my finger on what it was exactly. All I knew was that he had some sort of relevance to me. He didn't look much older than his early teens, and my heart leapt up into my throat at the thought that he had died so young. And judging by the gruesome bloodied clothes he was wearing, it hadn't been a kind death. Henrik was a tall boy – well taller than me, but then again everybody is taller than me – kind of lanky and svelte, and had long dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. He was wearing a light grey tunic shirt (with several large bloody rips in the fabric that I uncomfortably avoided looking at directly) brown trousers and knee high brown traveler boots.

I decided to confront him about it.

"Why are you haunting me, Henrik?" I asked gently, grabbing his attention. He merely fixed me with an incredulous look.

"I've been around since you were born, and you choose now to ask me about it?" Henrik questioned back. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes the minute he responded to my question with a question. I really hated when people did that. It usually meant that they had something to hide.

"Yes." I replied, deadpan. There was silence for several minutes before we both burst out laughing. Eventually, we both sobered up and got serious. "But really, why me specifically?" I asked, hiccoughing slightly. Henrik wiped away his tears of mirth before he answered.

"I knew you once, back in the 11th century. We were very close friends." He replied, smiling a little sadly. I noticed.

"What's with the sad smile, did we have a row before you died?" I asked, getting a little worried I was bringing up bad memories that he'd rather not relive. Henrik gave me a very warm smile.

"No, Grace. Of course, not. You and I were as thick as thieves. My death was something else entirely." I relaxed a little, pleased that I hadn't been involved with that part of his demise.

"Can you tell me a little about it?" I asked, suddenly feeling very interested. Henrik hesitated a little, and I immediately backtracked. "You don't have to if it's too painful for you to remember." But Henrik raised his hand to stop me.

"No, it's quite alright. I've been dead for nearly a thousand years, I think it's time I got over it." He laughed a little weakly. My mouth dropped open.

"A thousand years?!" I breathed. Then Henrik smirked.

"Well, if we're going to get technical about it, I'm going to be fifteen forever. So…" He teased and I threw a pillow at him, which went straight through him and smacked into the opposite wall. Henrik merely glanced at it, then back at me with a raised eyebrow. "Really?" I ignored him and made myself comfortable, aware that it was steadily creeping closer to dawn and I had not gotten ready for bed. But I was too wired for sleep, and the chance of learning something interesting wasn't helping matters anyhow.

"C'mon, ghost boy. Tell me a bit about our history." I urged. Henrik shook his head, looking a bit exasperated but fond, and came over, perching cross-legged on my duvet.

"I'll give you a little bit of information, then you gotta go to sleep. I'll tell you more tomorrow while we travel to Virginia." He stated.

"Deal. Now talk!" I ordered. He gave me a mock salute, which was a little out of character for him, considering the type of upbringing he probably had and started talking.

"Both our families were originally from across the seas in what was originally called the Kingdom of Norway. Back then, my father told me that there was a terrible plague that had killed my eldest sister, which devastated my parents. One day, they heard stories about a new world that was free from diseases and death, and of which was populated with beings blessed with health, strength and senses. Those who were able to immediately set sail for 'the new world' which was what we called America back then." Henrik explained.

I frowned with confusion.

"But I thought that America hadn't been discovered yet." I stated. Henrik smirked.

"Well, now you know." He said. I nodded, letting what he told me already sink in. I didn't have to wait long for him to continue his tale. "For the next 20 years, my parents, who already had two small children – two little boys, my older brothers – settled down and had more children that included me, my two older brothers and my second older sister. And your parents had you during those same years." He said. Henrik was the youngest of seven children? Wow, his mother must've had her hands full.

"Was my name Grace back then too?" I asked, hoping that it wasn't. It would be too freaky if my parents now, had decided to name the exact same name as the girl Henrik knew a thousand years ago. But Henrik laughed and shook his head.

"No. You were known as Gráinne back then." I nodded, relieved. "We basically grew up together with my siblings, and you formed a close friendship with my sister and was engaged to be married to my favourite brother." My eyes widened in shock.

"I was engaged?" I breathed.

Henrik nodded, confused about my reaction. I barely noticed, I was too busy letting the knowledge that I was going to be married sink in. I always thought that I'd never get married, due to how long my previous relationships always lasted. I smiled; I figured there was always hope for me yet. Then I noticed the sad expression on Henrik's face and I knew that what I was about to hear next wasn't going to be nice. But before I could ask him to continue, I let out an embarrassingly loud yawn.

Henrik sniggered.

"What are you laughing at?" I grumbled, before I put my sketchbook on my bedside table along with my sketching pencils and made myself comfortable. "I wish I could've known your family, Henrik." I mumbled before rolling over and closing my eyes. "Good night, Henrik." I slurred. The last thing I remember before falling dead asleep was Henrik's voice whispering in my ear.

"Be careful what you wish for, Grace, you might just get it."

* * *

 _ **~:Grace's Dream:~**_

 _Dead leaves crackle underneath my bare feet with every step that I take. It is a warm spring dusk, and a gentle breeze blows through the trees surrounding me and caressing my skin. Something tickles the back of my legs and I instinctively glance down and see that I'm wearing a simple but beautiful bohemian style dress I've never seen before. It is red with a circular neckline and sleeves that end at my elbows._

 _I frown with confusion._ What is this? Little Red Riding Hood? _This is obviously a dream, but where the hell was I? A twig snaps behind me and I quickly turn and see Henrik standing there wearing pretty much the same clothes as I've always seen him in, except these are pristine and clean with no rips or tears or any traces of blood or dirt on them. He looks just as confused as I do._

" _Henrik? Are you really here, or am I dreaming this?" I question him. He approaches me and glances around warily._

" _I guess I am here, I just don't know_ how _I'm here. As for your other question: Your guess is probably as good as mine." Henrik replies. A low growl is heard, and I jump in fright._

" _What was that?" I muttered. I glance around before looking over to Henrik for an answer, and see him staring at something behind me; looking white as a sheet. "Henrik? Are you okay?" He doesn't respond, too blinkered on what he was staring at. "Talk to me, honey. You're starting to scare me." I demanded, firmly. Henrik shows signs of life, by raising his hand and pointing towards something. I follow his finger and turned to see a large, snarling black wolf standing a few feet away from us. "Holy shit…" I muttered, and immediately attempt to shield Henrik behind me._ So there's the Big Bad Wolf… _I thought sardonically. Henrik doesn't hesitate for a second to get behind me. I couldn't help but feel a little bit used._

" _W-what do we do?" Henrik stuttered, alarming me about how frightened he actually sounded. I filed that away for future questioning, and focused on the present danger. That was when I was momentarily annoyed. Why am I always in constant danger in my dreams?_

" _I'm working on it." I promised. Then I got an idea, and immediately adopted a calm, soothing voice to use on the wolf. "Hi there! You don't have to worry about us, my friend Henrik and I were just taking a walk. We don't mean you any harm, and we're sorry we've invaded your territory." I improvised._

 _Henrik scoffed behind me._

" _You seriously think that's gonna work?" He grumbled. I rolled my eyes._

" _Well, we'll just have to see, won't we?" I retorted, not taking my eyes off the wolf. Then the weirdest thing happened. The black wolf immediately stops snarling and backs off, eying both of us curiously. Both Henrik and I are stunned._

" _I can't believe that worked." Henrik muttered. I sagged a little, with relief._

" _Oh ye, of little faith." I randomly quoted the Bible, as we watched the animal sit back on his hunches, still eying us off._

" _What's gonna happen now?" Henrik asked._

" _I was hoping you knew." I replied. Henrik stepped out from behind and stood beside me. The wolf didn't react, except to follow him with its strangely human eyes. I squatted down to the wolf's height and tentatively reached out a hand for the wolf to sniff._

" _Uh, what are you doing?" Henrik asked, sounding dubious._

" _Letting him come to me." I responded, raising an eyebrow when I could've sworn that I saw that beast smirking at us as we were trying to figure him out._

" _How do you know the wolf is a he?" Henrik had to ask that question. I flushed with embarrassment. This will probably not work, and I'll end up looking like an idiot._

" _Instinct? How should I know?" I retorted, feeling a little irritated as I looked back at him. Something wet touched my hand, and I turned and saw that the wolf had somehow crossed the distance between him and Henrik and me, and was now sniffing my hand with his wet nose. I held still, determined not to make any sudden movements and squealed when he licked my hand once._

" _I think he likes you." Henrik guessed. I smiled sheepishly before getting to my feet and turned slightly towards Henrik. "You can pat him if you like, I don't think he's gonna hurt you." Henrik was about to reply when his eyes widened again at something behind me. "What now?" I asked. Henrik's face lit up like the sun._

" _No, he would never hurt me. Or you for that matter … ever." He confirmed. I was about to ask what he meant by that, when suddenly something took my hand. I immediately turned around and saw that the wolf had mysteriously morphed into a tall, handsome stranger who had taken my hand. But the frustrating thing was, his face was completely blurred so I couldn't identify him. Don't you just hate that in dreams? But it definitely appeared that Henrik knew him, and quite well. The stranger raised my hand to his lips and tenderly kissed my knuckles._

 _A handsome stranger with manners and respect for women? That was new._

" _Hello. Do I know you?" I questioned him._

" _Intimately." He responded, sounding incredibly happy to see me. I could feel my heart pounding like a jackhammer. Henrik stepped forward with recognition very plain in his dark brown eyes. My mouth dropped open. How come Henrik can clearly see this man's face and I can't? How exactly is that fair? Whose dream is this anyway?_

 _Henrik greeted him with a warm hug._

" _Hello, big brother. I've missed you." Henrik greeted him. My eyes widened in shock. This man was one of Henrik's four brothers? I was extremely confused._

" _What are we doing here? What are you doing here?" I demanded. Henrik and his mysterious brother broke apart and the man approached me, wrapping me up in his arms._

" _I'm here to give you a message … and to see my baby brother again." He replied. His deep, European accented voice was definitely familiar._

" _What's the message?" I asked curiously, noticing that Henrik had disappeared from sight, presumably to give us some privacy. He tightened the hug._

" _In a moment. We don't have long in this dream, and I want to preserve this moment with you for as long as I can." He whispered into my ear. I couldn't help but smile and buried my face into his shoulder, inhaling his unique scent and feeling tears welling up in my eyes. I felt safe, secure and extremely loved. And it just sucked that I would soon be waking up from this dream, and know that that was all it was, a dream._

" _As much as I am really enjoying this moment we're sharing together, you probably better tell me the message now." I whispered. I felt him nodding against my head._

" _We are close to reuniting, my love. You have no idea how long I have waited to see you again." He told me._

" _How long?" I replied, smiling. He smirked against my cheek._

" _A thousand years. And I'd wait and love you for a thousand more." He told me, tenderly. "Please, wait for me a little while longer. And whatever happens until then, good or bad, don't lose faith in us." He urged, almost brokenly._

" _I won't." I promised._

 _T_ _hen I was involved in the most intense, passionate kiss I had ever experienced in my life that literally stole my breath away and had me clutching to him so I didn't do something unfortunate, like topple forwards onto my face. Too bad it was just a dream, and it wasn't really happening. But I was intrigued to find out if the real thing would be as intense and exciting as right now. A silly little smile was on my face, and my mysterious stranger chuckled in amusement and kissed the end of my nose, before pulling back into an ardent embrace._

" _I hate to break you guys up, but we have to go Grace." Henrik interrupted, sounding a little awkward. Henrik's mysterious brother reluctantly pulled away, and whispered that same familiar sentence once again in my ear:_

" _I love you, always and forever." He vowed, as his voice started fading away._

* * *

 _ **~:Reality:~**_

The first thought I had when I woke up that morning was: _Wow… that was corny. Maybe that Hot Milo I had last night was one too many?_

I opened my eyes to direct sunlight and winced, cursing myself for forgetting to close the damn curtains before going to sleep. I looked at my wristwatch, since I had already packed away my alarm clock during my packing away and noticed the time. It was 10:00 in the morning. Not too bad, the new lease owners weren't due to arrive until about 1pm. So I had loads of time to get my things together and get the hell outta dodge. I yawned deeply, and sat up, coming face to face with an innocent looking Henrik.

"Good morning, Grace. Did you sleep well?" He asked, politely. I nodded, eying him suspiciously.

"Were you in my dream last night?" I asked. He nodded, getting to his feet and walking over to the window, deep in thought. "That's never happened before." I commented out loud.

"Nope, it hasn't. It was extremely odd, but I'm pleased to have seen my brother again." Henrik smiled happily. That caught my interest.

"Which one was he?" I asked, trying to be sly. But Henrik shook his head.

"I'm not allowed to tell you. You'll find out when you're supposed to, not before." Henrik explained. I groaned with frustration and threw aside my duvet. "Sorry." Henrik looked guilty.

"Don't be. I was being greedy and asking too much." I stated, smiling at him reassuringly. I glanced over at my open sketchbook and eyed the picture of five people I had unconsciously sketched onto the paper. I was mostly focusing upon the four men in the picture. Which one of them was it?

"I'll wait for you outside." Henrik announced, grabbing my attention away from my picture.

"Okay." I replied, smiling at him warmly. Once I was alone, I studied the picture and realised that I had drawn the brother standing in the middle of the group before. He was tall, with shoulder-length hair and wearing a dark tunic with long white sleeves and leather wrist cuffs, dark trousers and dark traveling boots. I flicked back through my previous drawings and frowned.

Could he be the brother who has been waiting for me, and I've been supposedly waiting for?

* * *

It took me almost an hour and a half to figure out my new address, who to talk to when I got there to sign contracts, pack away all my other stuff (which wasn't much: just my couch, TV, bed and bedside table, and some pre-packed boxes etc.), and give instructions to the movers to travel to the new address; which was in Mystic Falls, Virginia. Henrik was extremely quiet, barely even making eye contact or saying one or two sentences, which concerned me. Was it something I said or did? Or did reuniting with his brother in the dream again hurt him in some way? It wasn't until after I returned the keys to the owner and got into the car that I decided to confront him.

"Penny for your thoughts?" I ventured cautiously, as I negotiated a tricky lane change on the highway. Henrik seemed to jolt out of his thoughts at my innocent inquiry.

"Pardon?" He blurted out, and sat up straighter in the seat, and turned to give me his full attention. I smiled, and readjusted the air conditioning.

"You've barely said a word all day today. Do you wanna talk about it?" I asked. Henrik frowned, looking troubled again.

"It's just seeing that wolf in your dream last night brought back some painful memories. I guess I'm still not entirely over it." Henrik admitted, and I frowned.

"I thought you had an awesome relationship with your brothers? After all that wolf turned out to be one of them." Henrik looked horrified by the possibility.

"Of course not. My brothers would never harm me." He looked insulted by the mere suggestion that any of his brothers would be that cruel or bloodthirsty. And then I kicked myself for taking so long to get this. If Henrik had been killed a thousand years ago, it would be absolutely impossible that they would be alive now. Clearly, something funky was going on here.

"Yeah, that reminds me. And I can't believe that it's just occurring to me now, but, how is your family still alive? I mean you died a thousand years ago. Unless they are extremely well preserved or immortal…" I trailed off, laughing at the ludicrous idea. When Henrik didn't join in, my amused smile disappeared. "Wait, I'm right?" He nodded, looking completely serious. "That's impossible." Henrik shrugged.

"In theory, yes it would be. But my family are … alive in a way." He admitted. I raised an eyebrow.

"Do you care to share with the rest of the class?" I requested, feeling a little cheated that my oldest friend would be withholding information like this from me. Henrik winced.

"For me to do that, I'd have to continue the story from last night." He stated. I immediately brightened. I had been waiting for the right moment to ask him to continue with the story; but there just hadn't been a right moment to broach the subject. Now seemed as good a time as any.

"Good! By all means, share away." I encouraged. Henrik drew in an unnecessary deep breath, and took several minutes to pick a place to begin. I cursed when I noticed a gridlock straight ahead. _Damn roadworks…_ I thought, irritably. "And take your time, looks like it's gonna be a bit of a crawl before we can get on our way." I stated, sitting back in my chair.

Henrik laughed.

"Where were we?" He inquired. I smirked.

"Your family had gotten to the 'New World' and after 20 years your family and apparently mine expanded, and that my name was Gráinne not Grace." I replied promptly, and stopped myself from laughing at the astonished expression on his face. "Yes, I have a good memory. Don't stall." I scolded, playfully. Henrik pulled a martyred face.

"I'm not already." He whined like the teenage boy he used to be. "The beings from the stories turned out to be a pack of werewolves. We lived harmoniously with them." Henrik began, but seemed to hesitate and we hadn't even begun the rest of the story yet.

"Werewolves? They're real?" I was genuinely shocked.

"Yeah, they're real all right." Henrik sounded a bit bitter, which I frowned at. "So are witches." Clearly, Henrik was about as enthusiastic about werewolves as I was actually believing it. I wasn't normally a sceptic, but I tended to maintain an 'I'll believe it, when I see it' policy when it came to things like this. But having said that, if I could see Henrik; who was quite obviously a ghost, it could potentially be possible.

"You have a problem with werewolves I take it?" I guessed. Henrik ignored my question, choosing to press on with his story. I chose to accept it, rather than demand an explanation about why he had avoided my question. I was likely to get an answer to question if I waited long enough.

"The village had a rule that we were all supposed to obey without question: during the full moon every night, we were required to take shelter in some nearby caves for our own protection." Henrik explained.

"From the werewolves?" I rightly guessed. Henrik nodded, his face becoming grave; and making me nervous and wondering if we should continue the story. It was obvious that the memory was making him agitated.

"To venture from the caves before dawn was forbidden. But I was a foolish and rebellious person back then, and way too curious for my own good, and defied the rule. I paid the price for disobeying the rule." Henrik admitted. I froze.

"What do you mean?" I whispered, sure that Henrik probably couldn't hear it. But I was wrong.

"My memory is a little fuzzy, but I'll try to relay what I can about that night." He promised. I almost chickened out and told him to forget it, but I was morbidly curious. "I remember sneaking out with my favourite brother to see the werewolves morph from beasts back into men. My brother was against the idea, and tried multiple times to get me to come back to the cave with him; but I ignored him and went searching. He had no choice but to follow or risk our father's wrath." He looked down at his lap. "We both thought we were far away from the werewolves we did come across, but one of them lost control…"

I felt sick.

"Oh, my God…" I mumbled, taking my eyes off the road for a split second to glance at him, with what I assumed was a stricken expression on my face. "I'm so sorry." I told him, sincerely. Henrik offered me a weak smile.

"I don't remember much after the attack, except the excruciating pain I was feeling. I think you can already guess that I didn't die immediately." I glanced down at the ripped and bloodied tunic shirt he was wearing and shuddered. "I continued drifting in and out of consciousness, and I remembered being carried by my brother back into the village. They had already come back from the caves by then." He muttered, quietly.

" _MOTHER!"_ I jumped at the agonised scream that seemed to echo from faraway. Henrik didn't appear to notice, he was too deep in his reminiscing to spare a glance at me. I felt strangely freaked.

"The last thing I remembered before dying, was my mother pleading for her friend, another witch, to save me." Henrik concluded his story, and finally noticed my distress. "Are you alright?" He sounded alarmed.

"Did you hear that?" I said.

"Hear what?" He asked, frowning slightly.

" _I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!"_ The extremely familiar voice sobbed, causing me to look around desperately for the person.

"The voice! Tell me you heard that voice?" I demanded. Henrik looked extremely concerned.

"I don't hear anything." He insisted. I bit my bottom lip, and looked at him accusingly.

"I was there, wasn't I?" I stated. Henrik looked pained.

"Probably, I dunno. I was a bit preoccupied with dying at that point." He pointed defensively. I relaxed, accepting that excuse. It was unfair of me to start pointing fingers towards the one person who couldn't possibly know the answer to my question.

"I'm sorry. That wasn't fair." I apologised. Henrik smiled.

"It's okay." It really wasn't. But I hadn't been expecting to hear that voice at the same time that Henrik revealed his final moments. "But that's not the end of the story." He promised, smiling at me with a shit-eating grin. I looked appalled.

"It's not?" I questioned.

"Afraid not. There is one other thing in this world other than werewolves and witches that go bump in the night." Henrik promised. "And you're gonna know about it by the time we get to …" He trailed off, looking curious. "Where are you moving to anyway?" I groped around my bag when I was able to safely, and peered down at my barely legible handwriting for the address.

"A small town in Virginia called Mystic Falls." I replied absently. Henrik's eyes widened in shock before he started chuckling softly. "What?" I asked, confused.

"Looks like you're heading back to the town of your former life, sweetheart." Henrik told me.

My mouth dropped open.

* * *

 **A/N: Please review :D**


	3. A Bloody History

**A/N: Two more reviews since yesterday! Thank you guys! Here's another chapter for you to sink your teeth into.**

 **As always, please review.**

 **I don't own _The Vampire Diaries,_ just this story. All characters (except Grace) belong to J.L Smith.**

 **Enjoy :)**

* * *

 **A BLOODY HISTORY**

" _Here's the thing. There's moments in your life that make you.  
That set the course of who you're gonna be.  
Sometimes they're little, subtle moments.  
Sometimes . . . they're not. I'll show you what I mean."  
_ _ **~Whistler (Buffy: the Vampire Slayer (Becoming pt. 1 [S2 EP21])**_

* * *

The knowledge that Henrik had been mauled to death by werewolves a thousand years ago was a lot to swallow. I wouldn't wish that sort of death on my worst enemy, it just seemed too horrible to imagine, let alone relive. Poor Henrik. He must've been so scared; and I felt sorry for the unfortunate brother who witnessed and tried in vain to fight off the animal practically shredding his baby brother before his very eyes.

After Henrik revealed that little tidbit of information surrounding his death, neither of us said a word for a while. Possibly because _if_ it was difficult for him to give the details about his death, then he obviously assumed I was having a hard time letting the fact sink in. However, Henrik told me that the story was not over; and I was getting curiouser and restless, wanting to know what happened next. He hadn't really answered my question about how it was possible for his siblings to still be around after all these years.

So maybe I would get the answers I sought.

"You okay, Grace? You look a bit sick." Henrik observed after I got back in the car from a brief rest stop at a roadhouse halfway towards Virginia. I offered him a weak smile, as I put my aviator sunglasses back on and started the ignition.

"Learning you were mauled to death is a lot to process. It's hard to imagine how much pain and fear you went through." I admitted. Henrik grinned, looking unsympathetic.

"You asked." He reminded me. I grimaced.

"That's my bad." I agreed, sheepishly. We both laughed as I stepped on the accelerator. Henrik made himself comfortable and kicked up his feet on the dashboard. Normally, I would've kicked up a stink about it. But since I was the only one who could see him, I let it go. Henrik crossed his arms over his chest, and turned his head towards me.

"Think you're ready for more?" He asked. I hesitated, absently wondering what else he had left to share.

"Do I need to know?" I pulled a face. Henrik smirked.

"You're heading for a town that's practically a hot spot for the supernatural. You need to know all the facts before setting foot there. It could be the difference between life and death." Henrik stated, firmly. I sighed.

"Guess I have no choice then, huh?" I stated.

"No not really." He confirmed, still smirking. I chuckled and waved a hand at him to continue his story.

"Lay it on me." I said. Henrik shook his head, and focused upon the rolling landscape outside his window as he continued.

"After I died, I didn't go where I was supposed to. I apparently still have unfinished business to take care of." I rolled my eyes.

"That's so cliché." I muttered. Henrik ignored me.

"I found myself standing amongst the gathering crowd watching my mother sobbing over my mangled body, and my sister and brothers comforting each other. I watched you get to your feet, covered in my blood and just walk away." I eyed him curiously from my peripherals.

"So you did know I was there. Why'd you lie?" I asked, sternly. Henrik shrugged.

"Like I said, my memory of that morning was fuzzy. It's coming back to me in patches." I nodded. "My sister and one of my brothers eventually persuaded you to come back."

"So what happened next?" I asked.

"Our family was devastated by my death, and as a result, our peace with the werewolves was over. My father was particularly vengeful and his pride inspired him to get even." Henrik looked shattered.

"Do you blame him? He just lost his youngest child to a bunch of dangerous predators. What did you think was going to happen?" I asked, dryly. Henrik flashed me an ugly look that I nearly recoiled from. _Maybe I should keep my mouth shut for now…_ I thought uneasily.

"If you knew what plan he had in mind for my siblings, you wouldn't be so quick to defend his actions." Henrik sounded strongly opposed to whatever his father had obviously done.

"So what did he do?" I asked, nervously. Henrik shuddered violently.

"I witnessed the entire thing, and now that I remember it; I wished that I hadn't." He said. Angry tears started welling up in his eyes. "I didn't mean for this to happen. I never wanted this to happen!" He shouted, and I looked at him with alarm.

"Henrik…" I started, but Henrik scowled at me.

"No, you need to know this." He insisted, and I closed my mouth and waited for him to finish. "Father 'requested' my mother to use dark magic to help make my brothers and sister stronger than the werewolves. Mother protested at first, attempting to explain to him that what he was asking for went against nature. But my father, stubborn and prideful as he was, insisted." The tears were starting to spill down his cheeks.

"I'm starting to get the idea." I replied, uneasily. "Please tell me I wasn't a part of this plan." I pleaded. Henrik gave me an unpleasant smile.

"If you were, we wouldn't be sitting in his car having this conversation. You'd probably be wherever my brother was at this moment, happily married." Henrik theorized. I nodded. "So my mother created a potion designed to render the drinker immortal, and mixed it in the wine father offered my siblings; which had also been laced with the blood of a local village girl. I think her name was Tatia Petrova." Henrik frowned thoughtfully.

I nearly choked on my spit.

"Your father did what!?" I exclaimed, nearly driving up somebody's backside. Henrik still had that unpleasant smile on his face.

"You heard me. But that's not the worst part." Henrik stated with disgust.

"It gets worse?" I asked, incredulously.

"After my brothers and sister had finished the wine, my father drove his sword through their hearts; killing them instantly." I was horrified. I was convinced that I'm gonna to have nightmares for weeks after hearing this dark story. "I remained in the house just watching the commotion from a corner, feeling helpless and knowing that all this was very, very wrong. When they woke up, I knew that something strange had happened to them. My suspicions were confirmed when father lead another local villager into our house. He used his hunting knife to slit open her wrist and then forced them all to drink from it." My eyes widened. I had to pull over to avoid causing an accident.

"Wait a minute." Henrik turned and looked at me. His dark brown eyes were cold and angry, and I knew that if my suspicions were correct that I'd be feeling much the same myself. "Please tell me that you're lying to me and attempting to get a rise out of me. Because you can't seriously be telling me that your parents deliberately changed your brothers and sister … into vampires." I waited for Henrik to suddenly burst out laughing and tell me that he was lying. But the dark expression on his face never changed.

"They didn't know that they had become vampires at first." Henrik admitted. "But yes, that is exactly what they became." He paused, probably preparing himself to drop some sort of massive reality bomb upon me. "My family are known as the Original Vampires: the very first vampires in existence." Holy shit… "Very powerful, indestructible and extremely dangerous." I nodded slowly, taking it all in. Surprisingly enough, I wasn't completely afraid. I mean, I'm not stupid enough to think that they wouldn't harm me. Because they could and probably wouldn't hesitate. But then I frowned.

"Nothing is completely indestructible." I protested. Henrik nodded.

"I agree. They do have a couple of weaknesses. And including you, only a handful of people know them." He admitted.

"Such as?" I prodded, maneuvering the car back on its course towards Mystic Falls. Henrik pointed up into the sky.

"Well let's start with the good old fashioned sunlight. Nature fought back by allowing the sun to burn their skin. It kept them inside for weeks before Mother finally found a solution." I squinted into the sunshine, which was blinding even with my tinted aviator sunglasses. "She fashioned rings imbued with a protection spell only activated by a witch's blessing and the Lapis Lazuli stone. Do you know what I'm talking about?" Henrik asked me. I nodded, picturing the blue stone in my head clearly. But I had always thought that that particular stone was used for those who were keen on wisdom, and was associated with cleansing and purification rituals. Colour me stunned that it had other uses.

"So if I see a person wearing a ring with that particular stone on it, I'm most likely staring at a vampire?" I confirmed. Henrik nodded.

"Where we're going, you probably won't see many. But if you do, maintain extreme caution. Which brings me to the second consequence my family discovered when they first became vampires." Henrik continued. "Mother had used the essence of the ancient White Oak Tree that grew not too far away from the village. Now ordinary wooden stakes – yes, I know that's a cliché, Grace – can kill other vampires. But those stakes would only temporarily paralyze my siblings. They can only be killed with the wood from the White Oak Tree. And because the tree is so rare, the only solution that they knew of was to burn down the tree." My eyes widened. I was learning about some seriously badass vampires. "At the base of the tree and growing in patches nearby, were some small purple flowers that look like weeds. This was the third consequence discovered. These little flowers are called vervain and they repel vampires by burning their skin like the sunlight. They can also protect humans and other supernatural beings if they wear the flower either in their pockets or in jewelry, or if they consume it on a daily basis. It will protect you from being compelled." Henrik stated.

"Compelled? You mean like mind control?" I asked, sounding outraged. Henrik nodded and my dislike for vampires was increasing rapidly. Then another thought occurred to me. "And let me guess, Vervain is probably as scarce as hen's teeth right?" If I sounded bitter, you'd probably be correct. Henrik smiled.

"No, as far as I'm aware that is quite common." I relaxed a little. Then got serious when something more sinister and I would've thought obvious occurred to me. But Henrik beat me to the punch. "But I think the worse consequence that my siblings ever encountered – and still suffer daily from nowadays – was the unquenchable thirst. This was always something that I felt guilty about." Well, I suddenly felt a bit better about going to a supernaturally aware town. I at least was equipped with the basics of how to protect myself in the event that I could potentially be confronted with a blood crazed vampire.

"Well, thanks for telling me all this, Henrik. You've really opened my eyes for me." I thanked him. Henrik scowled at the tone.

"You don't have to sound so bloody sarcastic about it. It was smarter to actually let you in on the secret, rather than having you drive into the town and not know anything. That's like painting a target on your back and inviting somebody to kill you." Henrik griped. I scowled back.

"Well, excuse me for being slightly overwhelmed. I'll try to maintain a poker face next time you bombard me with information like that in the future." I bitched back and stared straight ahead at the road. Henrik's severe look softened slightly.

"Hey, I'm just trying to protect you so you don't end up like me. My brother would be devastated and probably go insane if anything happened to you, and he wasn't able to prevent it." He attempted to help me understand. I deflated a little, touched that he obviously cared enough about me to be honest.

"Thanks." I said, smiling a little. I glanced at the time on the dashboard and realized how late it was getting. It looked like I would be arriving at Mystic Falls probably late afternoon the next day. "I gotta check in for the night." I announced and immediately turned off into the next town, searching for decent motel. The motel I eventually found was small, but looked clean and reasonably occupied by other weary travelers. Parking my car, I wondered over to the reception desk and rapped smartly on the window. A tired looking middle-aged woman came into view.

"Yes?" She asked, glaring at me slightly. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at how low customer service had sunk nowadays and gave her my best smile as I pulled off my sunglasses and perched them on the top of my head.

"Hi, may I have a cabin for one please?" I asked. Henrik leaned on the wall beside me raising an eyebrow at the woman's rudeness. The woman sighed.

"Give me a sec." She muttered and disappeared over to a nearby computer, clicking away at it. This woman was testing my already frayed patience.

"Manners are lacking nowadays." Henrik observed dryly, and I struggled to maintain a straight face as to not arouse suspicion in the woman when she turned and came back over to me.

"Number three is open." The woman muttered. "How many days are you staying?" She asked, sounding slightly impatient. It was becoming clear that this wasn't her day job, and she was just filling in for somebody on break. She just didn't seem very hospitable for a proprietor.

"Just overnight." I replied, eying her warily. "How much do I owe you?" I asked, hoping the fee wasn't overpriced.

"$45 a night." She replied, and I nodded and forked over what she asked. At least the price was fair, but then again I was from England where prices were considered slightly more expensive. At least they were when I was a kid. I took the key she pushed under the partition.

"Thanks." I walked back to my car, followed closely by Henrik before something else occurred to me. I jogged back to the window and knocked again. The woman reappeared, scowling.

"What do you want now?" She growled. I was taken aback, and immediately scowled back.

"Well, excuse me for breathing." I retorted hotly. "You don't need to be rude, I wanted to know what the checkout time was." I snapped back.

"10:00am." The rude bitch barked at me. This woman was extremely lucky that I wasn't a vampire or a werewolf. I wouldn't have hesitated to rip out her throat.

"Thank you. _Try_ to have a good night." I said, frowning at her with disgust before I jammed my sunglasses back on and stomped back towards my car. Any pleasant mood I had was gone, and I wasn't in the mood to do anything except sleep by the time I guided my car towards the correct motel room. Henrik looked a little afraid of me, which I noticed and I drew in a couple of deep breaths like my mum had taught me whenever things got too stressful, before turning and smiling at him.

"Are you okay?" He asked me, cautiously. I blinked back at him, aware that my temper hadn't completely fizzled out yet.

"I'll live, why?" I asked. Henrik looked a little spooked.

"No reason, you just looked exactly like my brother did just then when he got angry." He observed. I raised an eyebrow.

"Which brother?" I asked, intrigued as I shoved the motel room key home and let myself in. The room itself wasn't remarkable, but it at least looked clean. Henrik didn't waste time and immediately went and lounged lazily on the double bed before responding.

"My favourite brother." He said.

"The one who tried to save you from the werewolves?" I asked.

"Yep." Henrik answered, popping the 'p'. "He can't stand people who are out and out rude for no good reason, other than because the person they are addressing had disturbed them or not." I added that bit of information to my list. Apparently, he and I had that in common as well. Good to know.

"Got a bit of foul temper has he?" I asked, trying to lighten up the already miserable mood surrounding us like a heavy blanket.

"Yeah, a little more than 'a bit' to be honest. But it's been forever since I've last saw him. Things might've improved." Henrik shrugged. So no help at all then? I sighed and quickly darted back out to my car and pulled out my rolling suitcase, sketchbook and art supplies before closing and locking the car, for the moment. "I'll be back later. Don't wait up for me. If I don't see you here, I'll meet you at Mystic Falls." Henrik suddenly spoke up, and disappeared from sight.

He did this quite a bit, so I wasn't worried. If he was moving on permanently, there probably would've been something more dramatic happening. I closed the door and hooked the security chain in place before turning and scanning the room. It was still a little early to head out for dinner, so I decided to do a bit of internet surfing, some sketching or maybe have a little nap before heading out to find a diner or a pub somewhere for dinner.

Heading for the tiny kitchenette, I located the complementary kettle and filled it up before grabbing a mug and a teabag and setting it aside as I clicked the kettle on. While the water was boiling, I pulled out my laptop and searched around for the free WI-FI. Once I accessed it, I logged on and almost instantly was bombarded with a loud dinging noise that indicated somebody had come onto Facebook Messenger. It was Elena. Almost instantly, she sent me a message:

 _Hey Grace! Did you find a new place to live yet?_ I smiled, and made myself comfortable as I answered her question. I needed some cheering up after this … interesting day rich with information about Henrik's colourful history.

 _As a matter of fact, I have. I'm currently en-route to a town called Mystic Falls in Virginia._ I typed back, just as the kettle finished boiling. I immediately jumped off the bed and fixed myself a drink. I frowned at the little dinky milk creamers I found in the mini-fridge, and made a note to purchase some milk on my way back from getting some dinner. Heading back to my laptop, I found a heavily punctuated message from Elena. By what I read, she was obviously excited about something.

 _OH MY GOD! I live in Mystic Falls! This is so great!_ I was taken aback at this odd co-incidence.

 _Small world. Maybe I'll look you up when I get there._ I replied back. Seconds after I hit the enter key, Elena's message jumped up at me.

 _Or, better still, how about we meet up some place and get to know one another, face to face?_ Elena suggested. I paused, thinking it over. It wasn't a bad idea, and it would be a good idea to have somebody who knew the area to show me around. Still…

 _Oh, I don't wanna be a bother. I'm sure, you've already made plans and I don't want to unravel them…_ I returned, sipping from my tea.

 _No, don't worry about that. I hadn't really made any plans. A lot of stuff has gone down here and I just need something to take my mind off it for a while. I just kinda need a distraction._ I frowned. Wasn't really sure how I was supposed to take that. I don't really want to be somebody's distraction.

 _Well, I'm glad to be of service... I think? Do you need any help with your problems?_ I asked tentatively.

 _I don't think you can do much. My boyfriend, my friends and I have got it under control, I think. But thanks for offering. What time are you arriving?_ Elena asked. I glanced at the room's alarm clock and did a mental calculation in my head. Provided I got out of here on time, I estimated that I'd probably had another couple hours or so to get to Virginia. If I didn't somehow get lost along the way. And part of me hoped that Henrik would be back, so he could guide me too.

 _Late afternoon tomorrow, maybe? Don't quote me on that._ I replied. I reached for where I had put my phone on the bedside table next to my car keys and room key and set my alarm for 8:30. That should give me enough time to get up and go through my morning routine before setting off again. And hopefully Henrik would be back then as well.

 _That sounds tricky. Let me know when you get to town, and I'll text you from there. Here's my number._ Elena sent me a phone number which I immediately added to my contacts, and I pranked her so she'd get mine.

 _Thanks. You should've just received mine. I'll send word when I get there._ I promised. _Well, I'm kinda beat. I just learnt a disturbing story from a friend of mine and it kinda drained me a little. I'm gonna take a nap. I'll hopefully see you tomorrow, Elena. Talk soon._ I told her. A few minutes later, Elena replied.

 _Not a problem. Can't wait to finally meet you face to face. See you soon, Grace!_ And then she logged off. I shook my head, feeling bemused before closing my laptop lid firmly and setting it down on the bedside table. I set another alarm on my phone to wake me an hour from now and lay back into the pillow underneath my head. It only took a few minutes before I fell straight to sleep.

* * *

Woke up exactly an hour later to the sound of my alarm clock blaring loudly into my ear and I resisted the urge to seize the damn thing and fling it against the wall. Groaning in annoyance, I immediately turned down the volume on it and sat up. I was hungry, so I decided to get up and put my shoes on, and go out and find something to eat. I picked up my laptop and hid it underneath my panties in my suitcase before zipping it up and leaning it against the wall out of sight from the carpark of the motel, and grabbed my keys.

Leaving the motel, I drove towards a pub that I saw on my way into the town and pulled into the nearest car spot, killing the engine. Picking up my sketchbook, I got out of the car and made my way into the building, making a quick survey around the room. It was crowded, mostly with young families, and the occasional 'confirmed' bachelors posed up at the bar prowling the scene for their latest victim. I walked up to a podium marked with a sign that read: 'please wait to be seated' and absently checked my phone. I had one text message from Elena, thanking me for my number and hoping that I had a safe trip. I smiled and texted her back.

"Hey there!" A bright, bubbly voice greeted me and I glanced up to see a seating hostess a couple years older than me looking directly at me, all smiles. I sent my message to Elena, then put my phone away giving the girl my full attention. "Just you tonight?" She asked politely.

"That's right." I replied, warmly.

"Great! Please follow me." The girl requested and snatched up a menu, walking off towards the restaurant floor. She led me towards a small plushy looking booth and gestured with her free hand towards it. I thanked her and sat down, bouncing slightly on the fake leather. The ground beneath my feet was slightly sticky. "Can I get you something to drink while you look through the menu?" The girl asked handing me said menu. I briefly scanned the drinks options.

"Um, yeah. May I have a Lemon, Lime and Bitters please?" I requested. The girl tapped away at a large tablet in her hands and smiled.

"Lovely. I'll bring it right out." She told me.

"Awesome." I grinned back, and the girl walked away. I flipped open the menu and absently scanned the options. There was a surprisingly large amount of deep fried foods on offer, but I eventually settled on a pub style Lasagne with a garden salad. Flipping the menu shut, I pushed it to one side and opened my sketchbook to document a strange image I saw during my nap. I was about halfway through roughly sketching out the beginnings of the picture when the girl arrived with my drink… and glanced over to see somebody else sitting across from me in the booth: Henrik.

"Here's your drink." The girl said, placing down a large top ball glass of an orange and yellow coloured drink topped with ice and a bobbling lime wedge.

"Hey Grace, enjoying your night so far?" Henrik asked, smiling pleasantly at me. I ignored him for a moment to quickly get rid of the girl so she didn't think I was nuts sitting in a booth and talking to myself like I had multiple personalities.

"Ready to order?" She asked. I quickly ordered the Lasagne, and turned towards Henrik who waited patiently.

"So where did you go off to?" I asked him, stirring the bitters into my drink with my black straw and turning it a shocking orange-red colour, before returning to my sketch. Henrik was silent for a few minutes, concerning me slightly.

"Trying to see if I could locate my siblings. But I only could sense two of them." Henrik explained, sounding a little upset.

"Oh, that's strange." I said. Henrik nodded. Then I smiled at him reassuringly. "I don't think it's anything you need to get upset about. They're probably just hiding for whatever reason. Perhaps they'll turn up eventually." I suggested. Henrik looked unsure. It was then that I felt like someone was looking right at me. I could feel their eyes burrowing into the back of my head. I tensed up, and tried to discreetly turn to locate the owner of the stare. But just as quickly, the feeling vanished.

"You okay?" Henrik asked, just as my dinner arrived. I thanked the waitress, and turned back to Henrik, feeling a bit disturbed.

"It just felt like somebody was watching me." I admitted. Henrik scanned the room, looking for the culprit and I couldn't help but smile affectionately at my little friend. It must be awesome to be able to scan the room without being noticed, because you're dead. After a few moments, Henrik turned back and faced me.

"I couldn't see anybody. You sure they were staring at you?" He asked, looking and sounding a little worried. I waved my hand dismissively, but still kept my guard up.

"Nah, I'm probably just being paranoid, as usual." I reassured him, cutting a piece of my dinner and popping it into my mouth. Henrik nodded, not looking like he believed me. He glanced down at my latest sketch and studied it curiously.

"What are you drawing now?" He wondered. I shrugged, still chewing.

"I'm not sure yet." I replied when my mouth was empty. Henrik rolled his eyes.

"You always say that." He muttered, then really studied it. "It looks like the handfasting ritual." Henrik stated. I looked at him curiously.

"What's a 'handfasting ritual'?" I asked. Henrik grinned and looked off into the distance as though attempting to remember something from the distant past.

"Mother told me once that it was a wedding ceremony that went back generations." He explained. "It means to formally promise, or to make a contract of marriage." I blinked in astonishment.

"Why the hell did I suddenly dream about an old Viking tradition?" I asked him. Henrik smiled a little.

"Remember when I told you that you were engaged to one of my brothers?" He asked me. I nodded.

"Yeah, I remember. I also met him in my dreams. He's a bloody good kisser." I replied, smirking at the revolted face Henrik made.

"Thanks, Grace. That's more than I needed to know. But my point is, the 'handfasting ritual' was what you and he were going to be undertaking if you had lived long enough to marry him." He revealed. I glanced down at the sketch of two hands: one male and one female, clasped together with what looked like a ribbon or rope of some description woven around them, 'binding' them together.

"Is it a complicated ritual?" I asked, curiously.

"How should I know? I've never been to a ceremony. The best person to ask that sort of question is my sister or one of my brothers. But you've never met them before in this lifetime and I don't know where they are." Henrik replied. Figures. I took my time finishing off my dinner before signaling for the waitress for my bill, paying and driving myself (and Henrik) back to the motel room.

"I'm gonna take a shower." I told him, securing the security chain and closing the curtains. "Why don't you watch TV, until I get back?" I suggested, flipping on the cheap looking TV set and flicking through the channels until I found one that caught Henrik's interest. He nodded absently before I set down the remote, gathered up my toiletries, and my black T-shirt and light blue checkered flannel sleep pants; disappearing into the tiny bathroom.

About ten minutes later, I re-immerged from the steamy bathroom; feeling fresh and clean now that I had scrubbed away the grime of the day off my skin. The first thing I saw was Henrik passed out on the bed; deep in slumber. I was surprised, as I thought ghosts couldn't sleep as they were technically dead. But then again, I was no expert on ghosts, so I shrugged and dismissed it putting away my dirty clothes and pulled back the duvet, sliding down between the sheets.

However, I wasn't tired yet, and I knew that if I forced myself to go to sleep I won't get any or at least very little of it. I clapped eyes on Henrik and was suddenly struck with inspiration. I smiled and immediately hopped back out of bed and fetched my sketchbook and drawing supplies. Gently easing my way back on the bed, I sat sideways facing my friend and just started drawing. It wasn't though anybody was going to be looking through this book anytime soon. I was a bit sensitive about people's opinions about my work, and I didn't want to be discouraged. By the time I had finished, I was barely fighting to keep my eyes open. Instead of setting aside the book, I just lay down on my pillow with the picture between the both of us, and just fell asleep.

* * *

 **A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please review :)**


	4. Mystic Falls

**A/N: Okay boys and girls, here comes another update! I hope that you enjoy this chapter.**

 **Please review afterwards, and no flaming.**

 **I don't own _The Vampire Diaries._ All characters (except for Grace) belong to J.L. Smith.**

 **Enjoy ;)**

* * *

 **MYSTIC FALLS**

" _There are no strangers here; only friends you haven't met yet."  
_ _ **~William Butler Yeats.**_

* * *

The sound of my phone's alarm sent me shooting upright in bed. I groped around blindly for it and slid my finger across the off switch. I yawned and pulled aside the duvet. The carpet beneath my feet felt soft and I curled my toes into it as I stretched and worked out the kinks in my back and spine, waking my body up.

"Why'd you draw a picture of me?" I spun round to see Henrik blinking down quizzically at the sketch I had tiredly put aside last night before falling into a (thankfully) dreamless sleep. I shrugged and turned towards him completely.

"I decided now was as good a time as any. Why? Don't you like it?" I questioned sleepily and a little guardedly. Henrik shrugged.

"No, it's great. Thanks." He flashed me a smile. "But did you have to draw me while I was asleep?" He grumbled. I giggled at the petulant pout on his face. It really didn't suit the image of him as a quiet, well-behaved son of a prideful Viking and his powerful witch wife at all.

"That depends. Would you pose for me awake?" I asked, smiling at him warmly. Henrik pretended to think for a minute before grinning and nodded.

"Sure. But get rid of the one you drew of me asleep." He urged. I immediately snatched up my sketchbook and cradled it against my chest.

"No way. I think it's a great sketch. I mean that in a strictly modest way." I told him. Henrik smirked back.

"Sure you did." He teased, and I stuck my tongue out at him and retrieved my toiletries and what I had planned on wearing today. After taking care of my morning routines, I spent the next hour drinking coffee, packing away my suitcase with my toiletries (after retrieving my laptop from underneath my panties and stashing it back into my laptop case) and dirty clothes, and working out the best route to take to get to Mystic Falls safely. I was going to grab some breakfast along the way. The coffee was just to jump start my system and help me focus. "You better get going if you're gonna make it to Mystic Falls before dark." Henrik reminded me.

I nodded, drank down the last dregs of my coffee, cleaned up my mug, brushed my teeth and grabbed my belongings. Leaving the door open with the key still in the lock, as per the motel's instructions, I packed away my suitcase into my car. Henrik was already sitting in the front seat by the time I got in.

"Excited about going home?" I asked him, curiously. Henrik shrugged, but I could see signs of tension in his dark brown eyes. He was definitely nervous about going back to the place where he had been born, raised and killed in his very short life. "Hey, don't worry about it. You're not alone in this. Remember, I'm returning home too." I reminded him, and he grinned appreciatively.

"Thanks, Grace." He replied, quietly.

Then we were off, on the last part of our journey towards my new phase of life. But I could sense something was bothering Henrik, as he was quiet again. He was showing signs that he was itching to tell me something, but was backing down at the last second. This would continue on for a few minutes: where Henrik would glance at me from out the corner of his eye, make a gesture to say something, and then chicken out at the last second. Then the process would start over again. Finally, I got annoyed and decided to coax it out of him.

"Something bothering you?" I asked him, curiously. Henrik frowned, looking as though he were in pain and didn't reply for several minutes. Eventually, he gave in.

"There's something else I need to tell you relating to my family's bloody history." He finally admitted.

"Oh?" I replied, surprised. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." I told him, observing how much it obviously pained him to reveal this to me. Henrik made his stubborn face.

"It involves you." He stated, coolly.

I fell silent. By the seriousness in his tone, I could tell that whatever he needed to reveal to me, was bound to either piss me off, upset me, frighten me, or a combination of all three put together.

"Now I gotta know." I replied, with a joking, upbeat tone in my voice that felt false even to my own ears.

"You're not gonna like it." Henrik warned me. I nodded once, agreeing with him.

"I kinda figured that." I said. "Just rip off the metaphorical band aid and get it over with, Henrik." I suggested to him, firmly. "Hopefully, it will make you feel better. I'd rather know about it now then be confronted with whatever it is in the future." I reminded him. Henrik conceded.

"You know how I told you that one of the consequences of my siblings becoming vampires was the insatiable thirst?" Henrik asked.

"What about it?" I asked, questioning where he was going with this.

"What I neglected to tell you, was that one of my brothers had a hard time dealling with it. So much so that it eventually got him into trouble, and became a danger to the rest of us." Henrik explained. I nodded.

"What he nearly exposed you to the villagers, and threatened your chances of staying in the village?" I fished. Henrik shook his head.

"No, nothing like that. He did expose something, but it was more he exposed a secret that my mother had kept hidden from my father." Henrik told me. I was confused.

"So what does that have to do with me?" I asked.

"I'm getting to it, I promise. I just don't want to scare you." Henrik pleaded. "One night two of my brothers and my father went out hunting. One of my brothers lost control and drained one of the villagers. The second his dead body hit the earth, he revealed something sinister about himself." Henrik hesitated.

I got suspicious.

"What's wrong, Henrik. Why so edgy?" I prodded. Henrik subtly fingered his ripped and torn shirt, grabbing my attention and I immediately realised what he was getting at. My eyes widened.

"You don't mean…" I mumbled. Henrik nodded, and I felt the blood drain from my face.

"He became what killed me." That immediately made me think back to the dream I had shared with him two nights ago before I left for Virginia. The appearance of that wolf couldn't have been a co-incidence. I couldn't help but feel both stunned and horrified that my mysterious stranger, who had so passionately kissed me and held me close was a werewolf … and a vampire?

"Wait that can't be right. How can your brother, the man my past life was engaged to, be both a vampire AND a werewolf? Is that even possible?" I asked, already forming a headache.

"You know it is, Grace. I wouldn't have told you that my family became vampires if I was lying to you about it." Henrik sounded annoyed. "The point is my father isn't a werewolf, which meant that my brother wasn't his son." Henrik looked at me dead on. "My brother is a hybrid of a werewolf and a vampire. Thus making him extremely powerful and impossible to kill. My father actually called him a beast and an abomination." I was aghast. But I needed to know more. Particularly if I was involved.

"Can we get to the part where I'm involved?" I asked. Henrik grimaced. It was obvious that he didn't want to tell me.

"Our family decided to keep you in the dark about their transformation. You were very confused and worried." Henrik explained, reluctantly. I frowned, still focusing on the road.

"I should say so." I replied, evenly. "But I think I would've understood eventually if you did keep me in the loop." I was defensive and by the expression of Henrik's face, he knew it. I know women were treated differently back in the 11th century, but this is ridiculous. "So what happened next?" I demanded, hoping my tone was calm.

"The next night was a full moon, and as usual, the villagers went back to the caves for safety. My sister and you realised that mother, father and two of my brothers weren't there. So against my sister's wishes, you decided foolishly to go out and find them. I followed you." My eyes widened in shock.

"I think I know where this is going." I whispered. "Are you telling me that I went out and got myself killed by a stupid werewolf?" I asked, sounding appalled.

"No you didn't." Henrik stated. "You were murdered. It was meant to be a warning and a threat by my father to my brother." Now I was outraged. I was used as a punishment against the man I was supposed to marry? Why? "You stumbled upon mother, father and one of my brothers chaining him to a wooden cross. They were placing a curse upon him, so that he couldn't use his werewolf abilities." I white-knuckled the steering wheel. "Right before the curse was finished, you came out of hiding to stop them; but you had unknowingly put yourself in danger by becoming a target for father's unrepressed rage. The fact that your fiancé screamed at you to run just sealed your fate.'

"Eventually, your fiancé broke free from the cross and came after you to protect you. He found you hiding in some bushes. But you were frightened of him, because of what you realised they had become. My brother eventually persuaded you to trust him and trust that he would get you out of harm's way—" Henrik continued.

"—And I put my trust in him and we ran for safety." I automatically took over the story. Henrik looked at me in astonishment.

"How did you know that?" He demanded, sounding slightly stunned. I snorted.

"It seemed like the likely thing to happen next." I shrugged, dismissively. I was still holding the stirring wheel in a death grip. I was so angry about learning that I had been used like that. "So how was I murdered, since clearly we must have been caught?" I asked, sounding bitter.

Henrik looked sad.

"My other brother who had betrayed your fiancé intercepted him by shoving him against a nearby tree. You were thrown into a heap. Father then seized his chance and stabbed you in the side." I paused, placing a hand on my stomach. Henrik noticed. "What is it?" He asked. Luckily, I had spied a diner off the side of the highway, and had immediately pulled off towards it. Putting my car into park, I slowly raised my shirt and revealed my birthmark sitting just underneath my right breast.

"So that's what this birthmark relates to." I mumbled. Henrik looked confused.

"You've lost me." He stated.

"There's a saying that says: birthmarks are the site of where traumatic injuries were sustained from a past life. Or at least, that's what my Gran told me when I was little." I told him. "I never thought that this birthmark would be from something as violent as a death sustained by an angry prideful man." Then I felt my eyes narrowing in anger. "But if your father became a vampire like your siblings, then he better stay out of my way; or I'll kill him … or at least die again trying to." I told Henrik, adding that last part in when he looked at me with alarm.

"He'll kill you. He's a thousand year old vampire." Henrik insisted. I glared at him.

"I don't care. Nobody uses me to get back at someone." I growled.

"Don't be so reckless. You'll have to get through my brother first." He reminded me. My glare softened a little at the thought of my mysterious stranger.

"So? We'll work it out. I'll even tag team him if I have to. The point is, I'm gonna make him pay." I insisted, stubbornly. Henrik sighed and threw up his arms.

"Fine. Do what you want. But it's gonna end in tears, I can feel it." Henrik despaired. I left him to it, as my stomach was threatening to eat its way out of my gut if I didn't fill it with food and soon.

* * *

I couldn't actually believe how accurate I had been with my estimated time of arrival in Mystic Falls. I know it wasn't an exact time, but I had predicted sometime in the afternoon, which according to my watch told me it was about 2:00pm in the afternoon. I couldn't help but smile a little as I watched the wooden _'Welcome to Mystic Falls'_ sign fly past as I drove straight on through into town. I glanced over at Henrik, using my peripherals, and was curious to know what his reaction was to being back in the town where a thousand years ago, he had been born, had a childhood in, and died horribly.

"Anything familiar to you yet, Henrik?" I asked him, casually. Henrik was staring at the thick forest of evergreen trees rushing past the passenger side window in a multi-coloured blur with a puzzled frown on his face.

"Not really. A thousand years is a long time." He replied, glumly. I nodded, accepting the answer. "But I wouldn't mind exploring just to see if I can remember, though." Henrik grinned, and I smiled back.

"Don't see why not. But I think it might be safer if we do that during the day. You're not really here, and I'd be a sitting duck if Mystic Falls is really the hot spot for the supernatural as you've described it to be." I suggested.

Henrik agreed. It wasn't until I drove over a rickety looking wooden bridge that Henrik finally spoke up.

"I remember this place." He said, excitedly. I slowed to a stop.

"You wanna get out and check it out?" I asked him. He nodded, and immediately materialised through the metal car door. I rolled my eyes.

"Show off." I muttered as I got out of the car and wondered over to where I could see Henrik peering down at the rushing water flowing underneath the bridge. I shivered, not necessarily because of cold air, but because of something else. A couple of presences that lingered here.

"My father and brothers used to go hiking around here with me. Of course, there was no bridge here, but I definitely remember stopping here for water at one point." Henrik explained, sounding like a kid at Christmas.

I smiled fondly, pleased that he was getting something positive out of coming back here to Mystic Falls. Then something moving out the corner of my eye caught my attention, and I turned towards the movement. My eyes widened in shock when I saw two people; a couple by the looks of it, standing there smiling and calmly looking at both me and Henrik, who hadn't noticed their presence yet. The woman was petite and thin with long straight dark brown hair framing an oval shaped face from which warm, friendly dark brown eyes blinked back at me. She was dressed conservatively, but with a hint of new age. The man standing beside her with an arm around the woman's waist was a head taller than his wife (I assumed), also dressed conservatively, and also with neatly groomed short dark brown hair.

"Hello." I greeted them. "May I help you? If you're looking for directions, I'm afraid I can't give them to you, because I've only just arrived and I'm new myself." I tried my best not to stammer, considering how this couple had just materialised out of nowhere.

"No, thank you. We're fine." The woman answered me. "We were just wondering if you might be able to give a message to our daughter for us?" I blinked.

"Uh, yeah. Sure, I can do that. What's your daughter's name and what's the message?" I replied. Henrik chose that moment to look over and walk to my side. He too was frowning cautiously at the couple.

"Her name is Elena Gilbert." My eyes widened. "And we'd like to tell her that we miss her, and we're proud of her, and to not be afraid. All will be good in the end." The woman told me.

"You're Elena's parents?" I croaked. They nodded. I let out an incredulous laugh. "I must be losing my mind. If you are her parents then you must be ghosts because she told me specifically that you both died in a car accident nearly two years ago." I stated.

"That's right." The man said. "My name is Grayson, and this is my wife, Miranda." I glanced over at Henrik, who was looking just as shocked as I probably did.

"Well, Henrik. Looks like I'm a medium. Because it's not just your ghost I can see … but everybody else's on this god damned earth." I muttered, feeling irritated. Miranda looked at Henrik in astonishment.

"When did you die, honey?" She asked, looking concerned. Henrik gave her an 'are-you-for-real' smirk.

"About a thousand years ago, give or take a couple of days." Henrik replied, matter-of-factly. I took over the explanation, feeling protective of my, for all intents and purposes, little brother; since technically once I apparently reunite with his brother, I will be his 'older' sister.

"Henrik was my past life's soon to be brother-in-law. He was mauled to death by a werewolf who had lost control and attacked him." I explained. Both Miranda and Grayson looked horrified.

"Oh no! That's horrible! I'm so sorry for you, Henrik." Miranda exclaimed, and Henrik couldn't help but smile appreciatively at Elena's adoptive mother.

"Thanks." He mumbled back. Grayson looked back at me.

"So can you deliver our message to Elena?" He asked. I hesitated.

"I can, there's no problem there. But the point is she's gonna think I'm nuts, extremely insensitive and/or taking the mickey out of her." I explained. Miranda smiled.

"Not if you time it right. There's going to come a time when the right opportunity will arise, and Elena will not hesitate to believe you." She explained.

"Fantastic." I muttered underneath my breath, sarcastically. I glanced up at them, and gave them a pained smile. "Got it. I'll let her know at the right moment." I promised.

"Thank you." Grayson said, gratefully. "We better be going now." He told Henrik and I. We both nodded. But just as Miranda was about to follow her husband, she paused and turned back to Henrik.

"Is there anybody on the other side that you'd like us to pass on a message to?" She asked, politely. Henrik thought for a moment, before responding.

"If my mother is on the other side, could you tell her that I miss her and that I'm sorry that I disobeyed the rules and left the cave that night? She'll know what I mean." Henrik replied. Miranda nodded.

"I'll be sure to give her that message. Hopefully, you'll be able to tell her yourself someday." Miranda gave us both a friendly smile and a wave before she turned and disappeared alongside her husband to wherever they were meant to go to.

There was silence for several minutes after the Gilberts left. Both Henrik and I were a little dumbstruck. It was certainly not something I expected to see when I first arrived at my new town. Maybe I made the wrong decision to come here? Henrik stepped into my view.

"No, you didn't make a wrong decision to come here." He stated, sternly. I blinked at him.

"How did you know that was what I thinking?" I demanded, suspiciously.

"Just the look on your face. If my brother found out that you came here, then decided to leave and go somewhere else; he'd throw the biggest temper tantrum." Henrik explained. I smirked.

"Seriously? He'd throw a toddler-like temper tantrum that I didn't stay in Mystic Falls?" I giggled, as I wondered back to my car and hopped in. Henrik materialised in the passenger seat beside me as I buckled up.

"No. Think more along the lines of bloodshed and massacres." I blanched at the thought. "Word is on the supernatural grape vine, is that before my brother disappeared and went into hiding, his foul temper was legendary. If you lived to tell the tale." Henrik explained, soberly.

I laughed nervously.

"Good thing I had no intentions of turning back." I started the car. "Mental note: don't piss off highly volatile hybrid. Especially if he's been searching for me for a thousand years." I quipped, before moving to put the car in gear. Then suddenly, something occurred to me. "Oh, shit! I almost forgot to let Elena know that we're here." I yelled, and fumbled around for my purse which I stowed my phone in.

" _We're_ here?" I turned and saw the cocky little smirk on Henrik's face, as I flicked through my contacts for Elena's number.

"Watch it, little brother." I smirked back, as I hit Elena's name with my thumb and turned to look out the window. If I had been still looking at Henrik, I would've noticed the look of complete elation on his face and reflected in his deep brown eyes that I had finally accepted that I was soon to be sister. I listened to the phone attempting to connect.

 _"Hello?"_ A cautious slightly raspy Southern accented voice answered. I raised an eyebrow at how mature Elena sounded to my ears.

"Elena? This is Grace. You told me to get in contact with you when I crossed the town border?" I responded. There was rapid movement in the background on Elena's end and I frowned in confusion. "Hello?" I called.

 _"Yeah, sorry. Hi Grace! I can't believe you're finally here!"_ Elena chirped excitedly into my ear. I nodded.

"Yeah, I arrived about ten minutes ago. I just needed to pullover for a minute stretch my legs." I lied a little, glancing over at Henrik, who was listening in to the conversation.

 _"Oh, really? Where'd you stop?"_ Elena asked, sounding a little concerned. Why?

"I passed over a rickety old bridge, and stopped not too far away on the side of the road." I replied. Elena muttered something inaudible to somebody on her side of the phone.

 _"You're near the Wickery Bridge. So you're not too far away from the town's square. Great."_ Elena told me. _"Do you wanna meet me at the town's diner? It's called the Mystic Grill, you can't miss it."_ Elena asked. I glanced at my watch again, to check the time. 2:30pm.

"Uh, actually. I'd like to find my apartment and sign some contracts before doing something like that. I'll call you back when I'm all signed up and gone through all the red tape etc." I said.

 _"Not a problem. I'll wait to hear from you."_ Elena agreed.

"Awesome. I'll talk soon." I hung up and chucked my phone onto the dashboard before pulling out onto the road, and following my nose all the way into town.

"She sounds nice." Henrik observed. I shrugged.

"Elena didn't sound like what I was expecting. But I guess I'm just judging again." I stated. Henrik frowned at me.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"I wrongfully assumed that because Elena lived in Virginia that she'd be the stereotypical Southern Belle, with the same annoying high-pitched accent. I stood corrected." I replied. Henrik laughed.

"Yeah, that'll teach you to look before you leap." Henrik teased, and I wished that he was solid so I could smack him upside the head. Even thinking about doing that, gave me a vivid image of somebody – obviously male – doing exactly that while a blonde girl giggled from beside me. Her arm looped through mine like we were best friends. Slightly disturbed, I chose to ignore it and focused on the here and now. Before long, I turned my car down another street and found myself in Mystic Falls town square. It looked modest and like every other town I've ever been to. I drove passed some shopping strips, and glimpsed the town hall which had a clock tower and the American Flag waving in the wind from on top of its spire.

"Okay. Now where the hell do I need to go?" I mumbled underneath my breath, and grabbed my phone from the dashboard. I flicked through the emails and located the one I had gotten from my realtor two days ago. Locating the address, I steered my car in the right direction and found myself in front of an unremarkable Apartment block. I noticed a red 'for rent' sign in one of the windows. "That must be mine then." I mused, and parked my car. A woman in a smart, trendy grey suit and skirt was waiting patiently in front of the doors that led upstairs into the apartments.

Her eyes immediately clapped onto mine, when I stepped from my car.

"Hello!" She greeted me, brightly, offering me her hand. "You must be Grace. I'm Rachel, we've spoken on the phone before." I took her hand, pumping it up and down twice as she flashed me a wall of white that looked obviously fake.

"How's it going?" I greeted her, looping my purse over my head and on my opposite shoulder. I brushed a loose piece of my hair around my ear as Rachel gestured to the front door.

"Excellent. Now then, shall we go on through?" I nodded, locking my car and walked passed her and up the staircase. The heels of my boots making dull tapping noises on the wood. I glanced to my right to see Henrik falling into step beside me, curiously glancing about with interest. Rachel led me towards the correct floor and towards my new apartment. I opened the door, and took an uncertain step inside; nervous about what I was going to find. What I naturally assumed to be a tiny, slightly stuffy apartment about the size of a tuna can; turned out to be a spacious studio apartment in shades of cream, greys, blacks and light tan coloured floorboards. And also…

"Furnished?" I turned and looked at Rachel with confusion. The woman's lips puckered slightly.

"Is that a problem?" Rachel inquired. I shook my head and stepped further into the apartment.

"Not at all. Just a surprise." I responded, lightly touching a smoky grey leather couch that stood against the wall. Whoever owned this place must've had expensive taste. "What happened to the last tenant?" I asked curiously. These were obviously their belongings. Rachel hesitated, probably assuming that I wasn't going to like the answer.

"Oh, it was a tragedy really. Mauled to death by a mountain lion." I stiffened. As did Henrik. Rachel winced when she noticed my reaction. "Oh, I'm sorry. I tend to stick my foot in it sometimes." She apologised. I waved away her apology.

"No, don't worry about it. I'm glad you were honest." I replied sincerely.

I was pleased actually that the apartment was furnished. The meagre belongings I actually had wouldn't come close to filling up the space offered. The late afternoon sunlight filtered in through the curtains surrounding a window, that I crossed over to look out of. I had a great view of the town's square from here. I smiled. I think I was going to like it here. And because I knew I was going to meet my mysterious stranger soon, I didn't mind that this particular town was infested with the supernatural.

"So what do you think?" Rachel's voice interrupted my musings; probably hoping she hadn't scared me off.

"I'll take it. Definitely." I announced, spinning around to address Rachel. She sagged with relief and gave me a broad, professional smile.

"Fantastic. Let's get the paperwork signed then." She said, taking a seat at the nearby serving bench in the kitchen and pulling out some paperwork. I took a seat beside her on the stool, and took the pen she offered me. "Now I just need you to read this carefully, and if you agree just sign here—" Rachel pointed towards a section of the contract. "Initial here." She pointed at another section. "And sign here at the bottom." I nodded and started reading. I didn't notice anything funky about the terms, so I went ahead and signed my life away. After putting a full stop after my signature, Rachel retrieved her pen from my hand, and reached over to shake my hand enthusiastically. "Congratulations. Do you have any further questions?" Rachel asked, politely. I shook my head.

"None that I can think of at present." I replied.

"Good. Well, here are your keys and I'll see myself out. You have a lovely rest of the day then." Rachel said, as she handed me two silver keys before she gathered up her things and made her way towards the door.

"Nice meeting you." I said, before shutting the door behind her and leaning against the door. Finally, peace at last.

"Welcome home, Grace." Well, almost. I glanced over at Henrik, who had perched himself on the stool Rachel had just vacated.

"Same to you too." I grinned and walked over to the couch and flopped down on it. I wanted a few minutes to myself before I had to go back downstairs and retrieve my luggage from the car, and direct the movers upstairs towards my new apartment when they arrived at any moment.

"So what now?" Henrik asked, curiously. I glanced over at him.

"Not very much. Just gonna rearrange my bed once the movers get here and then I might take a shower and call Elena." I decided. What seemed like a few minutes later; my phone rang. "Hello, this is Grace." I answered the phone, not recognising the number.

" _Hi, this is your moving service. We've just arrived at the address you've given us."_ A bored sounding male's voice responded. I glanced at my wristwatch.

"Wow, you're early." I exclaimed. "Alright. Be down in a second." I replied.

" _Not a problem."_ The man replied. I hung up and immediately shifted some of the objects out of the way of the doorway and cleared a pathway to where my bedroom was going to be. Once that was dealt with, I opened my front door wide and disappeared down the staircase. At the bottom, I was greeted by a team of strong looking men attempting to heave out my bed frame, couch, TV etc. from a small moving van. Some passers-by were stopping and having a decent gawk at us. I ignored them as they were harmless and greeted the leader with a bright smile.

"Hi! If you could follow me please?" I gestured and made my way up the staircase, with one set of the team following with my bed frame. Once inside my apartment, I led them around the corner to where I wanted my bed to be placed. "Right here, please." I requested, and the two men carefully placed the bed frame against the wall. They stepped aside to allow two other men place my mattress on top. It took about an hour before all my belongings were added to the furniture already inside the apartment, and I was sending the movers on their way with a sincere thanks.

"Well, that was entertaining." Henrik commented. I rolled my eyes at him.

"Glad you're so amused." I retorted. I picked my phone up from where I had placed it on the coffee table. "Hey Elena, are you free to meet up now?" I asked when she picked up.

" _I'm actually on my way to pick up my Aunt and brother to head to the Mayor's wake."_ Elena sounded apologetic. I was about to suggest meeting up another time, when Elena immediately spoke up again. _"Why don't you come too? I mean, you're gonna have to meet everyone eventually. That's probably the best place to do it."_ Elena suggested. I glanced over at Henrik who shrugged.

"Sounds good to me. Do I need to dress in a specific way?" I asked, immediately heading for my luggage. I hadn't unpacked that just yet. I was saving it for later.

" _Nothing too dressy. Just neat casual, I guess."_ Elena replied, nonchalantly. I glanced down at what I was wearing: white sleeveless blouse, black skinny jeans with a belt, black leather ankle boots with a spiky heel. Not too bad; probably swap the parka coat I was wearing with something else, and maybe change my hairstyle. But otherwise, I was as casual as they came.

"Got it. Where do I meet you?" I asked.

" _Outside the Mystic Grill. It's in the Town Square. Do you need directions?"_ Elena asked. I wondered over to the window, which had a view of the Town Square and instantly saw the place she wanted me to meet her. I smirked.

"No, I think I'm good. See you soon." I said, before ringing off. I shoved my phone into my purse which was dangling off one of the stools in the kitchen, and headed straight for one of my packing boxes. I peeled off the dark green parka I was wearing, tossing it on my unmade bed and extracted my favourite black leather jacket. I wondered over to the bathroom and studied my slightly windswept hair, deciding what to do with it. Eventually, shoved it up into a messy bun and coated my lips with a blood-red lipstick. I shrugged into my leather jacket and slipped on my aviator sunglasses. I headed for the door, scooping up my purse as I went and turned towards Henrik.

"You coming?" I asked him. He shook his head.

"Nah. I'll stay here." Henrik answered, reclining on the couch.

"Sure. See you later." I told him, blowing him a kiss. I wondered what to expect at this Mayor's wake, and how he or she had been killed in the first place. I shrugged, figuring Elena would tell me when I saw her.

* * *

 **A/N: Please review. TTFN xx**


	5. Paying Respects

**A/N: Here's the new chapter update :)**

 **The next chapter might be a while, because my computer decided it might be fun to deem it 'corrupted and with missing parts'. So I've gotta rewrite it, and three others.**

 **Please review, and no flaming.**

 **I don't own _The Vampire Diaries._ The characters (except for Grace) are all owned by J.L. Smith.**

 **Enjoy xx**

* * *

 **PAYING RESPECTS**

"Expect the best, be prepared for the worst, fuck what others think and do your own thing." **~Unknown.**

* * *

From where I was standing in front of the 'Mystic Grill', I had the perfect view of my new apartment window. To my amusement, I could see Henrik standing there with a smirk on his face, and waving at me. I casually flipped him off, trying to disguise it as something classy like scratching my cheek, as to not unintentionally offend some random person walking down the street, looking in my direction. I leant casually against a black metal fence on the side of the restaurant, with my arms folded across my chest. I wasn't sure who I was supposed to be looking for, and I felt a little bit exposed.

"Grace?" I glanced over and saw a petite girl with stick straight light brown hair, and an olive complexion walking towards me; looking a little uncertain. I allowed my sunglasses to slide down my nose a little, and straightened up.

"Elena?" I greeted her, with a small smile. Elena's eyebrow rose a little as she took in what I was wearing. I frowned a little. "Is there something wrong?" I asked, feeling slightly paranoid again. Elena immediately attempted to reassure me.

"No, not at all. You're just not who I was picturing at all." She explained. _And you look exactly like your Aunt…_ I thought, smiling at her in amusement. I walked over to her with my hand outstretched.

"Nice to finally meet you, Elena." I told her. The look was still on Elena's face. "Now I really gotta ask, what is wrong?" I asked her. Elena flushed when she realised what she was doing.

"Sorry. It's just your accent…" She trailed off. I laughed.

"Oh, that. Yeah, I get that all the time." I explained, falling into step with her as I followed her back up the street to where she had parked her car. "I was born in England, and travelled to America when I was ten with my family." Elena smiled.

"I've never been to England. What's it like?" She asked, politely.

"It's probably changed a hell of a lot since I was last there; but mostly cold, sometimes wet and always cloudy and grey. Or at least London is." I said. "What's it like here in Mystic Falls?" Elena smiled, smoothing a piece of her hair behind her ear.

"Mostly sunny. Doesn't tend to get very cold during winter; hardly get any snow. That's pretty much it." She told me. Elena stopped before a black SUV, and I noticed a young woman about a few years older than me, with strawberry blonde hair and curious hazel eyes looking back at me. In the backseat, was a teenage boy about Henrik's age (physically) who could've been Grayson Gilbert's mini-me, who I assumed was Elena's younger brother, Jeremy. "Hop in, Grace." Elena instructed and I nodded, opening the backdoor and sliding into the seat Jeremy had just vacated.

"Who's this, Elena?" 'Strawberry Blonde' asked Elena, and turned around in her seat to look at me better.

"Grace Williams." I introduced myself, reaching forward to shake the woman's hand. "I'm a pen-pal of Elena's. Just moved here today." I explained. The woman offered me a warm smile.

"Jenna Sommers." She replied. "Sorry for being nosy, but how old are you exactly, Grace?" Jenna sounded concerned, and I was touched; despite it being unnecessary.

"21." I replied, easily. Jenna and Elena both looked surprised.

"You don't look it." Jenna observed. I laughed.

"Yeah, I get that a lot." I turned towards Jeremy, who was eying me curiously. "You must be Jeremy." I said, offering my hand to him to shake. He took it looking surprised.

"Yeah, that's right. How did you know?" I gestured towards Elena, who was fumbling around with her phone.

"Elena talks about you and her friends a lot." I explained. Jeremy threw his sister/cousin an accusing look. I blinked, looking a little shocked.

"Really? What did she say?" He demanded, a little defensively.

"Nothing incriminating. She just described you to me, and told me things that you like to do in your spare time." I replied, surprised.

"Oh." Jeremy said, before turning away and looking out of the window. I glanced over at Jenna and Elena for an explanation.

"Was it something I said?" I asked, slightly worried. Jenna shook her head, glaring a little at Jeremy who pretended he couldn't see her.

"Don't worry about him. Jeremy's just sulking a little." Jenna apologized. "He just recently lost somebody close to him. In the same accident that our Mayor was recently killed in." My eyes widened.

"Oh, shit. Sorry to hear that." I said to him, sympathetic. Jeremy shrugged, but didn't say anything else. Suddenly, Elena's phone rang shrilly.

"Hello?" She answered, sounding a little tired. I watched her face closely as it went from tired to annoyed in a space of two minutes flat. "Bonnie, I know I'm late. I'm getting in the car now. I'll be there in five." She hung up, and immediately started the car. Elena looked back, and glanced at me. "Sorry about that, Grace. It's just been a rough few days." She explained.

"I've had those days. No need to apologise." I waved away the excuse. Elena nodded and then proceeded to move her car on to the road, driving towards our destination.

* * *

After a quick car ride, Elena turned onto a long driveway and drove up towards a large mansion that looked like it was circa Civil War.

"Wow." I said, eying the impressive building. It was a two story, brick monstrosity with white columns at the front, holding up the roof. On the expansive front lawn was a duck pond with a fountain that was currently switched off. "The Mayor knows how to live in style." I commented, mildly impressed. Elena parked her car, and everybody got out and started walking for the front door. The four of us stepped past the threshold and walked deeper into the house. Jenna glanced around at the mingling guests.

"Looks like the whole town has turned out." She mused. Elena shrugged from where she was standing beside me, being the dutiful tour guide.

"Yeah. Well he is… he was the mayor." She reminded her Aunt. Jeremy frowned in confusion.

"Why don't they save it for the funeral?" He wondered out loud. Jenna reached for a champagne glass a waiter was passing around on silver trays. I raised an eyebrow. If this was a casual affair, why the waiters?

"That's what people do." She explained. "The Lockwoods were here for us when we went through this." I stiffened, thinking immediately about Miranda and Grayson, and their message I was supposed to relay to Elena at right moment. I just hoped that nobody noticed. "It'll be quick; we'll drop off the food and pay our respects and go." Jenna told him. Jeremy considered this and nodded in agreement.

"In and out? It sounds like a plan." He stated. As I was glancing about the room with interest, sipping absently on a glass of champagne I had managed to grab at the same time as Jenna did, I noticed a tall, attractive man with jet black hair and dressed completely in black come into view. Elena reacted, and quickly turned towards Jenna, Jeremy and I.

"You guys go ahead, I'll be right there, okay?" She indicated towards the guy, before grabbing my attention. "Uh, mingle. I'll introduce you to everybody in a sec." Elena promised.

"Hey, don't stress. I'll be okay here with Jeremy and Jenna. Go do what you have to do." I replied. Elena nodded and darted over towards the guy, who looked less than happy to see her; I noticed. I nudged Jeremy. "Who's tall, dark and gorgeous?" I asked. Jeremy apparently knew who I was talking about.

"Oh, that's Damon Salvatore. He's a total dick." Jeremy said, dismissively. I paused mid-sip.

"Right then. So no love lost between you, I assume." I mused. Jeremy snorted, before turning and disappearing into the crowd, leaving me standing awkwardly with Jenna, who seemed to be looking through the crowd for someone. I decided to follow Elena's advice. "Excuse me." I said to Jenna, who nodded in acknowledgement. I allowed the crowd of mourners to swallow me up, as I walked blindly around the room feeling a little awkward as I knew nobody.

The interior of the Lockwood Mansion - as Elena had mentioned the name to me before – was beautifully decorated, but very obviously overdone. Like somebody was trying to flaunt their wealth in a very obnoxious way. I made my way into the main foyer, which had been decorated in various shades of creams, browns and white; with a large staircase that spiraled up, leading to the second floor. The temptation to walk up those steps was high, but I didn't want to piss off the hostess by traipsing around places that were probably out of bounds. Especially when the hostess probably had enough on her plate dealing with her grief.

I finished off my champagne, and passed it to the nearest waiter and wondered out of the French doors into the garden, where a few guests had congregated. The sun was still fairly high in the sky, so I pulled my sunglasses off my head and slid them back on my face before plunging both hands into my jacket pockets. The garden itself was immaculate and smelt divine, all roses and jasmine and lilies in various clusters all around me. I followed a white stoned path around the house, just casually strolling when I noticed Elena and a tall, light brown haired man with green eyes walking not too far ahead of me. I immediately went to make an about face, realizing that I was about to intrude on something private; when I noticed the expression on the guy's face. I had assumed that this guy was the boyfriend Elena had mentioned last night, but he did not look happy to see her at all. I frowned, and silently wondered closer. _Lover's spat?_ I thought.

"There's nothing more annoying than a vengeful vampire, Stefan. Just ask John Gilbert." Elena said casually to the newly named Stefan. I smiled, silently approving Elena's taste in boyfriends. Then the smile disappeared when I remembered Elena saying the word 'vampire'. _Oh, great. Elena knows about Vampires?_ I thought miserably, feeling sorry for the poor girl. I watched Stefan glaring heavily at Elena, so much so that I was tempted to go over and act as her support in case Stefan was violent.

"You haven't changed at all, have you?" He stated, his voice was cultured with a hint of the Southern twang in every other syllable. Elena smiled coyly at him, making my stomach flip over uncomfortably. Something didn't feel right about this.

"But you have. You're stronger. Meaner. It's sexy." Elena told him, batting her eyes. Stefan didn't react.

"Don't flirt with me Katherine." _Katherine?_ "I'm not Damon; I haven't spent one hundred and forty five years obsessed with you." Stefan told her firmly. I was definitely confused. Not only was that _not_ Elena talking with Stefan just meters away from me, but also Damon had been brought into the conversation as well? And exactly who was Katherine? Elena's sluttier twin sister? I continued watching them from where I was, hopefully hidden from their direct eye view. Throughout their entire conversation, Stefan was getting increasingly irritated, while Katherine looked completely calm and serene.

"You want to know why I'm here, Stefan? I came back for you." Katherine confessed, sounding extremely sincere. I made a face. _Yeah, big shocker there…_ I thought, dryly.

"Well the problem, Katherine, is that I hate you." Stefan confessed back, also sounding completely sincere. Katherine froze, losing the demure smile and immediately frowned. I winced at Stefan's choice of words. Then without warning, Katherine picked up an iron stem from the ground and impales Stefan in the stomach with it. I stifled a scream with my hand, as my eyes widened in horror. Katherine leaned in close.

"You hate me, huh? That sounds like the beginning of a love story, Stefan, not the end of one." Then Katherine violently removes the iron stem and leaves without another word. When I knew that it was safe to do so, I immediately ran towards Stefan to offer him some aid.

"Oh God!" I saw the gushing wound, and swallowed. "Here let me help you." I insisted to Stefan, who looked at me with alarm and attempted to back away.

"No, please. It's not necessary, I'll be fine." He insisted. I immediately turned to retort how NOT fine he really was when I noticed an unusual ring on Stefan's index finger. It was a very old-fashioned ring fashioned like a regal coat of arms. A capital 'S' had been emblazoned on the front. But the thing that I noticed most of all about the ring, was the stone it contained; specifically, lapis lazuli. _He's a vampire!?_ I thought, and hoped that I maintained a straight face as I quickly straightened up and pulled out my phone. "What are you doing?" Stefan asked, cautiously. I scrolled through my contacts, locating Elena's name.

"Calling for assistance." I replied matter-of-factly.

"Look, it's great that you want to help me. But I can assure you, I'm fine." He insisted. I rolled my eyes.

"Oh, I know that." I said, as I waited for Elena to pick up. I eyed Stefan, who looked at me suspiciously and I was sure, he was about to open his gob again and demand to know how I knew he'd be okay when ten seconds ago I was practically a nervous wreck. Finally, Elena picked up before Stefan could speak.

" _Grace? Where are you?"_ Elena asked, sounding both confused and a little concerned.

"Out in the garden. I found something you need to see." I explained. I heard Elena shift in the background, and then sound of loud chatter slowly faded away.

" _What? Are you okay?"_ I smiled weakly, as Stefan frowned at me, still looking suspicious.

"I'm fine. Just standing in a position I'd rather not be in." I replied, matter-of-fact. Just then Elena came round the corner and spotted both Stefan and I. Her mouth dropped open and her eyes went wide with horror as she took in the sight of her wounded boyfriend, who was apparently, a member of the undead. I hung up the phone as Elena jogged over towards us.

"Stefan? What happened?" She demanded, examining Stefan's still gushing puncture wound.

"Some girl called Katherine stabbed him with an iron stem." I explained. Elena immediately snapped her head up and looked at me with an expression closely resembling fear.

"Katherine did this?" Elena stated. Stefan nodded, his eyes not straying away from me. Elena sighed heavily, as though used to this. "Hang on a minute, I'll be back in a sec." She mumbled and got to her feet, disappearing back into the mansion. It was an awkward few minutes after Elena disappeared.

"Who are you?" Stefan demanded, taking on a protective tone. I eyed him with the same amount of caution.

"I'm Grace Williams." I replied. "Elena and I have been pen-pals for several months before I moved to town today." I explained. Stefan raised an eyebrow.

"And why did you move here, specifically?" He asked, calmly.

"Partly because I was seeking a change, and because I have a personal history with this town." I replied succinctly. Stefan nodded. "So how long have you been a vampire?" I asked, bluntly. Stefan's eyebrows disappeared into his hairline, just as Elena reappeared.

"How do you know he's a vampire?" Elena asked, suddenly nervous.

"His lapis lazuli ring." I said, pointing towards Stefan's ring. "Like I said: I have a personal history with this town." Elena and Stefan eyed me warily, as she sat down beside him on the stone bench and gingerly lifted up his T-shirt revealing the gruesome looking wound that was already starting to heal over. Elena started wiping Stefan's wound with a wet cloth she had fetched from the mansion.

"You gonna be okay?" She asked Stefan, worriedly. He smiled reassuringly at her.

"Yeah, it will heal." Stefan confirmed. Elena glanced up and looked him dead in the eye.

"That's not what I meant." She stated, sternly. He sighed tiredly, obviously over it.

"I was trying to figure her out. I was playing along and I let her get to me." Stefan explained. Then directed his attention towards me, obviously still fishing for answers.

"So how long have you known about vampires?" He asked me, using a serious tone as Damon Salvatore, the guy Jeremy unofficially introduced me to from a distance, walked up. He stopped dead in his tracks when he heard Stefan's question directed towards me, a relative stranger. I didn't bat an eyelid.

"I've only known the existence of vampires for a couple of days." I replied. Damon decided to make himself known.

"I tried to track her, but she's gone." He announced, then recoiled when he saw Stefan's exposed chest. "Oooh, cover up, Fabio." Stefan pulled down his shirt. Damon turned his attention towards me. "Who are you?" He demanded rudely. Elena looked scandalized, and Stefan groaned; just as I sized him up.

"Nice attitude." I countered sarcastically, ignoring the question. Damon bristled noticeably.

"Doesn't answer my question." He retorted. I smirked.

"Grace Williams. I'm a friend of Elena's." I answered. I stepped towards him, but stopped when I noticed the same ring Stefan had on Damon's index finger with a capital 'D' emblazoned on the surface. "I'd say it was nice to meet you, but we'd both know that was a huge lie." I added, before sliding on my sunglasses, turning on my heel and striding away with a swing in my hips. I could feel his ice blue eyes digging into the back of my head as I walked away. However, I didn't walk too far; enough so that I could still hear their conversation.

"Was that entirely necessary, Damon?" I heard Stefan reprimand Damon.

"Never mind _her_." Damon replied, dismissively. "We got a crazy ex on the loose." He pointed out. "You better watch out, looks like Katherine is trying to steal your guy." I assumed he directed this to Elena, sounding somewhat bitter.

"That not what's happening." Stefan insisted.

"Isn't it? I mean it's only fair since I went after your girl." Damon said, obviously intending on wounding. I snorted at the low blow.

"I'm gonna go check on Jenna and Jeremy. And apologise to Grace. Let me know when you guys are done." Elena requested, exasperatedly. I heard her approaching footsteps coming towards the house, and flagged down Elena when she appeared.

"He's a charmer." I observed, sarcastically. Elena didn't smile. Instead, she came over and grabbed my elbow pulling me towards a vacant room.

"Who told you about vampires?" Elena asked. "And please don't lie to me. Too many people have been doing that to me recently." Elena insisted. I sighed.

"It's complicated. You probably wouldn't understand." I answered. Elena crossed her arms over her chest and frowned at me.

"Try me. You'd be surprised how much I do." Elena was stubborn.

"I was born here, during one of my past lives." I said, reluctantly. "And the reason I know about vampires, is because my friend told me about them." I eventually revealed. Elena looked confused.

"What's so complicated about that?" She questioned.

"Because there's so much more to this explanation. And I'd rather not reveal it here where anybody could hear it or take it the wrong way and misunderstand." I explained. "Which is why if I reveal this to you that I need you to keep an open mind. Because I'm scared, Elena. This is more complicated than you know." I must've looked sincere, because Elena's severe expression softened, and she came over to me and took me by the hand.

"You can trust me." Elena said. I smiled, squeezing her hand gratefully. "Do you want to take this conversation to the Mystic Grill?" She asked. I shook my head.

"No, I know a better place." I replied.

* * *

After driving a very relieved Jeremy and Jenna back home, Elena drove me back to my Apartment. She frowned, looking bewildered.

"Where do you live?" She asked me. I grinned and walked straight towards the apartment block across the road from the police station. Elena's eyes widened. "You live here?" She stated with disbelief. I looked at her curiously.

"Why would I lie about that?" I asked her, letting myself in and stepping aside to let Elena walk passed. "Do you know somebody else who lives in this block?" Elena nodded.

"Yeah, my history teacher." She replied. I smiled.

"Huh, small world." I walked up to my apartment door, and inserted the key into the lock. But paused before turning the key. "Now, before we go inside Elena. I gotta tell you something." Elena immediately looked wary. "Don't look scared, it's nothing bad … depending on your reaction to what I'm about to reveal to you." I scolded her. Elena allowed herself to relax a little.

"What is it?" She asked.

"I am a medium." I said. Elena raised an eyebrow.

"What's that?" She asked.

"I have the ability to see and talk to ghosts." I explained. Elena nodded once.

"So what's that got to do with entering your apartment?" I laughed, encouraged by the fact that Elena didn't laugh in my face and walk away.

"Because my friend who told me all about vampires and other supernatural entities is a ghost. He's been by my side since I was born." I told her. Elena looked at me skeptically.

"Look, Grace. If you're not going to take this seriously, I'll just take off right now and go home. I've had a really lousy day." I got annoyed.

"I thought you agreed to have an open mind when I told you the truth?" Elena looked at me incredulously.

"You're really serious, aren't you?" I nodded, not cracking a smile. I was actually hurt by Elena's assumption that I was making fun of her and trying to get out of telling her something this personal. Elena swallowed and nodded. "Alright. So your friend's a ghost, and he told you all about vampires. Can I see some proof that he exists?" Elena asked. I frowned at her.

"You believe that vampires exist, and yet you deny the possibility that ghosts do too?" I shook my head, but agreed to her request. I turned the key in the lock and let myself into the apartment. Henrik was lying on the couch, daydreaming.

"Hey Grace? How'd your meeting with this Elena girl go?" He asked me.

"See for yourself." I replied to him, darting around the corner.

"See what?" Elena asked, looking confused. Henrik immediately sat up and gawked at Elena.

"She can't see me, can she?" He asked, nervously. I re-entered the room carrying my sketchbook with me.

"Nope. She can't." I told him. Elena was about to open her mouth to snap at me, when she realized what I was doing. I gestured for her to close the door and come sit down on the couch with me.

"He's in here isn't he? Your friend?" Elena asked, quietly. Henrik looked at me accusingly.

"You told her about me? Are you insane?" He demanded. I decided to answer both questions at the same time.

"Quite possibly." Elena took a seat next to me, unaware that Henrik had chosen to deliberately sit in front of her on the coffee table. I opened up the leather book, and carefully turned the pages to the one I sought. "Here." I gave the sketchbook to Elena who looked down at the picture of Henrik sleeping peacefully, quizzically.

"Did you draw this?" She asked. I nodded. "Wow, you're really good." Elena complimented me. I shrugged modestly. "What was his name? Who was he?" Elena asked, seeming to believe me now.

"His name is Henrik. He was my past life's soon to be brother-in-law." I replied, smiling at Henrik who gave me a half-smile back.

"He looks so young. How old was he when he died?" Elena asked, looking vulnerable.

"Uh, fifteen. I believe." I replied, glancing at Henrik for confirmation. He nodded. Elena looked horrified.

"That's the same age Jeremy is." She whispered. I immediately winced. "How did he die? Or is it too painful for him to remember?" Elena immediately asked. Both Henrik and I smirked.

"That's the exact same question I asked Henrik not too long ago." I told Elena. "He was … fatally attacked by an animal." I explained, fudging the truth a little as I pointed out the obvious rips and scratches I had deliberately drawn to stand out on Henrik's tunic. Elena blanched.

"Oh my God…" She muttered. "He must've been so scared." Henrik nodded solemnly.

"He's nodding." I told her. Elena looked at me with wide eyes. I decided to get to the point of her visit. "Moving on from this topic, so at least you can go home and not have nightmares; Henrik is the one who told me about the existence of vampires." I explained to Elena. "But he also told me that I was born here in Mystic Falls over a thousand years ago. That's exactly how old his ghost is." Elena nodded, absently turning the pages in my sketchbook. I placed the book in her lap. "You're welcome to look at it, while I briefly tell you about my history." I encouraged her, seeing how it made her feel more relaxed and less overwhelmed by the knowledge that ghosts existed, and that I knew more about the supernatural than I first let on.

I told Elena about how my past life grew up in another country and immigrated to the New World to have a better life back in the 11th century. How she met Henrik's family and developed a deep, close friendship with him and his siblings; and fell in love with Henrik's favourite brother – whose name I still didn't know – and agreed to marry him. Elena turned another page in my sketchbook and paused there.

"Is that him?" She asked, quietly. I glanced down at the picture she was looking at and realized she was staring at the picture of my mysterious stranger smirking up at me from the page.

"Yep. That's him." I confirmed. "I dream about him almost every night." I confessed, sounding almost sad. Elena looked at me, with a teasing look in her eyes.

"You have, huh?" Elena's eyes twinkled mischievously. I glowered at her playfully.

"Mind out of the gutter, Elena." I chided her. She giggled, before turning the page; revealing the 'family portrait' I had created of Henrik's family.

"Why are their faces blank?" She asked, curiously. I shrugged.

"Because that's what they've always looked like to me whenever I've dreamt about them. Henrik told me, it's because I'm not supposed to know their faces just yet." I explained. Elena nodded, seeming to understand.

"So did your past life end up marrying him?" She asked, curiously, indicating my mysterious stranger. My face darkened, as anger bubbled in my gut like lava.

"Grace…" I glanced over at Henrik, who looked at me with concern. I nodded at him reassuringly before I replied to Elena.

"Not exactly." I told her. Elena glanced up at me, concern reflected on her face when she heard my tone. She closed my sketchbook and set it aside on my coffee table.

"What do you mean?" She asked. "Didn't her family approve?" I shook my head.

"No, her parents were extremely excited. They loved him. It was his father that didn't approve." I gave Elena a half-truth. "One night, she went out to look for him because he had gone missing for several hours and she was worried. It turned out that his mother was a powerful witch; and she placed a terrible curse upon him, under the instructions of his father and with the assistance of one of his older brothers. My past life witnessed this and tried to intervene, but in doing so it cost her her life. His father killed her out of anger and pride." Elena looked appalled.

"All because he didn't approve of their engagement?" I shook my head.

"Not exactly. Their upcoming marriage had nothing to do with her death. He was the reason she was killed, because he had somehow revealed his mother's secret. Her death was used to give him a warning and to teach him a lesson because of this secret." I explained, still bitter that I had been used for such a stupid, selfish reason.

"That's sick. Whatever the secret was, doesn't mean she had to die." Elena protested. I smiled nostalgically.

"But there was a sort of happy ending between him and her." I told Elena. I noticed Henrik looking at me questioningly out the corner of my eye. I ignored him.

"What? Or is it personal?" She asked. I shrugged, not fussed if she knew.

"Well, it's technically me who he made this promise to. So I don't mind sharing." I told Elena, who immediately looked interested. "As she lay dying in his arms, he whispered to her that he loved her deeply, and that it didn't matter how long it took or how long he searched for her; that he would find her and never let her go." I smiled wistfully.

Elena made a face.

"I can't decide if that is corny, or beautiful, or if I should be jealous." She teased. I chuckled.

"How about all of the above?" I suggested. Elena nodded, then frowned again.

"Hang on, if this happened a thousand years ago; shouldn't he be dead?" I fell silent. Then Elena's eyes widened with shock. "Are you telling me that Henrik's family and your past life's fiancé are vampires?" I nodded.

"Yep."

"And he's still searching for you, even now?" Elena asked.

"Mmm-hmm." I yawned, deeply. "And a thousand years later, Henrik tells me during a road trip to Mystic Falls, Virginia, that story I just told you, plus neat little tips about how to spot a vampire, how to protect yourself against a vampire and how to kill a vampire." Elena looked overwhelmed.

"Wow. Thanks for confiding in me, Grace." Elena said, sincerely.

"But you can't tell anyone else this, just yet. I only told you because I stupidly asked Stefan that question about vampires without thinking." I begged her. Elena nodded.

"I promise." She smiled. "Well, I better get gone. I've got school in the morning." She made a face as she got up from the couch and gathered up her purse and car keys. "Have a good night, Grace. And welcome back to Mystic Falls." She told me.

"Thanks, Elena. You call me when you get home." I instructed her. She nodded. "And Elena, if you need somebody to talk to, I'm all ears." I reminded her.

"Thanks, Grace. See you." And she left. Henrik approaches me, a curious look on his face.

"I never told you what my brother said to you. How did you know that?" My eyes widened, when I realized that he was right.

"I-I don't know. How do I know that?" I stammered, slightly freaked out.

Henrik looked troubled.

* * *

 **~:NO P.O.V:~**

Meanwhile in another part of the country, a certain Original vampire was making his final plans. It was only a matter of time before he would be reunited with what he had lost a thousand years before. One of his witches thought that he might've seen a young woman matching the same description of his beloved Gráinne in a small town pub on the outskirts of Virginia, but he dismissed it like all the other 'sightings' he had been made aware of.

He was more interested in the rumours that had come to him about the sightings of a Petrova doppelganger. However, he wasn't ready to accept this as the truth, until he saw it with his own eyes. Everything was finally coming together, and both the doppelganger and his beloved were the only things that crossed his mind, and he wouldn't rest until he found them … both.

* * *

 **A/N: Please review :D**


	6. Neutral Territory

**A/N: Alright boys and girls. Here's the new chapter.**

 **I attempted one more time to recover my lost documents, but when I managed to use a word document recovery application, my old documents turned up blank.** **SO** **frustrating!**

 **Anyway, enough ranting. On with the story :)**

 **Please review, and as usual, no flaming ;)**

 **I don't own** _ **The Vampire Diaries.**_ **All characters (except Grace) belong to J.L. Smith.**

 **Enjoy xx**

* * *

 **NEUTRAL TERRITORY**

" _The best thing about being neutral and not believing or disbelieving in anything is that the nature reveals the truth in front of you automatically."  
_ _ **~Aishwarya Shiva Pareek.**_

* * *

The air was fresh and crisp, and the early sunrise was just appearing in the sky; creating a canvas of yellows, oranges and pink across clear blue.

No, I'm not waxing poetry, I'm out on my morning jog; enjoying the view as I pounded the sidewalk in my cross-trainers and absorbing the adrenaline rush I got. I have never been a keen runner before. But after a freak health scare, I developed an interest in it to avoid another scare. Going for a run always opened up new opportunities for me. Whether or not it was to help me jog my memory, unwind after a stressful day (this going hand in hand with sketching, mind you) or inspire new ideas for my novel research.

This time round, I saw it as an opportunity to both get some exercise, and explore my new home.

After almost getting myself lost a couple of times, I finally managed to find a nice park with a bike trail and immediately took off on it; picking up speed when I got into my stride. My favourite 80s music was blasting between my ears, so I wasn't aware, at first, that I was being followed until I stopped and started stretching. I took a large mouthful from my water bottle, and that's when things got weird and a little creepy. As I was stretching out my legs and bouncing a little on the balls of my feet to get the blood flowing again, a large crow suddenly flew up and perched on the backrest of the bench I was stretching on.

I jumped in surprise.

"Woah. Where'd you come from?" I asked the crow, taking one of my earphones out and laughing a little from embarrassment. He looked directly at me, and I blinked in astonishment; having not expected that it could actually understand what I was saying. "That's not at all creepy." I commented out loud, and felt my eyes widen when I saw its little beak actually smirk at me. "I didn't know crows could smirk." Then I frowned when I realised what I had said, and shook my head. I replaced the earphone back into my ear and resumed my run; unaware that I had a little guest following behind me with malicious plans in mind for me.

Once again, I picked up the pace and suddenly, I could hear the sounds of rushing water up ahead and I followed the sound to the woods. Next thing I knew, I found myself about to jog onto a pedestrian bridge that overlooked a beautiful natural waterfall and stream. I stepped off the path a little, to carefully hike down to get a better view of the waterfall. But it wasn't until I got to a certain spot that I immediately started feeling dizzy, and I had to lean up against a nearby tree to steady myself.

"What's happening to me?" I slurred, feeling a little groggy.

* * *

 _ **~:FLASHBACK:~**_

 _I opened my eyes and found myself standing on the shore line of the stream, leaning against a tree. I was staring off into space with what felt like a silly little smile on my face, fiddling with a daisy I had plucked from the grass earlier._

 _"There you are, love." I turned my head and recognized my mysterious stranger who was walking towards me. Frustratingly, his face was still blurred; but I could tell that he had a playful, but loving smirk on his face judging by the tone in his voice. "What are you thinking about that has you looking so melancholy?" His deep, European voice flowed like honey, and I couldn't help but smile back at him._

 _"What do you want me to be thinking about?" I returned the question, coyly. My voice was slightly deeper than my own normal voice and had a very cultured European accent like his. He reached out a hand towards me and I took it, without hesitation. I noticed that the dress I was wearing had dark red sleeves the colour of wine, with leather cuffs tied securely at the wrists. He gently tugged me towards him and I wrapped my arms around his neck, while he wrapped his around my waist and clasped his hands together at my lower back._

 _"Now, I would not be so presumptuous to think that I'd be in your every thought, darling." He teased. I smirked, leaning my head against his forehead._

 _"Well, you're tragically mistaken. You've been on my mind for a while." I admitted and he chuckled and kissed the end of my nose._

 _"Good." He whispered as he rocked us slowly side to side, in time to the music only we could hear. That is, until we both jumped when a harsh, matured male's voice interrupts our little moment. My beloved groaned with irritation and reluctantly pulled away from our embrace. He picked up my hand and held it in his larger warmer one. "I'll see you tonight." He promised, kissing my hand and then my lips, before running back off through the woods._

 _I watched him go, feeling worried._

* * *

 _ **~:REALITY:~**_

I came to, leaning against the tree; trying hard to overcome the motion sickness that nearly overwhelmed me. It took me several minutes to start thinking clearly again, then come to the realisation that I had just had another flashback to my past life again. In this exact spot. I groaned and slowly pushed off the tree, making sure I wasn't about to keel over from light-headedness.

Then decided to make my way home.

"Looks like I've found something else to discuss with Henrik when I get home." I mused, feeling tired. By the time I got back to the Town's square and then my apartment, the sun was completely up and flooding the area with beautiful yellow sunlight.

"Don't you ever sleep?" Henrik asked me, as I walked in and shut the door behind me, leaning against it. I offered him a grin.

"Of course, I do. It's my favourite thing in the world." I said, winking at him playfully as I made a beeline for the fridge and snatched up a new bottle of berry flavoured Gatorade, consuming half the bottle in a few gulps. Henrik made a face.

"Thirsty?" He quipped.

"Parched. But this should counter-act that promptly." I responded, as I leant against the counter. I started staring off into space again. "Henrik, were there any waterfalls around here a thousand years ago, that you know of?" I asked him, absently. Henrik got up off the couch and came over to lean against the counter as well.

"Yes, there was. I really nice one, as I recall." He responded. "It was a popular spot for couples to meet up and spend what hours they could together." I frowned and turned my back on him, finishing off my Gatorade. "Why do you ask?" Henrik queried.

"I stumbled upon it during my run, quite accidentally. I went to explore it more closely and ended up having a rather vivid flashback to a thousand years ago." I replied, still gagging a little because of the motion sickness.

"Really? What did you remember?" Henrik sounded intrigued and a little bit cautious.

"I was there at the side of the stream, just thinking. With your brother when he showed up." I fessed up, smiling at the pleasant memory. Henrik smiled sagely.

"I'm not surprised you remember that. You and my brother used to go there all the time to be alone. I tried to follow both of you to see what you were up to, but it was either one of my other brothers or our sister who stopped me." Henrik looked annoyed. I finished off the last dregs of the Gatorade and tossed the bottle into the recycling bin.

"I doubt you probably would've seen much. If I recall, unmarried couples back in the 11th century weren't allowed to copulate until they were married. Am I right?" Henrik nodded, still pouting a little. I grinned. "I'll be back in a while. I'm taking a shower." I told Henrik, who wondered back over to the couch and collapsed heavily on it, glaring up at the ceiling in his boredom.

* * *

A couple of hours later, I could be found arranging what meagre possessions I had, to add to the furnishings already in the apartment. _Thank you again, whoever used to live here!_ In addition to my belongings – my bed, bedside table, my soft plushy couch with a few colourful throw pillows, my TV set (which would now be set up in the master bedroom, since I had a brand spanking new one already set up in the Living Room), coffee table and armchair – I had enough to construct a guest room, if I was lucky enough to make friends (and keep them) in this town and they needed to crash.

My phone rang, startling me into almost falling from a ladder I had been in the process of climbing, so I could securely attach my recently purchased white fairy lights around the room. Namely around the window and dangling from the rafters.

"Who could that be?" Henrik questioned, looking over my vibrating and shrilly ringing phone that was about to take a nose dive off the coffee table to the – thankfully – soft beige coloured wool rug.

"How should I know, Henrik? What does the caller ID say?" I asked, nearly skidding over in my socks on the shiny wooden floors, in an effort to rescue my phone.

"Elena." He responded, before frowning. "Isn't that that girl who came back with you from that party last night?" Henrik questioned. I snorted.

"It was the Mayor's wake, and yes; that would be her." I told him, stabbing her name on my phone to call her back. "Hey Elena, are you alright?" I greeted her when she answered the call.

 _"Not really. I was wondering if I might be able to come by your apartment and talk it out with you?"_ Elena asked, sounding tired and upset. I raised an eyebrow and glanced at the kitchen clock. Wasn't school meant to be in session at the moment? What the hell was she doing calling me in the middle of class?

"Should you be talking to me right now? Aren't you in class?" I asked, her sounding a bit disapproving; then cringing when I realised how much I actually sounded like my mum at that moment.

 _"I know. But I ditched, I can't focus right now. Not with what happened last night after I got home from your place."_ Elena admitted, sounding broken. I sighed.

"Elena, I don't know. I don't want to be held responsible for helping you skip school just to come down and talk to me." I protested. There were certain boundaries that I would not cross. Even if it meant I'd be helping a friend out with their problems or issues.

 _"I thought you said I could come to do you with my problems. That you were all ears?"_ Elena reminded me, sounding slightly smug. I frowned at this.

"Yeah, but not where your education is concerned." I told her, firmly. Elena sighed.

 _"Please, Grace. I swear it will only be just this once."_ Elena cajoled. I bit my bottom lip, still hesitating. But then remembered how much I attempted to convince my mum the same thing once-upon-a-time… and felt like a hypocrite.

"If you really insist upon this. I need some assistance furnishing my apartment." I gave in. I could practically hear Elena punching the air in triumph as I was saying this. "Maybe while we do that, we can discuss your problem. Sound good?" I offered her.

 _"Anything would be better than school right now."_ Elena agreed. I made a face at Henrik, who was smirking. I threw a throw pillow at him. It fazed right through him, and he stuck his tongue out at me in retaliation.

"So glad I could oblige. Just don't make me regret it." I retorted, sardonically. "I'll see you soon." I told her, and then hung up the phone.

"Beware the wrath of Grace, everyone." My annoying little brother announced to an imaginary crowd. "She really put her foot down convincing a teenager to stay in school." Henrik mocked me. I threw him a sarcastic smile as I wondered back over to the ladder and went back up it to mark off with a pencil were I wanted to position my fairy lights specifically.

"You're so lucky you're already dead, mate. Or I'd kick your arse." I reminded him.

"I know I'm lucky. Because I know you'd actually do it. If I can recall, you were notorious for it." Henrik reminisced, fondly.

"For what? Kicking arse?" I grinned at the thought. Henrik shook his head.

"No. Keeping promises." He corrected me. I sagged a little at this.

"Now you tell me."

* * *

As predicted, Elena was extremely prompt and showed up to my apartment exactly half an hour later. I answered the door, fixing Elena with a disapproving scowl that she smiled innocently at. I rolled my eyes.

"Please tell me that you at least made up a legitimate excuse to somebody there, so you could be excused?" I begged. Elena made a face at me.

"I'm not an idiot. I do actually have to go back there eventually to help set up for the carnival tonight." Elena told me, looking sincere.

"There's a carnival tonight?" I asked, pleasantly surprised. Elena nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah. Normally Caroline is the one who organises these events at the school, but she's re-cooperating at the Hospital at the moment." She told me, looking a little bit upset. I bit my bottom lip.

"I'm sorry to hear about that. I hope Caroline makes a speedy recovery." I wished. "Is that the reason you ditched school to come talk to me?" I asked, curiously as I pulled more throw pillows from one of my many cardboard packing boxes and threw them onto the couch.

"No, it's not." Elena immediately went quiet, and actually looked angry. I raised an eyebrow at the abrupt change in emotion.

"Alright, well when you're ready to tell me; let me know. No rush and no pressure." I reminded her. Elena nodded. "Now I need to hang these fairy lights. Come hold the ladder for me." I requested, brusquely.

It actually look a lot longer for Elena to actually open up about her problem. I was about to go spare at her, thinking that she had been lying to me about having a problem, just so she could get a free day off from school. But as I fixed her a coffee, Elena finally revealed all.

"Damon showed up at my house last night, after I got back from visiting this place and learning about your personal history." Elena began, her voice quiet and contemplative. I blinked at her in astonishment.

"I take it that this has never happened before. Would I be correct in saying this?" I asked her. Elena nodded.

"I had just finished dressing for bed and went to the bathroom to brush my teeth. When I came back out, Damon was sitting on the window ceil. He actually scared the hell out of me." Elena told me. I nodded.

"Understandable. What was his reason for being there, if you don't mind me asking you that?" Elena shook her head.

"No, it's fine. I need to tell somebody about this. What he did was completely unforgivable." Elena explained, angrily. I was taken aback by Elena's second abrupt change in emotion.

"What did he do?" I asked, using a soothing tone in an attempt to calm down the obviously volatile teenager. Elena started pacing, and I let her; if that's what it took to help her calm down. I was letting her go at her own pace; and it was my job as the adult to steer the conversation back to the point if Elena either accidentally or deliberately went off topic. It is never a good idea to keep something that is bothering you bottled up. Getting it off your chest is the only shore fire way to letting it go and hopefully feeling better afterwards.

"Nothing at first. He just sat there, looking at me with this sad expression on his face. And it looked like he was drunk." Elena explained to me. My protective instinct immediately flared.

"How much did he drink? Did he tell you?" I asked her, a little urgently. Elena holds her forefinger and thumb a small distance apart, indicating that he had been drinking a little. I relaxed a fraction.

"Drinking and being upset. Not a good combination." I observed. Elena nodded in agreement.

"That's what I told him. But he insisted that he wasn't upset; because he didn't care." I raised an eyebrow, disagreeing with Damon's answer completely.

"Well, he's obviously lying. That's the kind of answer somebody who _is_ upset would give." I stated. Elena nodded.

"Well, that's what I told him. Except that he retaliated by telling me that I was lying to him about my feelings about him." I paused mid-sip, waiting for Elena to finish her rant. "He claimed that there was something between the both of us, and that I was lying to his face about how I feel about him." I took a sip of my tea.

"Well, do you?" I asked, curiously. Elena frowned at me in confusion.

"Do I what?"

"Do you feel something for him?" I amended my question, watching Elena's face closely. She recoiled with disgust.

"Of course not. I love Stefan; always have, and always will." I nodded, taking another sip of my tea.

"Fair enough." I replied. She was lying to me. Even if she knew that she was or not was immaterial. The point was, Elena Gilbert was clearly divided about her feelings for both of the Salvatore brothers. And the only way she could deal with that was to lie not only to herself, but also to both of them. It was slippery slope, and I wasn't sure I wanted to be around to witness the result in the end.

On the other hand, I also pinpointed why Damon was so upset, and how it probably led to him doing something so bad that Elena would end up becoming so angry with him as a result. However, I don't think it was Elena's fault that Damon lashed out in whatever way I hoped Elena would eventually tell me.

"But it got worse from there." Elena continued. I instantly perked up, eager to learn what triggered Elena's animosity towards Damon.

"Oh?"

"I think to prove a point, Damon kissed me. But I shoved him away." She told me. I frowned, not liking the direction the story was taking.

"And I take it that he didn't like that." I confirmed. Elena nodded. "He didn't try to take advantage of you, did he?" I said, starting to get angry. But Elena shook her head.

"No, he didn't. I tried to explain to him that I cared about him, but that I loved Stefan more." I winced. She might as well have waved a red flag in front of a bull. But I didn't dare tell her that.

"Then what happened Elena." She hesitated. "C'mon. You can tell me, honey. It'll make you feel better." I insisted. Elena nodded and drew in a deep breath.

"Jeremy walked in, wondering why I was being so loud." I froze. "And then Damon did something that I will never forgive him for. I attempted to send Jeremy back to his room, but Damon intercepted him and in his anger, he snapped Jeremy's neck!" Elena growled.

I nearly dropped my mug in my shock.

"He's not…" I whispered. Elena shook her head, frantically.

"No, he's still alive. Thank god. But what Damon did was unforgivable. I hate him so much for doing that to my little brother." Elena sat down and pulled back her hair from her face as she buried her head between her knees. I was torn; while I can understand now why Elena was so upset and needed to ditch school to talk, I could also recognise that Elena's actions were somewhat responsible. But I'd have to get Damon's side of the story first before I could come to a conclusion.

"Well, thank you for confiding in me with this, Elena. I hope that it made you feel somewhat better." I hoped. Elena sat up and wiped her eyes.

"I do, thanks." She smiled at me. Then she looked at the kitchen clock. "I better get going back to school. There's still a lot to do before the carnival opens tonight." Elena gets to her feet and gathers up her purse and car keys.

"Not a problem, sweetie." I told her. Elena stepped forward and gave me a warm hug in gratitude. "If there's anything else you'd like me to help you with, just let me know." I told her. Elena stepped back and looked at me with a thoughtful expression.

"Well, actually. We really need a lot of help with setting up. I wasn't kidding about that, and Caroline will kill Bonnie and I if anything goes wrong." She explained. "Would you be willing to come down and help for a couple of hours?" I smiled at the hopeful expression on her face.

"Sure. I need to take care of a couple of things first, so I won't be down there right away. But I promise to pop by and help out." I agreed. Elena grinned.

"Awesome. I'll let the ladies at the school office know you're coming down, and that you're not some random stranger coming off the street." I hoped the door and stepped back to let Elena passed. "I'll see you later tonight." I waved and she disappeared downstairs.

* * *

"Where'd you disappear off to?" I asked Henrik, who materialised beside me the moment I had shut the front door.

"You were discussing 'girl things'." Henrik replied, shuddering. "I bailed pretty quickly." I frowned, thinking back to my conversation with Elena to pinpoint when we at any point started talking about these so called 'girl things'.

"But we weren't talking about girl things." I told him. Henrik nodded.

"I know. That's why I came back but remained hidden." He explained. I raised an eyebrow. Okay? Strange logic.

"You want to come with? I'm applying for the job at the Grill, and then I'm taking a walk afterwards. Up for it?" Henrik grinned.

"Sure. Could we go back to the falls so I can see them for myself?" He asked, excitedly. I nodded. As we made our way down the town's square, I couldn't help but wonder what Henrik's opinion was about what we discussed. I turned towards him.

"From what you heard from the conversation, what is your opinion on it?" I asked him, curiously. If he was surprised by my question, he didn't show it.

"I'm on this Damon's side." Henrik said, without hesitation. I was surprised.

"Why?" I asked, out of interest. He scowled.

"I knew someone who used to look like Elena, a thousand years ago." He explained. "She was very selfish, manipulative and almost destroyed two of my brothers' relationships with each other over her." I blinked.

"That's a bit presumptuous to label Elena like that. How do you know she's not different to her ancestors?" I questioned him.

"Trust me. She'll be like them. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree." Henrik reminded her. I grinned at him, throwing him off slightly.

"Any other classic clichés you wanna throw at me, while you're at it?" I teased. Henrik smirked, rising to the challenge.

"'The acorn doesn't fall far from the oak?', 'two peas in a pod'?" He replied in a sing-song voice. I turned and offered him a gritted tooth smile.

"Okay, you've made your point." I told him through the clenched teeth. He returned the gesture.

"Brilliant. Because I've had a thousand years to learn them all." He retorted, smiling at me sweetly. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Yeah, I love you too…" I muttered at him sarcastically.

* * *

My first thought when I stepped into the Mystic Grill was: impressive, at least as far as small town restaurants went. It was a descent size with stairs leading to an upper level which I assumed contained either private function rooms, or the owner's office. The floor level had been split into four sections: first, there was the restaurant section; which took up the majority of the space. And judging by the few customers who were sitting in booths enjoying a meal with the waiter or waitress attending to them every so often, it was an 'a la carte' style establishment.

Second, was the large bar adjacent to the restaurant section which had a wrap-around bar top, and a well-stocked supply of alcohol on display above a set of bar mirrors. Already there seemed to be customers bellying up to the bar, drinking. Perpendicular to the bar was a slightly raised up level of floor that I could see had a trio of billiard tables. One of which was already being occupied by a couple of customers who were drinking. It looked like the game that they were playing was heated, and judging by the annoyed grunt that one of the players made when his opponent successfully made a shot, and the glare he shot him, a fairly competitive one.

And finally, the last section of the Grill featured a generous expanse of dancefloor, with a juke box (which was currently playing a catchy western song that I didn't recognise), a slide down protection screen, and in the corner packed away was a Wii game console. Presumably used for happy hour or similar. I noticed Henrik eying off the game of pool the two customers were playing, and I grinned at the fascinated expression on my brother's face.

"Why don't you go and watch the game? I might be a little while depending on what I have to fill out for the job." I suggested to him. Henrik's face lit up, but his eyes looked a little unsure; like he was worried for my safety. I beamed; he was always the gentleman he had been brought up to be before his life was tragically cut short.

"If you don't mind?" He asked, hopefully. I snorted.

"I wouldn't have suggested it if I did, would I?" I pointed out to him. Henrik shrugged and immediately raced over to the game, standing between the two customers and watching the game eagerly. I giggled, as I made my way over to the bar and took a seat at random at the bar top. A guy with ginger hair approached me, wiping down the counter.

"What can I get you?" He asked, politely but friendly at the same time. I glanced up at him and offered a warm smile.

"Uh, may I have a coke and a job application, please? I wish to apply for the 'mixologist' position." I responded promptly. The guy, whose name on the name tag read 'Dylan' in large block letters next to the logo of the Mystic Grill, nodded and went off to fill my order and hunt around for an application. The small hairs on my arm suddenly stood up on end when somebody sat down beside me.

"Fancy seeing you here." A voice I recognised, and slightly bristled at addressed me. I looked up from my phone and turned to give him a sarcastic smile. It was Damon Salvatore, presenting me with a 'charming' smile on his face. I looked back at him blankly.

"May I help you?" I got straight to the point. Movement distracted me momentarily and I noticed that Henrik had materialised by my side the second Damon had shown up. He was staring at Damon with a guarded expression on his youthful 'thousand year old' face.

Damon smirked.

"Let me buy you a drink." He offered. On cue, Dylan arrived with my drink and placed down a couple of pieces of paper that had been stapled together, and a pen.

"Thank you." I told Dylan who smiled and moved away to serve a different customer. I picked up the glass and swivelled back to Damon. "As you can see, I've got one already. Thank you." I took a sip from the black straw. "Now cut the bullshit and tell me your real intentions." I demanded, sternly. Damon's smirk slightly faltered. But he immediately recovered before responding.

"Alright. You can tell me what you're doing in this town and what your intentions towards Elena Gilbert are." Straight to the point also. I frowned at him.

"Are you seriously interrogating me?" I was unimpressed. Damon didn't blink. "If you must know, I moved to Mystic Falls because I needed a change, and as for my 'intentions towards Elena Gilbert', she and I have been pen-pals for about a year. It was an unexpected coincidence that she happened to live here when I made my decision to come here." I responded, defensively.

"Sure it was." Damon didn't sound like he believed me. But judging by the grip he had on the glass of bourbon he had ordered before coming over to talk to me, he was obviously pissed off by something else, and interrogating me was his way of distracting himself from his pain.

"Are you alright? You don't seem yourself right now." I observed, with mild concern. Damon raised an eyebrow.

"And how would you know that?" He asked, suspiciously. I sighed and started filling in the application form while I responded to his question.

"Because the last time I saw you, at the late Mayor's wake, you were brusque and very forthright; but not angry. Right now, you're all three." I stated, matter-of-factly. Damon didn't respond to that, just continued eying me warily. I paused, and looked at him. "Elena came and talked to me this morning. She was extremely upset about something that happened between you two last night." I reported, casually. As expected Damon flinched, but didn't otherwise react except to glare at me.

"And I suppose you're here to tell me that you've taken her side, and for me to back off? Right?" He sounded hurt and defensive. I shook my head.

"Not at all. It's not my place to form an opinion on something based upon what one person has said." I replied. "I like to get both sides of the story before coming to a conclusion." I told him.

"And what? You expect me to just talk to you, is that it?" Damon sneered. I shrugged and continued finishing off my job application.

"That's up to you. I'm not going to force you to do anything you're uncomfortable with." I told him. "But I will tell you this. I don't believe that it is entirely your fault what happened yesterday occurred. Elena is just as much to blame." I pointed out. Damon looked at me incredulously. "If you want to, you can talk to me about your side of the story. I won't judge you, unless you want me to." I offered. "Would you be interested in doing that?"

* * *

 **A/N: Please review :)**


	7. Off The Record

**A/N: I hope that you've enjoyed the last chapter. This update is the second one of my documents that was deemed corrupted by my computer and then promptly deleted. I hope you enjoy it! :)**

 **Reviews are appreciated, and please no flaming.**

 **I don't own** _ **The Vampire Diaries.**_ **All characters (except for Grace) belong to J.L. Smith.**

 **Enjoy xx**

* * *

 **OFF THE RECORD**

" _Tell me and I'll forget, show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand."_ _ **~Chinese Proverb.**_

* * *

It was oddly fascinating to sit here and watch Damon Salvatore sitting opposite me, and looking at me like I was an enigma he was trying to solve. Seriously, the request I had offered him wasn't a hard one to answer. A simple 'yes' or 'no' would suffice. But then again, I supposed (rightly or wrongly) that Damon was probably the type of man that was expecting that I was either going to cave and tell him the real reason why I was currently in Mystic Falls, or side with Elena Gilbert; throw what was left of my drink in his face and storm out of the restaurant to resume the rest of my day with Henrik.

And to be honest, I had every right to.

Damon had deeply hurt one of my friends – my only friend, if I was being honest with myself – and I had the solid evidence to scorn him, call him an 'idiot' or a 'prick' and pretend he never existed in the first place. Not to mention that he had cornered me and basically accused me of having the intention of causing harm. Only the problem with this, was that I'm not sure that he entirely meant to lash out like he did. I believe that it was the fault of another person, who was the real instigator to his problems. Elena probably just happened to say one negative word too many to light the fuse to his anger and resentment.

"You're kidding, right?" Damon eventually replied to my offer. "Do I look like an idiot to you?" He asked, taking a generous sip of his drink. I smiled at him.

"I won't dignify that with a comment. I value my life." I replied, before turning back to my application to finish answering one final question. Dylan came back, looking at me; all smiles.

"Can I get you something else?" He asked, politely. I shook my head.

"No, thanks. But here's my application." I told him, sliding the stapled pages towards him. Dylan looked a little disappointed, but recovered easily and picked up my completed application.

"It's my pleasure. Good luck with the job. I hope we might work together soon." He offered me a hopeful smile, before turning and walking away. I picked up my drink and turned to face the restaurant floor, observing Henrik who had drifted back to the pool game - still happening between the competitive customers - when it became clear that I was in no danger in Damon's company.

At least not at the moment. Fingers crossed.

"Looks like somebody's got an admirer." Damon teased, smirking at me, and playing with his glass. I rolled my eyes.

"Please. That guy, was already in my rear view mirror." I said dismissively. "So, do you wanna talk about what you're really angry at, or not?" I asked him, getting to my feet and looping my purse over my shoulder. Damon's eyes hardened, and he turned to face the bar.

"Not." He replied, shortly, taking a sip from his drink and glaring at the wall. I shrugged.

"Suit yourself." I started walking for the main entrance. Henrik noticed, and disengaged himself from the pool game, jogging over. "But just letting you know, Damon. One day, you've gotta stop kicking yourself in the arse and realize, that not everything is your fault whenever things go wrong for you." I advised him. Damon spun on his seat, and looked at me angrily. But I wasn't done. "Elena is no angel, I discovered this _long_ before I moved here to Mystic Falls, and she's not worth the negative emotions you're currently feeling. That's why I suggested talking it out with me; a neutral party who has no idea who you are, and will have no biases against you while you talk it out and feel better about yourself." I said, firmly but kindly.

Damon was silent, but at least the angry expression on his face had lessened a little. I turned on my heel and went on my way.

"At least you tried." Henrik reassured me. I nodded.

"I know." I whispered. "Ready to see the falls?" I asked, trying to get over the disappointment I was feeling. Henrik didn't reply, and I turned to look at him with confusion. My brother was staring at something behind me.

"Wait." I glanced over my shoulder, and saw Damon standing there looking a little resentful. Like he was having an inner argument with himself about why he was actually considering my help. I tried not to feel insulted. "Can we talk, please?" He muttered, quietly. I nodded, and followed Damon out of the Grill.

"Where do you want to talk?" I asked him, as he strode with determination towards his car: a beautiful 1969 Chevrolet Camaro SS Convertible in sky blue. I was impressed; I've always liked the look of old cars, and this one was wonderful. Damon paused in front of the driver's side to look at me, a little impatiently.

"I'll take you back to my place. No one's likely to be there at the moment." He said. I nodded and got into the car, while Henrik materialized in the backseat, looking wary.

* * *

The car ride to wherever Damon was taking us, was silent (verbally) and awkward; with only radio music breaking the silence in the car. I noticed that Damon was driving a little bit fast for my liking and I wasn't sure if I had made the right decision getting into a car with a strange man who, not only was a very dangerous vampire; but one whose temperament hadn't completely cooled down yet. I mean, the only back up had with me, should Damon become violent or disagreeable; was the ghost of my brother-in-law. Henrik was staring out of the window, fascinated with how much his former home had changed over a thousand years.

As I continued discreetly observing Damon, I noticed that he was barely making any eye contact and white-knuckling the steering wheel. I decided that I needed to say something before we actually went any further. Because Damon really did look extremely uncomfortable.

"I've noticed how tense you look at the moment, Damon. You don't have to talk with me, I'm here if you feel like it." I reminded him. But Damon merely looked at me and opened his mouth to say something, but then thought better about it and turned back. I bit my bottom lip and turned to look out of the window again. I decided to let him make the first move. This was Damon's time and if he wasn't ready to talk just yet, I wasn't going to force him. Eventually, Damon turned off the road and drove up a long driveway that led towards a massive two-story mansion. "Wow…" I muttered, earning a small smirk from Damon for my reaction.

This mansion was of a Tudor Architecture-style constructed of brick and other expensive stonemasonry with lots of large windows and arched doorways. It was covered in green creeping moss and had a large circular driveway. Damon pulled up to the mansion's expansive garage and immediately killed the engine. Then just as quickly, got out of the car and vamp sped inside. I rolled my eyes and turned to look back at Henrik, who was now looking between the both of us with bemusement.

"Are we there already?" He asked. I smiled at him.

"Yep. And then our designated driver practically ran into the house. Shall we follow him?" I suggested. Henrik shrugged.

"Might as well. That's why we're here." He replied, and fazed through the car to stand on the sidewalk outside. I scowled at him.

"Show off." I grumbled, earning a childish gesture from him. "Shall we?" We took off towards the front door, which open ajar. Both of us hesitated.

"Uh, are we supposed to just walk inside?" Henrik asked. I frowned.

"I guess we can. Otherwise Damon would've closed the door all the way." But just in case, I reached out and knocked on the door. There was silence for several awkward minutes, and I felt really foolish. Then:

"Door's open. I'm surprised it's taking you this long to come inside." Damon's voice called out from wherever in the house. I immediately walked inside, closing the door behind me. I found Damon in what looked like a parlour or living room, looking at me strangely. I paused for a moment to survey the room. It was huge, and very obviously decorated by men: all brown stained timber, a few mounted stuffed animal heads, weapons, and rich reds, greens and other earthy colours. "Do you always talk to yourself?" Damon asked me, bringing me back to the present as I watched Henrik wonder over to one of the red couches. He lounged on it as I flushed, realizing belatedly that vampires have enhanced hearing and Damon had probably overheard me talking to Henrik. I sheepishly smoothed my hair behind my ear and shuffled my feet.

"It's a fatal flaw of mine." I lied, narrowing my eye at Henrik who was sniggering at me. Damon looked like he didn't believe me, but shrugged and fixed himself a drink.

"Well, welcome to the Salvatore Boarding House." He welcomed me, and held out a glass of what looked like whiskey or bourbon. "Drink?" He offered, sounding a little bored. I nodded and took the offered glass.

"Thanks." I took a sip, coughing slightly as the strong liquor trickled its way down my throat. Damon approached me. His left hand was in his jeans pocket and the top two buttons were open on his black button up shirt, exposing his well-toned chest. He cleared his throat, and I quickly glanced up at his face when it became obvious that I was staring. He was smirking at me with amusement.

"Like what you see?" Damon teased and I scowled at him, taking another sip of my drink. "So…" Damon sauntered over to the red couches. "How does this work exactly? Do I lie on the couch while you psychoanalyze me?" He asked, with a slightly mocking tone in his voice. I sighed.

"That would be the ideal situation … if I were a shrink. But I'm not." I rolled my eyes. "So do whatever makes you comfortable, but I do expect you to start talking." I told him. Damon snorted, and walked over to stand in front of a massive fireplace I had only just noticed. I went and sat down on the couch with Henrik. And when I mean 'sat', what I really meant was: smirking while deliberately sitting on his legs – even though I just fazed through them - while he cursed up a storm, using some surprisingly foul language.

"Well, this is going swimmingly." Henrik drawled, when he eventually removed his legs and sat up properly on the couch. I shrugged but didn't reply, as Damon turned his attention away from the fireplace and back on me.

"I take it you know Katherine then?" Damon asked me, curiously. I pretended to really think about it. It was a little hard _not_ to know who he was referring to.

"The trashier, over-confident version of Elena? Yeah, it's a little hard not to notice her stabbing Stefan in the stomach with an iron rod at the Mayor's wake yesterday afternoon. We just haven't been formally introduced." I replied. "Can't say I would want to be either." I added. Damon smirked at me. "What about her?" I asked.

"She came here to see me last night. This was before I went over to Elena's. I could tell the bitch wanted something from me the second I clapped eyes on her sitting pretty much where you are right now." He told me. I made a face, and immediately leapt off the couch, feeling grossed out.

Damon gave a dark chuckle.

"You seriously need to relax. Nothing like that happened … at least it almost didn't happen, and not on the couch." Damon reassured me. I gagged a little.

"That's more than I needed to know, Damon." I told him. "Please go on. What did Katherine want with you?" I encouraged him to continue.

"Apparently to say goodbye. Like I believed that load of crap for a second." Damon replied, darkly. "Katherine loves to be the centre of attention. If nobody is paying attention, then she tends to get bored and when she gets bored, bad things happen. Usually to those she knows the most." I had a feeling I knew which direction this story was heading; I just had an additional question to ask him before he could get back to the point.

"What is Katherine to you, Damon?" I asked, a little uneasily as I had no idea how he was going to react. To my surprise, he just frowned.

"She's my sire. And we had a relationship together once." That was when I noticed a flicker of betrayal in his eyes and in the way his jaw clenched. I suddenly wished that I hadn't brought up the topic.

"The relationship didn't last long, I take it?" I guessed. Damon let out a scathing laugh.

"Yeah, you could say that. I mean, being killed does put a dampener on things. Not that she cared anyway…" He trailed off. I decided not to say anything, I just sipped patiently at my drink while Damon deliberated what he wanted to reveal. Though judging by the hurt expression on his face, it wasn't easy to reflect upon it.

"So what did she do next?" I asked. Damon knocked back his drink before replying.

"Well, I ignored her and tried to walk away. But Katherine didn't like that; so she rushed in front of me, seized me by the throat and pushed me down on the floor." My eyes widened. "She called me her 'sweet, innocent Damon' and like the idiot I am, I fell for it; thinking that she had finally chosen me over Stefan." Damon sounded extremely scornful.

"You're not an idiot for having feelings, Damon." Damon scoffed, obviously disagreeing with me. But I wasn't deterred. "Katherine obviously meant something to you for you to react the way you did. Cut yourself some slack, you were only human for God's sake." I reminded him. "I mean, it's not like you can wish away your feelings. It's not possible." I said. This comment earned a rather amused grin from Damon that put me on alert. "What?"

"Vampires have a nifty little coping mechanism, Grace." He said, casually. "It's kinda like a switch. Whenever things get too hard to handle, we just flick it off. Because if you don't want to feel, you don't have to. Sometimes it's the easy way out." He explained. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Is your 'switch' off then?" I asked, curiously. Damon smiled pleasantly.

"No. It's firmly in place." He reassured me. "It would take a lot more than what Katherine did to make me want to turn off my emotions." Damon stated.

"What did she do?" I was intrigued by Damon's revelation about how vampires dealt with their issues personally.

"Oh, she kissed me." He replied nonchalantly. "But then I challenged her about telling me the truth. I wanted to know if she loved me at all." Damon's face went stony. "And do you know what she said to me?" He asked, rhetorically. But I knew the answer.

"I love Stefan. It will always be Stefan." I replied back robotically. Damon turned to look at me, stunned. I hated seeing that expression on his face.

"How in the hell did you know that?" He demanded. I cleared my throat uncomfortably. But he needed to know what I had already found out.

"I know this, because Elena said pretty much the same thing to me when I questioned her about you calling her a liar, and about her feelings for you." I replied. "However, I believe that Elena is lying. But before you get your hopes up, Damon, I believe she is lying because she doesn't know what she wants." I suspected.

Damon looked surprised.

"I see." He mumbled.

"Killing Jeremy in a fit of rage, probably wasn't the best reaction to have. But I can understand why you did what you did, to a point." I told him. Damon instantly got defensive, and glared at me with his icy blue eyes.

"So now what? You're going to judge me now that you know the whole story?" He accused with cold hatred. I frowned almost immediately.

"No, of course not. I don't take sides. I choose my friends on how they treat me, not on what others tell me." I told him. "Yeah, you did the wrong thing; but you were reacting to something that pissed you off. You've given me no cause to black list you." I reassured him. "I like to form my own opinions, thank you, so please give me the benefit of the doubt." I added. Damon straightened up. He looked a little taken aback that I was not frightened or judgmental or trying to change him. I glanced at phone to look at the time, and realised I was due to go help Elena set up the Carnival at the High School. "Look, I have to be somewhere right now. I hate to ask you this but would you be able to drive me to the High School, please?" I asked, inquiringly.

Damon studied me for a moment before nodding and disappearing from the room. Henrik got up from his perch, and crossed over to where I had migrated to during my talk with Damon.

"Well reasoned, Grace." He complimented me. I smiled slightly, not entirely convinced.

"Yeah, we'll see. Time will tell." I said, just as Damon walked back into the room, now wearing his jacket and throwing and catching his keys with one hand.

"You coming?" He asked, quietly. I nodded and quickly grabbed my purse and trotted after him.

* * *

During the entire drive towards the High School, Damon was quiet. The only person who was especially talkative was Henrik, who was excited because he had never been to school before – as he and his older siblings had been homeschooled when they were human – and was babbling endlessly about it. It wasn't until Damon drove into the school driveway and put his car in park that he finally spoke.

"Thanks, Grace." I paused in the act of getting out of the car, and looked at him with surprise. "You've given me a lot to think about." He said, sincerely. I smiled warmly.

"My pleasure. I'm always there to help my friends when they need it." I reminded him. Damon smiled a little in response but didn't have anything to reply to that. I got out of the car, and waved at him as he pulled out of the car space and drove away. Henrik gaped at the school campus, and at all of the students milling about; either going home for the day, gossiping with their friends or headed for detention. Stressed looking faculty blended in with their students, also hurrying towards their next destination. I noticed Henrik practically vibrating from excitement and grinned down at him. "Go on. I'll talk to you later." I suggested. Henrik lit up like a candle and immediately raced away to explore, while I rolled my eyes and went off in search for the main office. It took a couple of helpful students before I was able to get where I needed to be.

"May I help you, dear?" I was immediately greeted by one of the office ladies who stepped in from a back room, the second I stepped inside. I smiled politely at her.

"Yes, I'm looking for Elena Gilbert. I'm supposed to be helping out with setting up for the carnival tonight." I got straight to the point. The woman frowned contemplatively before she suddenly had a look of realization.

"Oh, yes. She did say that somebody was coming down to help sometime today when she returned from her Doctor's appointment." She said, all chatty-like. I nodded politely, while inwardly I groaned at Elena's alibi for ditching school temporarily. Great. I was Elena's supposed doctor. I just hoped that this didn't blow up in my face. "Now, what is your name, dear?" She asked, all professional.

"Grace Williams." I replied promptly. The woman scanned the clipboard she was holding in her hand and made an 'ah-ha!' face when she found what she was searching for.

"Found it." She peeled off a fluorescent yellow sticker with 'VISITOR' printed on it in large block letters and handed it to me. I took it and attached it to my shirt. "Now you'll find Miss Gilbert with the rest of the carnival set up committee down near the school gymnasium. Just out those doors, take a left, keep walking and you should come across some booths that have already been set up. You can't miss it." I nodded to her and waved as I walked off in that direction.

It didn't take long for me to find what I was searching for. I was impressed by how much had been done so far. It seemed like this school was certainly going all out for one event, and it made me make note to ask Elena if the town did events this elaborate all the time. It genuinely looked like one of those public fairs that you would go to on a first date, or with your family for some fun. There were a few rides – including the old classic: a decent sized Ferris wheel – and lots of games crammed with every stuffed toy and novelty item you could think of.

"Katherine looked just like you, it was freakish." My head snapped in the direction of the voice the second the name 'Katherine' was mentioned, and I saw Elena walking with a petite and pretty African-American girl walking not too far away from where I was admiring the general construction of the carnival. I smiled; that must've been her friend Bonnie, whom Elena had so eagerly described to me, on and off again via Messenger. Elena looked fairly relaxed, compared to how she looked late this morning when she ditched school and came to see me.

"She is my ancestor." Elena reminded Bonnie, before grabbing the attention of a passing volunteer. "Hey, I moved the student booth into the cafeteria." She told the volunteer who nodded and headed in that direction. Bonnie rolled her eyes at what Elena had said.

" _Your_ vampire ancestor, and she didn't just resemble you like a family member would. She _was_ you." Elena made a face at the thought. So did I. I couldn't imagine how I'd feel if I knew that there was somebody out there wearing an exact replica of my face. Even more so if I knew that she was causing havoc as well.

"I don't know, I can't explain it. It's creepy, that's all I got." Elena admitted.

"How do you know she's not still out there pretending to be you?" Bonnie questioned. Elena shrugged, picking up a cardboard box filled with prizes.

"I don't. But I could sit here and be tortured by the not-knowing, or, I could get these prizes to the ring toss." She replied, holding up the box in her arms and walking off. Both Bonnie and I followed her. Bonnie looked like she was hesitating about asking a question. I made sure that I was far enough away that I wouldn't draw attention to myself as I eagerly listened to their conversation.

"Have you talked to Damon since he killed Jeremy or tried to kill Jeremy?" She asked, cautiously. Elena made a dark face. Yep, she was still pissed off. Clearly, my talk with her this morning was only a momentary reprieve for her.

Pity.

"No Bonnie. I haven't, and I won't and I don't want to talk about Damon or anything else that's vampire related okay?" Elena replied firmly, and gives her a bag full of plushy toys. "I'm human. And I have to do human stuff. Otherwise I'm going to go crazy." Elena vowed. I had to refrain from blurting out that by holding on to her anger against Damon, it was going to do more harm than good long term. Bonnie sighed and nodded.

"Okay, I'm sorry. I'll focus." She promised, then grinned. "We have to make Caroline proud or she will kill us. I don't know how she does all of this." She said, gesturing to the entire carnival.

"Well, because she's not human, obviously." Elena teased.

"Obviously." Bonnie agreed, before both of them dissolved into laughter. I decided to make myself known.

"Elena!" I called out, causing her to glance in my direction. She brightened instantly, while Bonnie looked curious.

"Grace! Thanks so much for coming. You have no idea how much of a lifesaver you are." Elena exclaimed, as I came over and greeted her with a one-armed hug. I grinned.

"I think I have a fairly good idea." I joked as I glanced over at Bonnie, who nodded politely at me in greeting. Elena noticed the exchange.

"Oh, right. Bonnie, this is Grace, and vice versa." She introduced us to each other. "Grace is the pen-pal I told you and Caroline about." Elena explained to her, and Bonnie immediately brightened in understanding.

"Oh, yeah. Hey! Nice to finally meet you." Bonnie responded, reaching out automatically to shake my hand. However, the second our skin touched; Bonnie jolted like she was struck by a bolt of lightning. She immediately looked up at me with her serious mocha coloured eyes. I stiffened, surprised by her reaction and gently took back my hand.

"Are you alright?" I asked, cautiously. Bonnie looked like she had seen a ghost. "You've gone a bit pale."

"She's a witch." I barely stopped myself from jumping when Henrik suddenly materialized beside me, looking warily at Bonnie. "Mother and Ayana used to do that all the time when somebody supernatural touched them for the first time." He explained. Inwardly, I was freaking out. If she was a witch, then that might mean that she could've potentially seen that not only was I a medium, but also she could've caught a glimpse of my past life a thousand years before. Bonnie gradually stopped looking horrified, and pasted on a rather fake looking smile on her face that instantly said to me, that she did not trust me.

Wonderful.

"I'm fine. Just static electricity." Bonnie lied. I nodded, knowing that she was saving face in front of Elena, who was oblivious to the awkward exchange between us. I decided that I need to be as far away as possible, and caught Elena's attention.

"So, Elena. Put me to work. What do you need me to do?" I asked, all business. Elena paused, glancing around and looking like she was scanning through the 'to-do list' in her head.

"Uh, we're trying to set up the 'Dunk the Teacher' game. Would you be able to lend a hand there?" She asked. I grinned, as Henrik made a confused face.

"Absolutely. Where do I need to go?" I asked. Elena pointed towards where the school bleachers were.

"It's right over there. You can't miss it." She explained, brightly. I nodded, and set off towards it.

"I'll see you later." I called. As soon as we were out of earshot, Henrik immediately pounced on me with questions.

"Are you okay, Grace?" He asked, looking at me with concern. I frowned at the random question.

"Why wouldn't I be?" I asked, as we approached a group of confused looking student volunteers and their faculty supervisor. Henrik raised an eyebrow.

"Because you froze the second I told you that girl was a witch." He reminded me.

"Oh, right. I was worried that Bonnie could see my past life from a thousand years ago, and the fact that I am a medium." I explained. Henrik smiled reassuringly at me.

"I doubt it. I could sense that she was powerful, but she's not in complete control of her powers yet. What she probably got from you were snippets she's probably still trying to figure out." Henrik explained. I looked at him skeptically.

"And how could you possibly know that?" I asked. Henrik grinned.

"I'm linked to the other side. Even though I can't physically go there, I still get little supernatural snippets every now and then." He told me.

"What? Why didn't you say so before?" I asked, looking both shocked and intrigued. Henrik shrugged.

"You didn't ask."

* * *

As we approached the partially constructed game, I noticed that they were attempting to 'volunteer' one of the students to sit on the dunking chair-thing to test the game out. Alarm bells started pealing madly in my head and I immediately dashed forward to stop them.

"Wait! Wait! Stop!" All of their heads swiveled in my direction. "What you're about to do is an incredible safety risk." I scolded them. The faculty supervisor strode over to me, frowning.

"And who might you be?" He asked me, sounding a little bit domineering and controlling. I frowned at him. He was standing a little too close for my liking.

"A volunteer, like you. Now if you'd be so kind as to back up a few paces, that'd be awesome." I requested, sternly. One of the student volunteers came forward.

"Then how do we test it then?" She asked, curiously. I already knew the solution to their problem. I side stepped the teacher and approached the tub.

"First of all, you've got to see if the chair will actually topple the person sitting on it. But it is an occupational health and safety risk to put a fragile person on it, because of the risks of potential broken bones or other injuries." I turned and pointedly stared down the faculty member. "Not to mention potential lawsuits." I reminded him. I felt smug and a little bit of pleasure seeing the teacher pale a little at the thought of a whole bunch of angry parents bringing in lawyers to sue for hospital bills etc..

"So what should we do?" Another student volunteer asked. I turned towards him.

"Does this school have any dummies?" I asked the student, who thought for a moment. But then another student, one that looked like an athlete, piped up.

"Yeah, we have one that we use during football training." He reported, helpfully. I grinned at him.

"Awesome. Go see if we can borrow it for a while." I requested politely. The student looked at the faculty member, who was thankfully silent. He nodded and the student immediately grabbed a friend and took off for the gymnasium. Once they returned with the dummy, it only took a couple of tries to knock it down off the collapsible chair using tennis balls, and to make sure the chair stayed upright when it was reset. Once the game was ready to go. I decided to head back and get ready for the carnival. I was tired, and desired an hour of sleep before coming back to join in with the festivities.

After Elena graciously dropped us back to the apartment, I decided to confront Henrik back why he had such a troubled expression on his face. The second after the two students had returned with the borrowed training dummy, he had disappeared and didn't return until I had decided to head off home.

"Penny for your thoughts?" I asked Henrik who looked confused by my question.

"Sorry?" He blinked. I grinned.

"You seem to be focusing on something very intently. What's up?" I translated. Henrik sighed.

"I was tailing Bonnie. There was something about her that didn't seem right." He explained.

"Like what?" I asked, hoping we both weren't paranoid about something completely innocent.

"I'd watch your back when you're around Bonnie. I think she believes that you're a threat." Henrik told me. I was surprised. She'd only just met me, and apart from the slightly awkward handshake that exposed her status as a witch to me; there was really nothing that I could think of that would set off alarm bells for someone like her. But then again, I did notice that Bonnie had been scowling at me whenever I saw her after our brief meeting. Perhaps, he was right?

"I think I might hold you to that, Henrik." I decided. "I'm gonna take a rest before going back to the carnival tonight. I'm beat." I announced. Henrik nodded.

"And I think I'm gonna stay here when you go back. I didn't like the sound of that 'Dunk the Teacher' game. It seemed too cruel and unnatural to be actual fun." He stated, making a face. I laughed.

"Do whatever you want, Henrik." I told him. I set my alarm for an hour from now, before curling up on the couch and falling straight to sleep.

Little did I know, that I was going to be grateful that I did.

* * *

 **A/N: Please review ;)**


	8. Carnival Chaos

**A/N: This is the third document that was deemed 'corrupted' and consequently deleted unceremoniously by my** _ **beloved**_ **laptop. Obviously, it's impossible to detect sarcasm on here, but by the time I was finished writing this note; it was practically dripping it.**

 **I hope that this re-write does this story justice, and I hope that you enjoy reading it. Please review, and no flaming would be appreciated. Thank you :)**

 **I don't own** _ **The Vampire Diaries.**_ **All characters (except for Grace) are owned by author J.L. Smith.**

* * *

 **CARNIVAL CHAOS**

" _Damaged people are dangerous. They know they can survive."  
_ _ **~Josephine Hart.**_

* * *

Not sure what I was expecting when I woke up after an hour; but Bonnie Bennett standing outside my apartment door, wasn't it. She just stood there, awkwardly shifting from foot to foot and looking a little embarrassed.

"Hey Bonnie?" I stepped aside to invite her into the apartment. She stepped through and glanced around with interest.

"Wow! Is this really your apartment?" She marveled with obvious envy. Both Henrik and I looked at her strangely as I closed the front door. What was she doing here?

"Uh, yeah. Last time I checked." I replied. "What can I do for you?" I inquired politely, as I fastened on a large hoop earring to complete my nightlife outfit. After immerging from a nice relaxing shower; I felt refreshed and decided to dress up in a tight pair of denim blue hip huggers, a loose white t-shirt with a couple of black angel wings stenciled on the back, some stretchy black jelly bracelets and some black ballet flats. I had also shoved my long dark brown hair up into two oriental-style buns on both sides of my head, with two strands of my fringe hanging free around my face.

"I'd, um. I'd like to apologize for earlier this afternoon. It was a simple misunderstanding." Bonnie explained.

"You mean the 'static electricity' thing?" I asked, casually. Bonnie nodded. I waved a nonchalant hand. "Don't worry about it." I reassured her. Bonnie seemed to relax, but when I turned my back on her; I was anything but feeling casual. If anything, I couldn't help but feel strangely suspicious about her. "So how'd you know where I lived?" I queried, grabbing my black blazer and shrugging it on, before grabbing my purse.

Bonnie suddenly looked sheepish.

"Oh, uh. Elena told me." She replied. "Is that okay?" Bonnie looked worried, and I smiled.

"No, it's fine. Just caught a little off guard." I lied. It was so not fine. I actually felt a little peeved. I went around the apartment clicking on lamps, so I didn't end up breaking my neck when I finally got home from having fun at the carnival. Which reminded me… "Shouldn't you be at the carnival already?" I looked at her, curiously.

Bonnie nodded.

"I know. I just went home to get a change of clothes. The other ones I had on were dirty. That's the second reason I'm here too. I was wondering if you wanted a lift back to the carnival tonight. Since you're new in town." Bonnie offered. I was surprised, then suspicious.

"Uh, sure. That'd be great. Thanks." I replied. Bonnie smiled warmly at me. But despite this, I wasn't ready to lower my guard just yet. I walked over to the front door and opened it, allowing Bonnie to go through first. Then I deadlocked the door.

"Be careful, Grace. Something doesn't seem right." Henrik cautioned me. I nodded, blowing him a kiss and shutting the door behind me. I jogged down the stairs to where Bonnie was waiting patiently beside her car. I smiled at her as I slid into the passenger side of the car and pulled out my chap stick at the same time.

"So, Grace. How long have you known Elena for?" Bonnie asked, sounding protective as she pulled out and started driving towards the high school. I paused mid application and looked at Bonnie. She avoided eye contact with me. How is it that I'm being interrogated for a second time today?! I calmly capped the moisturizing tube and put it away, blotting my lips.

"And who put you up to this?" I retorted, as I put away my lip balm. Bonnie's face immediately went pink as she stiffened, looking surprised that she had been caught out this early.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She responded, aiming for innocent, and failing. I huffed.

"Pull over, Bonnie." I requested, gathering up my belongings. Bonnie looked at me with surprise, and slowed down but didn't immediately stop. "Where are you going?" Bonnie demanded. I glared at her.

"I'm not going to sit here and be demanded to answer questions I'm not prepared to answer, if you're not going to extend the same courtesy to me." I opened the door, the second Bonnie slammed on the brakes; looking at me with shock. I immediately got out of the car and spun round to address her again. "And I really don't care what you think, of me or anything else." I slammed the car door behind me and walked briskly in the direction of the school.

* * *

By the time I got to the carnival, it was already underway. But the anger I had for Bonnie's unexpected and unappreciated interrogation attempt had not gone just yet. I really hoped that this would not be a continuous thing every time I met a new friend of Elena's. So far the only friend of hers that hadn't done this, and that I haven't met yet was Caroline. But she was, as far as I was aware, still recovering from a car accident at the hospital. It made me seriously wonder how much of a delicate flower Elena was being made out to be, to have bodyguards dogging the every movement of a new person even associating with her.

I wondered around the fair, playing a few of the games; one of which I managed to win a cheap necklace with a wolf charm dangling from it. I thought it was cute and immediately put it on before setting off for the refreshment booth to get myself some fluffy pink fairy floss. I came across the 'Dunk the Teacher' attraction and was amused to see that it apparently was one of the popular attractions. But I figured it was probably because it was one of those rare opportunities for a student to get even with a teacher that had ever been a pain in their arse, without suffering any consequences.

To my amusement, the same teacher who had been a pig towards me when I first came over to help set up the game, was currently the latest victim of the tub. I had to stifle a laugh when the current shooter managed to get a direct hit on the target, and it sent the teacher – swearing and everything – splashing into the water below.

"Grace!" I turned on the spot, and noticed Elena striding over to me, looking a little tired but pleased to see me.

"Hey Elena, looks like the carnival's a huge hit." I commented, ripping off a piece of the treat in my hands and stuffing it into my mouth. "You alright? You look a bit stressed." I asked her. Elena waved away my concerns.

"Nah, it's nothing I can't handle. You wanna walk with me while I go and fetch some more prizes from the science club?" I nodded, falling into stride with her and giving her a onceover from head to toe, feeling a little concerned.

"Have you even stopped for a breather at all tonight?" I asked. "Maybe try a couple of games or maybe get something to drink?" I suggested. Elena smiled at me, gratefully.

"Next thing on my list of things to do." She promised me. "I also want to apologize for Bonnie's actions. She was out of line interrogating you like that." Elena apologized, looking embarrassed. I managed to suppress my rising anger.

"Don't mention it." I replied, a little stiffly. I followed Elena around the carnival, just walking and talking with her while she addressed or helped out with the various problems that were bound to pop up throughout the night. Eventually, I desired to head off on my own; plus I had spotted Damon standing and looking at one of the attractions. It seemed rather odd and curious to see him, of all people, hanging out at an event primarily targeted towards families, teenagers and young couples out on a date. I turned towards Elena who was talking with one of the volunteers. "Hey, I'll talk to you a little later. I'm gonna get a water." I told her. Elena nodded, but before I could take more than a few steps away from her, she grabbed my elbow.

"Oh, wait! I keep forgetting to give this to you." Elena reached into her pocket and produced a simple, but pretty plum coloured plaited leather bracelet with a star charm dangling from it, which she immediately held out and dropped into my hand. Surprised, I picked it up and held it up for a closer view.

"Thanks, Elena. What's the occasion?" I inquired, as I attempted to secure it around my wrist.

"It's for protection." Elena replied simply, as she reached out and secured the latch for me. I blinked. There was only one reason why Elena would be giving me something like this and calling it 'protection'. _A vervain bracelet?_ I smiled gratefully, privately hoping that I wouldn't have a chance to test it out.

"I'm touched. Thanks again, sweetie." I told her, and pulled her in for a brief hug. "Now, I'm really parched." We both laughed as we broke apart. "See you a little later." I promised. Elena went back to the volunteer, and I waited for them to disappear out of sight before I walked over to Damon. This was partly to see what had caught and held his attention, and to see how he was going since he had dropped me off at the high school this afternoon. "Hey Damon." I greeted him. He merely grunted and nodded in response.

I frowned at this reply and immediately turned towards what had his undivided attention. It was an arm-wrestling competition that some of the teens had obviously organized and had approved by the teachers to run. I rolled my eyes. _Boys…_ I thought and turned to walk off when I noticed Stefan making his way over to us, a calculating frown on his face; which was directed towards his brother.

"Hey Stefan." I greeted him. Stefan paused, looking at me strangely. As though trying to pinpoint where he had seen me before. "How are you feeling since the last time I saw you?" I inquired, indicating to his stomach; trying to jog his memory. A look of recognition passed over his green eyes and he gave a polite smile back.

"Fine, thank you." Then he frowned at me, looking a bit puzzled. "I'm sorry, I'm terrible with names?" He stated. I grinned.

"Don't worry about it. I'm Grace, nice to meet you under less stressful circumstances." I said, reaching forward to shake his lukewarm hand.

"Likewise." He reciprocated.

"Knock it off with the pleasantries, will ya?" Damon interjected, looking mildly annoyed. Stefan scowled at him.

"Damon, you're lurking." Stefan observed.

"Correction: I'm _observing._ Huge difference." Damon retorted, his eyes not leaving the match in front of us. Stefan glanced at what Damon was _observing_ and snorted.

"More like obsessing." He insisted. I stepped between the brothers; attempting to keep the peace.

"How about we both agree to disagree, huh?" I suggested, terminating the argument. Neither brother commented. All three of us turned our attention back to the arm-wrestling match. A dark-haired teenager with an arrogant little smirk was currently facing off with another teenager, who looked like he was in some pain. Unsurprising, considering the angle that their arms were tilted in. Suddenly, the dark-haired boy slams down his opponent's arm to the table top and I winced.

"I really don't get you men. How exactly is this supposed to fun?" I asked, not bothering to disguise my disapproval. Both Damon and Stefan looked at me, but Damon seemed to be the only one amused by my observation.

"You know, I've never really gave it much thought." Stefan responded.

"Besides, you shouldn't knock it until you've tried it." Damon suggested, and I made a face at the idea.

"I'll pass. But thanks anyway." I retorted, crossing my arms over my chest. I frowned at the dark-haired student. Something did not seem right about him. "What is that kid's name anyway?" I asked.

"That's Tyler Lockwood." Damon replied, straightening up from his slouched position against the doorframe, and coming over to stand with me. "He's the late Mayor's only son and heir." He explained, sounding a little sarcastic.

I nodded.

"Right. Is there anybody in this town that you actually like Damon?" I asked, seriously.

"Apart from himself?" Stefan muttered underneath his breath. Damon smirked, apparently amused by his brother's comment, or at least tolerating it. I rolled my eyes.

"Seriously, are you guys twelve?" I rebuked the both of them, over the childishness. Damon leaned over to whisper into my ear.

"Well, you're not too bad. Does that count?" He replied to my question. Stefan turned to look at him with surprise and I looked over at him as well, seeing complete sincerity reflected within his blue eyes. I smiled.

"Thank you, Damon. That's very sweet of you to say." I told him.

Damon smiled at me. "You're welcome." Our attention was drawn back into the room when Tyler won yet another match. Damon raised a reluctantly impressed eyebrow.

"He's got strength." He observed. Stefan scoffed once again.

"He's a triple letter varsity athlete. Of course he has strength. You're reaching." He told him. Just then an older man with light brown hair and blue eyes strode up to the table. He was tall, looked like a suntanned Southern Californian surfer, and was extremely well-muscled; like he was serious weightlifter. I raised an eyebrow.

"I bet I can take you." He said to Tyler, with a cocky grin on his face. Tyler smirked back.

"Enter the uncle." Damon announced, just as Tyler's last opponent got up from his seat and his 'uncle' took his place. I frowned. I was getting the same strange feeling I was sensing from Tyler, radiating from his uncle.

"That's ridiculous." Stefan disagreed. I didn't reply, I was too busy studying the two Lockwoods engaging in their (pointless) match. Warm breath tickled my ear.

"You're drooling, Grace." Damon teased, and I pursed my lips in irritation. "Should I be jealous?" He questioned innocently. I elbowed him in the gut, earning a chuckle from Damon when I missed.

"You're so full of it." I retorted. Just then an arm hit the table, and Damon, Stefan and I glanced over; expecting to see Tyler collecting his accolades like before. To our surprise, the victor was actually his uncle.

"Wow, okay. That's new." I muttered. Tyler gets to his feet, accepting the defeat and moving to allow somebody else to have a go.

"Okay, he's the champ." He announces, pointing towards his uncle. "Who wants to go next?" Damon shoves Stefan forward.

"Stefan wants a go." Damon stated, as both Stefan and I looked at him with confusion. But Stefan must have seen something in Damon's eyes because he suddenly huffed and turned back to the group of rowdy teenage boys, and plastered on a fake smile.

"Yeah, sure, I'll … give it a shot." Stefan agreed and took Tyler's vacated spot. I turned and frowned at Damon.

"What are you planning?" I asked him.

"Just testing a theory." Damon replied, his eyes not once leaving his brother. "Get him, Stef!" He cheered. Stefan winced before giving his opponent a polite smile as he grasped his hand.

"My brother over there thinks I can beat you." I hear Stefan half-taunt, half-inform him. The elder Lockwood smirked.

"Your brother's wrong." He informs Stefan. The match begins and at first, they both seem to be evenly matched; with both putting in hard pressure. But then the match seems to turn in the Elder Lockwood's favour. Soon Stefan loses the match. He gets up from the table and wonders back over to us, with a pissed off Damon about ready to move in for the kill.

"You didn't put _any_ effort in at all." He accuses Stefan, angrily. I noticed Stefan slightly flexing his fingers and circling his wrist a few times. This indicated that his opponent was stronger than or at least as strong as Stefan was.

"Yeah, actually I did." Stefan replied, wincing a little. Damon's anger melts away to pure astonishment, whilst my curiosity turned into suspicion. My intuition was apparently correct about this family. There was something was definitely funky about them.

"Come with me." Damon spoke up, and both Stefan and I followed him into the school, wondering down a nearby hallway. However, Damon immediately stops me. "Woah, woah, woah. Where are you goin'?" He demands me. I looked at him with confusion.

"What do you mean? You said to follow you, so I did." I responded. Damon shook his head.

"No, I meant _Stefan_ follow me. It's too dangerous for you." He insisted. I made a face.

"I think I'll be fine, Damon. I can take care of myself." I reassured him, then tried to step around him to stand near Stefan. But Damon grabbed my arm a little forcefully. I winced.

"And I say no." He insisted.

"And how are you going to stop me?" I challenged him. Damon made a frustrated noise underneath his breath. I noticed Stefan's eyes widen in alarm.

"Don't you even think about it, Damon!" He warned him. But Damon simply gave him a withering glare before he turned and placed his hands on my shoulders and deliberately looking _very_ close into my eyes.

"You are going to go back and enjoy the carnival. You are going to seek out Elena and hang out with her." Damon told me, using a firm and precise sounding voice. I watched fascinated as his pupils dilated, then I clenched my hand into a fist when I realised what he was attempting to do. Looks like I've found a way to test if Elena's bracelet actually worked.

"Are you seriously trying to compel me?!" I demanded, feeling royally offended. Damon looked at me aghast, before I raised my right arm into the air, showing both brothers the vervain bracelet Elena had given me an hour or so ago. Stefan smirked.

"Looks like Elena's one step ahead of you, brother." He told Damon, sounding smug. I scowled at Stefan.

"That's enough out of you." I admonished him, before grabbing a frustrated Damon's attention once again. "Listen, if I promise that I'd stay out of your way; will you both let me tag along? Who knows, I could be of some use to you." I suggested to them. Both brothers exchanged glances between them before Damon reluctantly nods. "Yay! I win." I cheered, earning a barely noticeable smile from Damon. Then he turns back to Stefan, completely serious now.

"Is he…?" Damon asked, referring to Tyler's mysterious uncle. Stefan immediately shook his head.

"No, no. It wasn't that kind of strength but it was more than human. If that makes any sense." He replied. I shrugged, as Damon looked even more irritated than he already did.

"Why should that be confusing? Would it really be that impossible to believe that there could be another supernatural entity out there stronger than vampires?" I whispered to them. Stefan considered the possibility while Damon snarled.

"What is up with that _family?_ What the hell are they if they aren't vampires?" He fumed. Stefan smirked.

"Ooh, ah, maybe they're, um, ninja turtles!" He joked, earning an unimpressed and very unamused sneer from his brother.

"You are not funny." Damon declared, as I suddenly recalled what other possible supernatural entities the Lockwood family could potentially be. I grinned. _Thank you, Henrik…_ I thought as I grabbed the brothers' attention.

"They could be werewolves." I pointed out, stopping a laughing Stefan in his tracks; and earning a deeper scowl from Damon.

"Don't you start, Grace." He scolded me, and I rolled my eyes. Something immediately catches Damon's attention, and both Stefan and I turn to see what it was. A young African-American man who looked my age or a couple years older was standing not too far away from where we were, repairing something.

"What? What are you up to?" Stefan asked, warily. Damon strolled over to the man, while both Stefan and I followed still trying to figure out what Damon was planning. He turns and looks at us sternly.

"This is reality. And there's no such thing as werewolves or … combat turtles." Damon stated firmly. Stefan rolled his eyes.

"I said ninja turtles, actually." He retorted and I sighed.

"Details, Stefan." I reminded him, and I indicated to Damon who had finally managed to approach the guy.

"Hey you!" Damon addressed him, rudely. I shook my head as the guy scowled at Damon, looking offended. I didn't blame him. Damon needed to work on his tact.

"I have a name." He told him, straightening up from the task he was attempting to fix and eyeing Damon cautiously. Good! This guy wasn't an idiot. It was just a matter of wondering what Damon needed him for.

"Yeah, I don't care." Damon responded brusquely, before he takes him by the shoulders and begins to compel him. Both Stefan and I reacted and came forward to stop him. But it was too late. "I need you to pick a fight with someone, a kid named Tyler Lockwood." He instructed the guy, who blinked back at him looking dazed. I was horrified.

"What?! Damon, no!" I protested. What was he thinking?! Stefan apparently agreed with me.

"Damon, don't do this." He pleaded. But Damon merely motioned us away with a brushing motion of his fingers, and an annoyed look on his face.

"It's just an experiment." He 'reassured' us, before turning back to his victim. "Get him mad, don't back down no matter what he does, okay?" The poor guy nodded slowly.

"I won't back down." He repeated back to Damon, mesmerized. Damon smiled, triumphantly.

"I know you won't." He tells him, releasing him and patting him on the back and sending him on his way. I walked over to Damon and scowled at him, disapprovingly.

"Probably because he can't. Damon, people are not your personal puppets for you to play with and manipulate for your own amusement." I reminded him, annoyed. Stefan came up beside me, equally angry.

"You do realize someone is going to get hurt, right?" He pointed out. Damon didn't look concerned.

"No, someone is going to get mad, as in rage." He explained to us. As if that was going to make what he had made an innocent bystander do seem harmless.

"Why?" I asked, feeling confused.

"What's that going to accomplish?" Stefan wanted to know as well. Damon huffed impatiently.

"That Tyler kid is incapable of walking away from a fight. Let's see who intervenes." He said. "Maybe it's the ambiguous, supernatural mystery uncle." Damon mused. He strides away from us both, causing Stefan let out a resigned sigh and storm off in the opposite direction to Damon, leaving me to decide who to follow.

I chose and chased after him.

* * *

"Damon, wait!" He paused mid stride down the school corridor and looked at me with hard eyes. "Think about it. Isn't there a better way to find out what's weird about the Lockwood family?" I tried to get him to change his plans. But Damon seemed unmoved.

"No, I'm good with the plan." He replied flippantly and continued walking. I huffed with frustration and took off after him only thud into somebody's back, bouncing off them.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't see you there." I apologized, getting to my feet and dusting myself off. The person didn't respond and I glanced up at them. Whoever it was, was a petite, blonde girl. She barely acknowledged that I had run straight into her and was focusing upon Damon who had turned around when he heard me apologise. He seemed to recognise her.

"Hey blondie, they let you out?" He asked rhetorically, before turning and continuing to walk away. I moved to follow.

"I remember." Her voice sounded extremely cross. Which wouldn't surprise me in the least, considering that it was Damon that she was angry with. Damon paused and looked back.

"What do you remember?" He asked her, tiredly. The girl's frown deepened.

"I remember how you manipulated me, you pushed me around, abused me, erased my memories, fed on me." The girl explained, walking towards him with slow, calculated footsteps. Something didn't feel right and I moved away from this girl and closer to where Damon was standing. This time the girl noticed, and her scowl at Damon turned into a glare. Damon sneered, obviously not getting the dangerous vibe I was sensing from her.

"You're crazy." He declared.

"Memories have been coming back, in pieces." She hinted and this time Damon took notice of what she was saying.

"You can't remember. It's impossible, I mean unless you're becoming a…" Then Damon's face went serious, and he looked at her with horror. I looked at him for an explanation, but faltered when the girl suddenly smiled. And it was not a pleasant smile.

"I have a message from Katherine." My eyes widened. "She said: "Game on."" The girl said finally standing directly in front of Damon, close enough that she could probably smell his cologne.

"Wait…" Damon started to say, but the girl suddenly pushed him with supernatural strength, which throws him backwards and makes him slide on the floor. I gasped with alarm.

"You suck." The girl tells Damon. I froze where I was and shut my eyes; thinking that I was next. But nothing happened. I opened my eyes and looked around for the girl. But she had already left. I immediately went straight to Damon's side and helped him sit up.

"Jeez, are you alright?" I asked him, a little freaked out. Damon nodded, muttering choice words underneath his breath as I assisted him. "Who was she?" I asked him. Damon rubbed the back of his head.

"Caroline Forbes." He responded, and my eyes widened in shock.

"Elena's friend?" I blurted out. Damon nodded. "What the hell happened to her?"

"She's been turned into a vampire." Damon replied, getting to his feet and then seizing me by the hand. "C'mon." He said, pulling in the direction he had been heading in before Caroline intercepted him.

"Wait! We've gotta tell Elena!" I protested, but Damon only increased his grip.

"That's who we're going to." Damon agreed.

* * *

Once we got outside, I suggested that Damon and I split up so we could cover more ground to find Elena. It didn't take long for me to find her, she was talking with a friend.

"Excuse me." I said to her friend, before pulling a confused Elena aside.

"Grace, what's wrong? Why do you look so upset?" Elena asked. I was about to reply when Damon arrived. Elena instantly went stony faced. I groaned in annoyance suspecting that Elena thought I was being harassed by Damon.

"What do you want, Damon?" She demanded, pulling me behind her to shield me. Damon ignored the tone, and the obvious gesture.

"I know I'm the last person you want to see right now, but I need you to come with me." Damon requested. I rolled my eyes and I attempted to soothe the anger I could see developing on Elena's face.

" _We_ actually need your help, Elena. And Damon also meant please." I corrected him, giving Damon a look which he rolled his eyes at. Elena looked at me with shock because Damon and I were working together, before she turned and started walking away.

"Whatever it is, I'm not interested." She replied, but Damon flashed in front of her, causing Elena to jump in surprise and glower at him.

"Yeah, we need you to come with us right _now,_ Elena." Damon insisted, firmly. Elena looked at me for the answers, but she looked resigned when she saw what I believed was a stricken look on my face and reluctantly stops what she was doing and followed us.

A few minutes later, Damon, Elena and I had commandeered a classroom, so we could break it to her gently that her friend was now a blood-craving entity.

"Alright then, what's so urgent that you needed to bring me in here?" Elena demanded, leaning against the teacher's desk and folding her arms across her chest.

"Caroline's been turned into a vampire." Damon blurted out. I scowled at him.

"Good job, Damon. Way to break it to her gently." I told him, sarcastically. Damon shrugged. It was obvious that he was still mad with both Elena _and_ Katherine, because he hadn't even attempted to be nice about it. Elena's severe expression immediately dropped.

"What?" She whispered.

"How did this happen?" Stefan demanded as he burst into the classroom and came over to Elena's side.

"Well, I fed her blood and Katherine obviously killed her. A plus B equals…" Damon explained, patronisingly. I elbowed him in the side, but he easily sidestepped me and threw me a warning look not to try that again. I sighed.

"But why?" Elena asked.

"Because Katherine is a manipulative, nasty little slut." Damon told us. Stefan shook his head as he let this information sink in.

"And she said "game on?" I mean, what does that even mean?" He wanted to know. I shrugged, even though the question wasn't technically directed towards me.

"Sounds like she's playing dirty. But that's just my opinion." I suggested, getting an approving nod from Damon.

"But why Caroline?" Elena asked, upset.

"I don't know." Damon responded. Stefan started pacing the room, looking upset by the fact that Caroline had been put into this situation.

"Caroline must be completely out of her mind. She doesn't even know what's happening to her." He mused. But I shook my head.

"I doubt that for a second, considering what both Damon and I discovered when Caroline confronted him before." I told them. Damon nodded.

"All of my compulsion from the past started wearing off the minute she was in transition." Damon explained, and Stefan nodded in understanding.

"We have to find her." He told us. Again, Damon nodded and started for the classroom door.

"Yep, and kill her." He agreed. Both Elena and I jolted in shock.

"What? No!" I protested.

"You're not gonna kill Caroline." Elena growled at him. Damon turned on her, his eyes flashing in anger.

"She knows who we are. She's officially a liability, and we've got to get rid of her." Damon insisted. But it was three against one in favour of Stefan, Elena and myself.

"Damon, absolutely not." Stefan said, firmly.

"There is always another option. Death never is, unless there is no other choice." I insisted. Damon raked a hand through his jet black hair in frustration.

"Need I remind you, Elena and Stefan, of a tragic little story of a girl named Vicki Donovan?" Damon pointed out, causing both of them to flush with anger. "Caroline, of all people, will not make it as a vampire. Her mother is a vampire hunter." He reminded them. But both his brother and Elena wouldn't budge. While I wasn't in favour of Damon killing a poor innocent girl, who obviously hadn't intended on becoming a vampire on a technicality; we were getting nowhere fast. It was getting ridiculous. "Guys come on, we all know how this story's gonna end." Damon insisted. "Just flip to the last chapter and…"

"It's not an option, Damon. Grace is right about that; there is always another option besides killing." Elena said with a finality in her voice.

"No?" Damon questioned her, and Elena stubbornly glared him in the eye. I looked at Stefan for his reaction to Elena's opinion, and I was surprised to see that he had fallen silent, and was avoiding direct eye contact with his brother. Damon was shrewd enough to notice this. "Your silence is deafening, Stefan." Then he smirked, and I knew nothing good could come of it. "Wait, wasn't there a school carnival the night you staked Vicki?" I blinked at this. Stefan did what now? "I never had a town where history repeats itself. You know I'm right." Damon declared. Stefan raised his head from where he was staring at the floor and fixed Damon with a stony expression.

"We are not gonna kill her." Stefan agreed with Elena before leaving the classroom, with Elena close behind. But Damon stops her before she could step one foot out of the room.

"It's the only way." He tells her, firmly.

Elena simply looks at him with contempt before following after her boyfriend. I was the only one who hadn't made an attempt to leave the room, so Damon turned to look at me; that same defensive look he had when he believed that I was going to judge him not long ago, had reappeared. I got off the table I had perched on during the debate between the Salvatore Brothers and Elena (with my bystander input every now and then).

"And what say you, Grace?" Damon demanded. I maintained a poker-face and shrugged.

"Do what you want, Damon. You're going to anyway." I replied. Damon didn't respond to that, but looked a little hurt. He turned to walk away. "But know this, Damon. I'm going to fight to protect you from yourself. Even if I have to act as your conscience and remind you every now and then." I promised him. Damon turned and looked at me with astonishment, and opened his mouth to speak; but I moved quickly and disappeared from the room before he could.

* * *

Despite the stiff upper lip I had while I was talking to Damon, I was actually very angry. Not just with Damon, but also with Stefan and Elena for not working it out civilly with him. They just as stubborn and bad as he was. It was obviously a case of 'I'm right, you're wrong. And stuff everybody else' from both parties, and neither were about to budge. I had just walked outside of the school when I heard the sound of somebody crying in a nearby alley. Concerned, I followed the crying and came across Caroline huddling in on herself against the wall of the alley. She was obviously really scared and very confused about what was going on with herself.

I froze. I was about to turn back, when Caroline suddenly looked up.

"Hello? Who's there?" I swore to myself, and immediately turned back towards Caroline. I stepped out from the shadows, arms raised in the air in surrender. Caroline frowned at me. "You're that girl I saw in the corridor with Damon." She said. I nodded.

"Yeah, that's me. My name's Grace." I replied, a little nervously. I maintained my distance away from her in case Caroline was jumpy and not in control of her actions. "How are you holding up?" I asked her; being careful not to ask if she was okay. Because it would've been a stupid question, considering the present situation.

"I'm so damn hungry." Caroline replied, promptly. I gulped.

"Well, you seem to have excellent control right now, Caroline. Keep it up." I suggested urgently. She frowned at me again, this time suspiciously.

"How do you know my name?" She demanded. I smiled at her disarmingly.

"I'm a friend of Elena's." I told her. Caroline's frown deepened.

"You are?" Then her eyes widened in recognition. "Wait, Grace? Are you that pen-pal Elena told Bonnie and me about?" She asked. I nodded. "Oh God. They're gonna hate me." She started panicking, and that was the last thing we needed right this second.

"No they won't, Caroline. I promise." I reassured her. Caroline scowled at me.

"How do you know that? How can you promise that?" She asked. I drew in a deep breath before replying, knowing that my heart was thudding very loudly and pumping the adrenaline through my veins. Thus creating a very tempting target for Caroline's appetite and fraying nerves.

"Because I was with Elena only a few minutes ago. She is extremely worried about you, and is currently out searching for you with Stefan; so that he can explain what's going on with you right now." I explained to her using soft, soothing tones. Caroline relaxed for about a microsecond. Then her eyes widen as she saw something over my left shoulder. I turned and looked; and I swear my heart stopped. That same guy Damon had compelled to pick a fight with Tyler Lockwood was passing by, wiping his bloodied nose with a handkerchief. "Oh shit…" I muttered out loud, gaining his attention.

The guy looked at me strangely for a few seconds before turning his attention on Caroline.

"Hey, is everything okay?" He asked us both. I nodded frantically and moved towards him.

"Everything's fine. I've got it under control." I reassured him, trying to get him to leave before something bad happened. But sadly that was not to be.

"I'm so sorry." Caroline whimpered. Both he and I turned and looked at Caroline with different expressions on our faces. He looked confused and I felt fear and dread.

"What?" He asked. Then without warning, Caroline flashed behind him and bites him twice.

"No! Caroline, stop!" I yelled and made a foolish mistake.

I stepped towards them both and Caroline immediately reacted by shoving him aside for a split second and grabbing me by the shoulders, growling in my face like an animal. The next thing I knew; Caroline had thrown me against the wall, where I smacked the back of my head hard against the bricks. Stars clouded my vision, and I slid down the wall; cradling the back of my head and wincing from the pain. I glanced over to see what Caroline was doing and realised that she had seized the poor guy again and was currently sitting on his chest, ravenously drinking away at his neck like a person dying of thirst. I pulled away my hand and saw blood. But before I could register that I was bleeding, which was a very bad thing, everything started going dark…

* * *

 **A/N: Time to cut it off here. Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed it.**

 **Until next time. TTFN ;)**


	9. Picking Up The Pieces

**A/N: Heya guys and gals! This is the fourth and final document that my computer corrupted and deleted unceremoniously from my laptop. Hopefully, this will be the last time this happens.**

 **After reading this chapter, please review. I hope I don't have to remind people not to flame me. Thanks very much :)**

 **I don't own** _ **The Vampire Diaries.**_ **All characters (except for Grace) belong to author L.J. Smith.**

 **Please enjoy xx**

* * *

 **PICKING UP THE PIECES**

" _Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever they like."_ _ **~Lao Tzu.**_

* * *

 _ **~:HALLUCINATION:~**_

 _"Grace… Grace…" Something warm was touching my face, and I frowned and raised my hand to bat it away. But instead, whatever or whoever was touching me; caught it instead. "You need to wake up, sweetheart. Please, for me?" I opened my eyes and registered the fuzzy image of a shadowed person who was squatting over me._

 _"What's going on? Where am I?" I mumbled groggily and tried to sit up, unsuccessfully. The person immediately helped me into a more comfortable position against the wall._

 _"You are right where you were before you hit your head. You haven't moved. But you need to wake up before it's too late." The fuzziness faded away from my view and I realised that my 'good Samaritan' was in fact my mysterious stranger; still with his (frustratingly) blurred out face, but with much shorter hair that from the feel of the strands through my fingers, was soft and curly._

 _Hope filled me._

 _"Are you really here?" I asked, cupping his face. He chuckled sadly, shaking his head and pulling my hand away from his face (which was rough from a little bit of stubble). He kissed the palm tenderly._

 _"No, love. I'm not really here. I'm only a hallucination you created in your head when you hit the brick wall." I sagged in disappointment. "But don't despair. Our reunion isn't faraway now." He promised. I tried to get to my feet, but a wave of dizziness overwhelmed me and I collapsed, alarming my beloved stranger. I heard an audible crunching noise, and realised that he had just bit into his wrist like a crisp apple. I recoiled in horror. "Drink this, darling. It will make you feel better, I promise." I hesitated. "Please, Grace." He urged._

 _I took his wrist and hesitantly wrapped my lips around the gaping wound, drinking deeply. It was thick and rich, but tasted sweet as well. It also felt strangely realistic going down my throat, for a hallucination. A hand started stroking my hair, and pulling me closer to a warm chest; hugging me closer and coaxing me to continue drinking. "That's it, Grace. Good girl. I love you, so much." I wanted to reply with the same words, but my mouth was full. "I will see you again. I love you, always and forever…"_

* * *

 _ **~:REALITY:~**_

I woke up back in the alley with Damon crouched over me in the exact same position as my mysterious stranger did in my hallucination. His ice blue eyes were wide and full of alarm and concern as they peered into my own dark brown ones.

"Grace? Are you alright?" He demanded, sounding very urgent. I nodded slowly, my head pounding like a jackhammer. There was something hot and sticky around my mouth and dripping down my chin uncomfortably. "Jesus! Don't ever scare me like that again!" Damon growled at me, cupping my face and making me look him in the eye. "Promise me!" He demanded.

"Okay, I promise." I croaked. Damon sighed with relief and surprised me by leaning forward and kissing my forehead.

I blinked in astonishment.

"Good. Now give me a moment while I deal with this. I need to take you home, and make sure you don't kill yourself within 24 hours." He told me, before standing up and turning his back to me. I was about to ask why so specific a timeframe when I realized he facing towards where I had last seen Caroline. I instantly bolted upright and got to my feet, ignoring the pain growing roots on the back of my head, and immediately started looking around Damon to Caroline. She was crying next to the body of the guy Tyler had beaten up. There was blood all over her face.

"He's dead. I killed him. What's wrong with me?" Caroline sounded hysterical. I moved to go comfort her, but Damon stopped me; giving me a warning look. Instead, he went over to her and squatted in front of her.

"Hey, hey. It's okay. I can help you." Damon comforted her. Caroline looked at him with hope in her eyes.

"You can?" She asked, looking and sounding vulnerable. Damon nodded seriously.

"Yeah, I have to." He tells her.

"No, you don't Damon." I corrected him, still annoyed that he still intended to kill her after all. Damon turned to me. Her eyes widened when she saw me.

"Did I do that?" Caroline asked fearfully. Damon shook his head.

"The blood around the mouth is my doing. You caused the bump and bloody gash on the back of her head." He told her, and I frowned. I scratched at the corner of my mouth at some of the stickiness and pulled away seeing dried blood underneath my fingernail. My eyes widened.

"You fed me your blood?!" I accused Damon, who looked back at me exasperatedly.

"Would you rather bleed out?" He retorted hotly. I was silenced. Vampires have blood that heals? I reached to touch the back of my head, feeling a decent sized goose egg there. It also felt slightly sticky back there too.

I paled.

"I'm so sorry!" Caroline shouted to me. I smiled at her reassuringly.

"It was my fault, Caroline. You were just acting on your instinct." I told her. She whimpered and curled in on herself. Damon continued to 'comfort' her.

"Like I said. I can help you." He told her. Caroline looked wary.

"What are you gonna do?" She asked. Damon gave her a pitying smile. I scowled at the back of his head; resentful that he was taking advantage of the fact that I was still slightly weakened from being thrown around like a rag doll by Caroline, and waking up after suffering a concussion.

"The only thing I can do. I'm gonna kill you." Damon told her. Tears immediately filled Caroline's eyes, and I pushed myself off the wall and stepped in front of Damon.

"Please don't! I don't want to die!" Caroline pleaded.

"Leave her alone, Damon! I mean it." I warned him. Damon ignored me.

"But you are already dead." He told Caroline, who was cowering behind me.

"No! I'm not. Don't say that, okay? Just help me!" She begged.

"Don't worry, Caroline. I'll help you." I promised her, and found myself somehow staring at the brick wall. I cursed when I realised that Damon had moved me out of the way. "Damon, don't you dare!" I yelled, turning back and wishing that I'd heal faster.

"Okay." Damon replied. But I wasn't sure if that was directed to me or Caroline. Because if it was directed at me, he caved a little too quickly. But judging by the confused and frightened expression on Caroline's face, Damon was responding to her.

"Okay? Just help me please! Please, please!" Caroline insisted, looking at both Damon and me desperately. Damon sighed and wrapped her up in his arms. Caroline immediately relaxed.

"Okay, okay. It's the only way." Damon reassured her, and my eyes widened in horror, as he raises a stake behind her back; ready to kill her. I rushed forward as best as I could to try and stop him.

"No, Damon! Don't!" I yelled, stumbling a little due to the blood loss. Suddenly, Stefan appeared from out of nowhere and grabs Damon's hand, pulling it away. The stake clatters to the ground. I immediately pulled Caroline into my arms and held her close. She was shivering like a scared dog caught in a thunderstorm.

"Stefan!" Damon growls at his brother, as Elena runs into the alley. She immediately claps eyes on Caroline in my arms.

"Grace! Are you alright?" I found myself face-to-face with Elena, whose eyes widened at the sight of Damon's blood smeared around my mouth and chin. "Why have you got blood on your face?" She demanded. But before I could reply to Elena's question, Caroline attempts to hide behind me; believing that Elena was Katherine.

"Get away from me! You killed me!" She screamed, and I gasped out in pain when Caroline clutched onto my arm a little too tightly. Elena moved to reassure her.

"No, no, no, no Caroline! That wasn't me. You know that!" She told her friend. "That was Katherine." Caroline didn't look convinced.

"No!? Then why did she look like you?!" She demanded. "And why, why did she do this to me?" I grabbed at her wrist, trying to break her grip.

"Caroline… you're hurting me…" I gasped, and Caroline's anger disappeared, letting go of my arm.

"Oh, God. Grace, I'm so sorry. I hurt you again!" Caroline looked like she was about to start hyperventilating. I turned and pulled into my arms. Elena frowned at me, with confusion.

"What did she mean 'I hurt you again'?" She asked, worriedly. I made shushing noises to soothe Caroline, who was now sobbing against my shoulder, as I looked at Elena; trying to think of an appropriate response.

"Before you arrived, I came upon Caroline crying in here. I managed to calm her down for a nanosecond, but then he showed up." I pointed with my free hand towards the corpse of the young man. Elena's eyes widened. "Talk about bad timing." I scoffed, glaring a little at the guy. "But when I tried to get him to leave, Caroline pounced on him and started feeding. I tried to save him, but Caroline intercepted and shoved me at the brick wall." I revealed, causing Caroline to flinch and cling to me tighter.

"Oh my God." Elena looked between Caroline and me, with shock. I nodded in agreement.

"I woke up with Damon standing in front of me. He told me that I had a nasty cut on the back of my head, and I was bleeding out. But apparently he fed me his blood, which is why I have blood all around my mouth." I concluded. I decided not to reveal to her the hallucination I had in between Caroline attacking me and Damon healing me with his blood. Something told me not to trust her. Elena looked towards Stefan.

"Stefan, we've got to get her inside." She decided, indicating to Caroline, who was just starting to calm down. He nodded and came over to her. Caroline looked up at him, when he placed a calm hand on her shoulder.

"It's okay Caroline, come with me." He coaxed her. She nodded and let go of me slowly. I winced and Elena touched my shoulder, looking at me with the same amount of concern as she had for Caroline.

"She _will_ die, it's only a matter of time." Damon warned them, and I glanced over to see him standing not too far away from us, looking extremely resentful. Stefan glared at him.

"Yeah, maybe so, but it's not gonna happen tonight." He promised his brother. Stefan then turned away, and started escorting Caroline inside.

"Oh yeah it is." Damon disagreed, and stooped down to pick up the discarded stake. Elena and I both reacted when Damon rushes over to Stefan and Caroline, and Elena immediately puts herself in front of them. Damon stops before her.

"Damon, she's my friend." Elena pleads with him to see reason, causing him to hesitate and stare at her. She refuses to move out of the way. Finally, he drops his arm; and both Elena and I sag with relief.

"Whatever happens, it's on you." Damon tells Elena. Suddenly, I started to feel dizzy and I swayed on my feet.

"Grace!" Elena cries out in shock, and Damon manages to catch me before I fell flat on my face. "What's wrong?!" Elena sounded panicked and I groaned in annoyance. I hated people fussing over me.

"Are you okay?" Stefan piped up from where he was standing with a guilty Caroline.

"My head still hurts." I complained, and Damon shifts me slightly in his arms so he had a better grip on me, while he parts my hair at where I had hit my head to examine it. Elena hissed with sympathy as Damon led me over to sit down on something.

"I'm not surprised. Your wound hasn't completely healed over yet." He told me, as Elena sat beside me and wrapped a supporting arm around my shoulders. "You need to drink some more of my blood." He told me. I grimaced but nodded. Damon exposed his arm and used his fangs to reopen the marks on his wrist. Both Elena and I shuddered at the _crunch_ his fangs made ripping through muscle and bone. "Drink until the wound closes." He instructed firmly. I didn't reply and just grabbed his arm and drank greedily.

Then things went from bad to worse. Bonnie chose that moment to make her appearance.

"Caroline?" Bonnie looked at her friend in surprise. Stefan immediately saw the danger.

"It's okay, come on." He told Caroline quietly, and goes to move her away. But Caroline resists. Bonnie glanced between Elena, Damon and me, and then at Stefan and Caroline; looking confused, until she realised what I was doing and saw the blood on Caroline's face.

"No, you're not; you can't be." Bonnie stated with horror and rushed over to Caroline, touches her and recoils in horror at what she sees. Caroline is concerned by her friend's reaction.

"Bonnie?" She whimpers, as Bonnie glances around and spots the corpse. I pulled away from Damon's wrist when it closed up and took a cautious step towards her.

"Bonnie, calm down." I told her. But she ignored me, still staring down at the dead body.

"Oh god!" Bonnie cried out, with what looked like shock. Caroline fought in Stefan's grip to go to her friend, but he locked his arms firmly around her waist to keep her with him.

"Bonnie…" Caroline called out to her beseechingly.

But Stefan takes her away from the area, leaving Elena behind to defuse the situation and calm her friend down, since it was obvious that I was failing at it spectacularly. Damon glowered at Bonnie from where I had left him after he finished healing me. He suddenly got to his feet and blurred away, leaving me to stand awkwardly with Elena and Bonnie. He had been right; I had not had enough blood the first time he had given it to me. My headache had immediately disappeared and I felt stronger.

"I can't believe this is happening." Bonnie exclaimed, as Elena and I looked at each other, trying to figure out between us how we were going to get out of this situation. Damon returned carrying a chip on his shoulder and a shovel.

"Come on, don't pout about it." Damon told Bonnie, who glared at him almost immediately. "I got a body to bury." He announced. But before he could do anything, he suddenly collapses to the ground; clutching at his head and screaming as he curled in on himself. I looked at Bonnie narrowing her eyes at him, unblinkingly.

"What the hell are you doing?" I demanded, glowering at Bonnie as I went to Damon's side. She ignored me.

"I told you what would happen if anyone else got hurt." She told Damon, who looked up at her; grimacing from the pain.

"I didn't do this." Damon protested. I glared at her, and even Elena stepped in to intervene.

"Bonnie, it wasn't his fault." Bonnie narrowed her eyes further, and Damon screamed louder; turning himself into a tighter ball and shuddering from the pain.

"Everything that happens is his fault, Elena." Bonnie insisted, looking vengeful. I was seething from rage. How _dare_ she?

"Who made you judge, jury and executioner?!" I yelled at her, getting to my feet and advancing towards her to make her stop when she ignored me completely.

"Bonnie, what are you doing?" Elena sounded nervous and afraid of her friend. I glanced over at her and noticed that she was looking at something over in Damon's direction, and I turned to see what she was looking at. A fire springs up from out of nowhere. My eyes widen in horror when it starts going towards Damon. "Bonnie stop it!" Elena shouts in alarm. But she ignores her and suddenly Damon is engulfed in flames, and he starts screaming bloody murder.

"Damon! Oh my God!" I ran back to him, but the flames were getting too intense. "Stop this, right now!" I roared, spinning and glaring at Bonnie.

"Bonnie! Bonnie, stop it! You're going to kill him!" Elena pleaded with her. But still Bonnie ignores us, still intent on making Damon pay for something that wasn't even his fault in the first place. I take off my blazer and started beating at the fire slowly creeping up Damon's legs. This little power-hungry bitch needed to be taken down a peg, and I got to my feet; ready to run at her and slap her back to reality. But Elena beat me to her first, by jumping over the fire line Bonnie had created and grabs her friend by the shoulders, shaking her out of her murderous trance.

The fire suddenly goes out as her concentration is broken.

"Why did you stop me?!" Bonnie yelled at Elena. I pulled Damon to his feet and helped him lean against the brick wall while he caught his breath.

"Because if she didn't, I would have. And it wouldn't have been with kindness!" I snarled at her. "How dare you abuse your powers like that?" I yelled at her. Bonnie moved to attack me, and I straightened up and turned towards her fully. But Elena stopped her before Bonnie could make a move and made her focus on her face.

"This isn't us." Elena reminded Bonnie, who stopped and looked at her sternly. "Bonnie, this can't be us." Elena turned to look at Damon and I, nodding at us in a truce, and she puts her arm around Bonnie's shoulders.

Both of them leave without a word.

* * *

I turned back to Damon, concerned. He was frowning after Elena and Bonnie.

"Are you okay? How fast do vampires heal anyway?" I asked him.

"Fast enough." He muttered, straightening up and rolling his neck to work out the kinks. I was surprised; he looked back to normal, like he had never been set on fire in the first place. Then he focused on me, looking both curious and concerned. "Besides, I should be asking how you feel after having a second dose of my blood." He stated. I sighed, leaning against the wall next to him.

"So much better. You were right about not consuming enough blood. That stuff works miracles." I praised him. He grinned.

"And don't you forget it." He told me, giving me a cocky grin. Damon pushed off from the wall, and offered me his hand. "Now, on a serious note. We need to get you home." He told me. "Because between you and me, I think you've had enough 'excitement' for one night. Don't you?" He said, wiggling his fingers at me when I hadn't made a move to take his hand. I blinked at it with confusion.

"You really don't have to escort me home. I'm fine, really." I reassured him. Damon just gave me a flat look, and wouldn't stop staring at me until I gave up and took his hand with an irritated sigh.

"Thank you, Damon. It's really nice of you to offer." Damon spoke in a high falsetto voice, that I assumed was meant to be a bad imitation of me. I rolled my eyes.

"First of all, I don't sound like that. Please don't insult my intelligence." He smirked. "And second of all…" I stopped and pulled him in for a tight hug, which he immediately stiffened up in, at first. But then he eventually, wrapped his arms around my waist and held me closer. I guess he either really needed this hug, or I had _really_ scared him when he found me. "Thank you for saving my life, Damon." I pulled back and pecked him on the cheek.

He coughed in embarrassment.

"Thank you for attempting to save mine." He returned, as we walked by the corpse. I grimaced.

"Uh, do you want to take care of that first? I can wait." I hinted, but Damon shook his head.

"Nice try. You first, then I'll come back and deal with that." He said, tugging me down the alleyway and around the corner towards his convertible. I frowned in confusion. Why was he so insistent about taking me home personally? Did he feel guilty about Caroline being changed into a vampire, and didn't want to risk it with me? I shrugged and decided to stop trying to make sense of everything that had happened tonight and just get into the car and shut up about it.

The car ride back to my apartment didn't take too long, and by the time Damon cruised to a stop; I was practically yawning my head off. "Well. Good night, Grace. Hope you don't have too many nightmares this evening." Damon said, in a jovial voice. I yawned again, and waved my hand half-heartedly at him.

"With my luck, I probably will. Or if not nightmares, just some really weird dreams. Night." I stepped out of the car and shut the door behind, watching Damon peel out of there and back the way he came to dispose of the corpse of that poor guy.

* * *

There was just one thing that was nagging at me, and I had the strangest feeling that I was forgetting something. But I couldn't quite put my finger on what that was. I got my answer the minute Henrik clapped eyes on my face, and said:

"Grace! What happened? Why are you covered in blood?" I froze instantly and my hands flew up to my mouth and chin. I had almost forgotten Damon's dried blood was still on my face. Cursing, I closed the door behind me and secured the security chain in place.

"Uh, well…" I stammered, unsure about how to answer that question. Henrik moved faster than any vampire I knew and I nearly jumped out of my skin.

"Grace… You better tell me right now. I'm not kidding." Henrik demanded sternly, making me forget that I was talking to a thousand year old ghost trapped in the non-corporeal body of a fifteen-year-old, who has probably seen and learned a lot. I sighed, and motioned for him to follow me to the bathroom while I washed my face.

"I was slammed hard against a brick wall trying to prevent somebody from getting killed." I explained. Henrik's eyes widened.

"And did you prevent them from being killed?" He asked. I shook my head, grabbing a fresh face washer from the drawer underneath the sink and wetting it with warm soapy water.

"No, I did not. Damon is currently burying the body as we speak. What I got for my troubles was a concussion, and I've got a goose egg and a healed over gash on the back of my head to prove it." I told him. Henrik's mouth dropped open.

"Grace!" He exclaimed, angrily. I spun on him.

"Oh, don't start. I already got the lecture from Damon when he was dropping me home." I ranted, wringing out the bloody face washer out and turning the water collected in the basin a bright red.

"You're just lucky Niklaus isn't here. He'd probably kill whoever gave you that concussion." Henrik scowled at me from the doorway.

I froze at the unfamiliar name.

"Who's Niklaus?" I asked, turning to look at him; as I pulled my hair out of their buns. Henrik froze and his eyes widened again, and he swore underneath his breath.

"You weren't supposed to know that yet." He told me, sheepishly. I blinked at him, in confusion before putting two and two together.

"Hang on. Is Niklaus… the name of my _fiancé_? _My_ mysterious stranger? _Your_ favourite brother?" I demanded. Henrik nodded reluctantly, obviously realizing that the cat's out of the bag and there was no point in hiding it from me anymore.

"I'll give you some privacy." Henrik said sulking, and walked away.

I grabbed my hairbrush and started combing out my hair. Niklaus, huh? It was a very odd name, and a very old-fashioned one too. But I suppose both he and Henrik came from the 11th century, and they probably had traditions that were passed on through the generations. I shouldn't judge. After putting my hair up and out of the way so I could have a shower, I walked back out to my bedroom and grabbed some fresh pajamas to change into afterwards. My phone unexpectedly buzzed, and I frowned as I wondered over and picked it up to see who was texting me this late at night.

 _Body's taken care of. Come round to the Boarding House tomorrow. – D._

I blinked down at my phone in bewilderment. Why does he want me to come to the Boarding House tomorrow? Matter of fact, how the hell did he get my number? I immediately texted him back.

 _How did you get my number? And why do I need to come down to the Boarding House for? – G._

I hadn't put down my phone for very long before Damon responded back promptly.

 _We may have a lead on more information about the Lockwoods. – D._

I noticed that he ignored my question about how he got my number. But what was more interesting (and incredibly annoying) was the fact that they were still stuck on what was strange about the Lockwood Family. I sighed in irritation.

 _God! You're like a dog with a chew toy about this. Why do you need to know so badly what they are? – G._

I brought the phone into the bathroom. I had just stepped into the shower when I got the expected text message.

 _That's not important. Can you come down to the Boarding House tomorrow or not? – D._

I sighed. Why not? It's not like I've got anything else to do tomorrow apart from doing my homework and goofing off. I snatched up my phone from the sink and typed in a quick message.

 _With sweet talk like that, how can a girl resist? What time do I have to be there by? – G._

I didn't look at my phone until after I had finished showering, otherwise I'd never finish my night routine and get some rest. I spent a good ten minutes in the shower, standing under the spray and letting the hot water soothe my aching bones before thoroughly cleaning to remove any traces of my blood or Damon's blood, or maybe even that poor bastard's blood when Caroline bit into him back in the alley. I stepped out and toweled myself off before pulling on my black T-shirt and my white and grey checkered sleep pants and some socks. I brushed my teeth and hair before pulling it back into a ponytail, and picking up my phone, padding towards my bed and flopping down on it.

"I am so ready for sleep." I mumbled into my pillow. I heard Henrik chuckling somewhere in the room. I picked up my phone and glanced at the new message:

 _Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, Grace. But great, you can come. How's 9am for you? – D._

I smiled.

 _Not a problem. I'll see you tomorrow. Night, Damon. Thanks again. – G :)_

I sat up properly on the bed and wiggled my way underneath the duvet, as my phone buzzed for what I hoped would be the final time for the night.

 _You're welcome. – D ;)_

I switched off my phone and put it on to charge on my bedside table. Henrik flopped down on the bed beside me and we both stared at the ceiling, just not talking. Eventually, Henrik broke the silence.

"Sounds like you had an interesting night. What with the almost getting killed and everything." He mused, casually. I yawned deeply.

"It probably won't rank in my top 5 favourite nights." I agreed. Then I decided to let Henrik know about the hallucination. "I saw Niklaus when I was bleeding out tonight." I told him. Henrik sat up and looked at me with surprise. "He came to me, and told me that our reunion is very close. But I think it was just my injured brain conjuring up what I believed I needed at that point." I confessed.

Henrik frowned.

"Why do you think that?" He wondered. I rolled over to face him, supporting my head on my hand.

"Because he looked different from the last time I saw him in a daydream or memory." I told him. "His face was still blurred out as usual. But his hair was shorter, and he was wearing clothes more suited to the 21st century."

"That's odd. What else did he do?" Henrik asked. It was my turn to frown.

"Why? Do you have a reason why I hallucinated about him?" I was curious. Henrik shrugged.

"Depends on what you tell me. I've heard along the supernatural grapevine that if someone is truly in need of someone or something in their time of need, that it will come to them." He told me, and my eyes widened. He noticed. "What did my brother do, Grace?"

"He fed me his blood." I eventually whispered. "I thought that it was strange until Damon did it too, and then I worked it out: he was trying to heal me. At least subconsciously." I realized. Henrik smiled, pleased.

"Lucky you. He's still protecting you, even though he hasn't seen you in a thousand years." I almost smiled as I rolled over and faced my bedside lamp.

"Good night, Henrik. Sleep well." I murmured, and reached over to click off the light.

* * *

Due to the fact that I almost died last night, Henrik decided to tag along; despite the fact that he would be of little help to me if I did get put in immediate danger again. But he was stubborn. So Henrik and I drove back to the Salvatore Boarding House for the second time, via directions Damon had sent me on my phone. I'm proud to announce that I only got lost a couple of times, before eventually finding the two-story mansion by my own merits. As I coasted up the driveway and pulled up to their garage, I was immediately greeted by Stefan who smiled warmly at me.

"Hello, Grace." He greeted me, when I stepped out of the car. "How are you feeling this morning?" He asked, politely.

I frowned in confusion.

"Great, actually. I woke up this morning feeling like I was on an adrenaline rush. And stronger, too." Stefan nodded, understanding. "Why is that?" I asked him as he gestured for me to go inside. Henrik appeared by my side, glancing around the house with interest.

"Vampire blood is like being on endorphins. It'll wear off eventually; depending on how much you consumed." Stefan reassured me. I blinked at this information.

"Oh. So basically, I was drugged?" I asked. Damon walked into the room just then, looking a little offended.

"Hardly." I turned and smiled at him. "Nice to see you again, Grace." He strolled into the room, and made his way over to the alcohol. "Please make yourself at home." I walked over to a couch and sank down on it. Henrik sat beside me.

"Thanks, Damon." I replied. He held out a glass to me.

"Drink?"

"Driving. And it's only 9:30 in the morning." I raised an eyebrow at him. Stefan stepped forward; I had noticed him glancing upwards. Presumably to where Elena probably was.

"Would you like a coffee instead?" He asked me, politely. I smiled, gratefully. I hadn't had my caffeine fix yet.

"If you have tea that would be great. Thanks." Stefan nodded and headed for the kitchen, as footsteps thudded down the staircase and Elena came round the corner. She stopped when she saw me.

"Grace? What are you doing here?" Elena exclaimed. I raised an eyebrow.

"Hey Elena, it's lovely to see you too. And how are you?" I replied, sarcastically, ignoring the smirk that formed on Damon's face. Elena scowled at him, before offering me an apologetic smile.

"Sorry, Grace. It's been a rough night." Elena explained, walking further into the room. I waved away the apology.

"I emphasize." I reminded her, looking at her pointedly until Elena flushed in embarrassment.

"Oh, god. I forgot, how are you feeling?" Elena asked, hurriedly. Stefan walked back into the room, carrying two cups; one of which he handed to Elena, who accepted it with a smile, and the other to me.

"Thank you very much." I told him. Stefan smiled and moved behind Elena, wrapping his arms around her waist. I took a big sip of the tea and swallowed before setting it aside to answer Elena's question. "I'm feeling epic. Like I could face off with a Mac Truck and not get hurt." I told her.

"That I wouldn't recommend." Damon told me, pointedly ignoring Stefan and Elena, and their intimate embrace. There was a knock at the door, and Damon scooped up my drink and handed it to me. "Drink up, you still look a little tired." He said, winking at me as he moved to answer the door. I nodded and took a sip, instantly tasting something strange mixed in with the tea. Stefan noticed my frown.

"Bitter?" He asked. I glanced at him, and smiled.

"No, it's fine, thanks." I responded; because it tasted suspiciously sweet. Damon Salvatore had some major explaining to do. In the next moment, in walked a man who looked like he was in his early thirties looking around at us, a little curiously. He was dressed in a loose T-shirt, blue jeans, black boots and a khaki green jacket. His light brown hair was short and well-groomed, but in a messy 'just rolled out of bed' kind of way. He had light stubble on his face and dark blue eyes.

"Hey Alaric." Elena greeted him. 'Alaric' smiled politely, and nodded at both Elena and Stefan in greeting before looking at me curiously.

"I'm sorry. I don't think we've met." Alaric spoke to me, with a deep Bostonian accent. "Are you a new student at the school?" I shook my head.

"I'm Grace. It's nice to meet you." I introduced myself, standing up and proffering my hand to him. He took it and shook it.

"Likewise." He replied. Damon re-entered the room, looking all business.

"Thanks for coming, Ric. Can I get you something to drink? Coffee, bourbon? Bourbon in your coffee?" He offered, sounding bored. Alaric just stared at him, blankly.

"Elena mentioned you needed my help." He got straight to the point. Stefan nodded.

"Yeah, we were hoping you could help shed some light on the Lockwood family." He requested, politely. Alaric's forehead furrowed and he looked at us all, feeling confused.

"Now, why would I know anything about the Lockwood's?" He asked. Damon walked around him, and came to rest beside the couch I was sitting on and lounged on the armrest.

"Well, you wouldn't. But your dead, not-dead vampire wife might." Damon pointed out, and I nearly choked on my tea and started coughing. Alaric was married to a vampire? Damon casually pat my back to help me clear my airway as Elena scowled at him, while Stefan simply appeared to ignore him.

"Isobel's research from when you guys were at Duke together." Elena explained, trying to jog Alaric's memory.

"You said that she spent years researching this town." Stefan added. Alaric immediately looked uncomfortable the moment his wife was mentioned, and seemed reluctant to answer them. He sighed.

"Isobel's research here in Mystic Falls is rooted in folklores and legends, but at the time I thought much of which was fiction." He confessed.

"Like that amazing vampire story." Damon drawled. I reached over to pinch his side, whilst attempting to look like I was innocently sipping from my tea. He yelped in surprise, and scowled at me.

"What?" I asked. Both Elena and Stefan smirked a little, while Alaric looked a bit confused and Henrik laughed.

"Aside from vampires, what else?" Elena asked Alaric. He shrugged.

"The lycanthrope." Damon nearly dropped his glass, while both Elena and Stefan looked equally as stunned. Henrik made an odd little noise, and I glanced over to see that he had gone paler than usual. I looked at him with worry.

"Wait, like werewolves?" Elena blurted out. Alaric nodded, while Damon looked disbelievingly at me – because I was the one who guessed it back at the carnival – and at Alaric.

"No way, impossible, _way_ too Lon Chaney." He protested, before turning on me. "How'd the hell did you know this, Grace?" I resisted the urge to look over at Henrik, and just hoped that I looked just as surprised as they did. How was I supposed to know that I'd be right? All I knew was that werewolves were indeed real; and I had non-corporal proof sitting next to me having been the victim of a werewolf attack. Plus, I had been (and I guess, still am) engaged to one, before he became a hybrid a thousand years ago.

"Lucky guess?" I answered, shrugging.

"Is it impossible, Damon?" Stefan wanted to know, trying to grab the attention away from me. Damon looked annoyed.

"I've been on this planet one hundred and sixty some odd years, and never came across one." Damon insisted. "If werewolves exist, where the hell are they?" He demanded. It was a very good question; one that both Henrik and I were eager to learn the answer to. Alaric stepped forward looking confused.

"Why do you suspect the Lockwoods?"

"Because vervain didn't affect the mayor at Founder's Day, but the Gilbert device did and it affected his son Tyler." Damon fielded that answer.

"And at the school carnival his uncle Mason exhibited inhuman behavior when he fought with one of the carnival's workers." Stefan added. So that's the name of the mysterious Lockwood uncle? I stood up from the couch and moved around to stretch my legs.

"It suggests some sort of supernatural entity." I theorized.

"We were hoping that Isobel's research could help us figure out what it is." Elena told Alaric, who nodded and thought a little. I could practically hear the cogs clicking away in his head.

"Well, all her things are still at Duke." He said. "I mean her office is still there. She's technically still missing." Damon also stood up.

"So can we get access to it?" He asked Alaric, who hesitated. "Ric, we need to know what we are dealing with." Damon explained. "If this wolfman thing is true, I've seen enough movies to know it's not good." He stated. Alaric still looked unsure. "It means Mason Lockwood is a real-life Lon Chaney and that little Tyler punk may just very well be Lon Chaney junior." Damon told him.

"Which means Bela Lugosi, which is you; is royally screwed." I finished his sentence. I was focused on poor Henrik's face, and he seemed as afraid as ever because of the topic of werewolves. Damon raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, thanks for that." He retorted, sounding mildly incredulous.

"Don't mention it." I replied, distractedly.

* * *

 **A/N: Thus ends the enormous headache that is re-writing my corrupted and deleted chapters. I hope you enjoyed _this_ chapter.**

 **Please review :D**


	10. Curse Of The Sun and Moon

**A/N: Hey guys! It's time for a chapter update!**

 **Please review, and no flaming please.**

 **I don't own** _ **The Vampire Diaries.**_ **All characters (except for Grace) are owned by author L.J. Smith.**

 **Enjoy xx**

* * *

 **CURSE OF THE SUN AND MOON**

" _The moon is my sun, the night is my day. Blood is my life, and you are my prey."_ _ **~Unknown Author.**_

* * *

I'm going to wait a few more minutes, then I'm going to be busting skulls. The four of us (and Henrik) had been on the road towards Duke University for about an hour so far, and already the atmosphere in the car was extremely tense.

All of it radiating between Damon and Elena.

Before we set off on this road trip; Damon and I were subjected to a rather sickening display of affection performed by Elena on Stefan, whereupon she had attempted to suck the lips off the poor guy's face; in an attempt to make Damon jealous.

In the end, I solved the problem (and prevented Damon's wrath) by leaning on Alaric's car horn; scaring them apart and feigning innocence that I was at all to blame; much to Damon's amusement and appreciation. Since then, Alaric and I were both dealing with the consequences of that, and we were both feeling extremely uncomfortable. Eventually, Damon spins round in his seat to look at Elena.

"How are you two doing back there?" He asked, trying to strike up a conversation. Elena pointedly ignored Damon's question.

I sighed.

"Great. This is a good book." I replied, holding up a novel I had brought along with me for the long car ride, so that he could see the cover. Damon gave me a pained smile, before trying again with Elena. Henrik, was fast asleep; snoring a little, and blissfully oblivious to the smothering tension in the car.

"You know, this whole pretending to hate me thing is getting a little silly." Damon pointed out to Elena, who finally flicked her eyes towards him, but still refused to answer.

"Don't think she's pretending." Alaric interjected. "You did kill her brother." He reminded him. Damon sat back in his seat, staring out of the window.

"There is a huge asterisk next to that statement: he came back to life." Damon reminded both Elena and Alaric. I winced at his words. Did he seriously think that that made everything okay?

Elena glared at him.

"Yeah, thanks to a ring that you didn't know he was wearing." Elena responded snidely. Damon frowned, looking like he was getting a little irritated with Elena's refusal to let bygones be bygones, or at least make a truce for the duration of our little investigation trip.

"Why are you so sure I didn't know?" Damon wanted to know. Elena looked at him accusingly.

"Did you?"

"Yes."

"You're lying." Elena didn't believe him. I wanted to strangle the both of them. This entire conversation wasn't getting them anywhere. If anything it was only getting them increasingly volatile. I could see Damon getting angrier and angrier.

"Elena, I saw the ring!" Damon insisted. "It's a big tacky thing. Kinda hard to miss." I glanced up from my book, and glared at the both of them.

"Do I need to separate you two?" I inquired, casually. Damon gave me a look.

"Really? You're gonna talk down to us like children?" He grumbled.

"I wouldn't have to if you weren't _acting_ like children." I retorted.

"I agree." Alaric piped up, and I smiled gratefully at him. Damon raised an eyebrow.

"E tu?" Alaric made a point of ignoring him, deciding to focus on driving instead. It was then that I realised we had arrived at Duke University. _Thank god!_ I thought with relief. The second after Alaric found a parking spot, and killed the engine; Elena was up and out of her seat, in an effort to get away from Damon, who was a close second, but moving to get away from her.

Alaric and I watched them go before exchanging bemused looks between us.

"Not really helping their cause." I commented, sighing and shaking my head in exasperation. Alaric gave me a weak smile in agreement before getting out of the car, and striding over to where Damon and Elena were waiting, still pointedly ignoring each other. "Henrik, we're here." I spoke to him, loud enough not to draw attention towards myself for talking to 'thin air'. He grumbled in his sleep.

"Ten more minutes, Mother." He mumbled, and rolled over to face away from me. I resisted the urge to squeal at how adorable he looked and sounded.

"I'm not your mum, Henrik. But if you wanna stay here and sleep some more I won't disturb you." I told him, wishing that I could touch him so I could both squeeze him in a hug and kiss his cheek. I got out of the car, and pulled my purse onto my shoulder.

"Everything alright?" Alaric asked me, with mild concern. I clearly had taken a lot longer to get out of his car than I originally thought.

"Yeah, absolutely. Just thought I had dropped my phone." I lied easily. I fell into step in between Damon and Elena, thus creating a barrier between them; just for the sake of peace for the rest of this trip. Alaric didn't look like he believed me, but decided to drop the subject.

"So Isobel was officially employed by the anthropology department given that most paranormal phenomenon is rooted in folklore." Alaric explained, acting as tour guide for us as we followed him towards Isobel's office. Inside, we found a girl a little older than me sitting at a desk, thumbing through some papers. She must've been a Graduate student assisting Isobel once-upon-a-time. She looked up after Alaric knocked on the office door, alerting her to our arrival. "Excuse me, hi. I'm Alaric Saltzman, I called earlier." Alaric introduced himself to her.

She smiled politely at both him and me.

"Yes, of course. I'm Vanessa Monroe, research assistant, comparative folklore." She introduced herself, but then faltered noticeably when Elena stepped in, rubbernecking curiously. Damon came in and made a point of coming over and standing beside me, as far away from Elena as possible.

I rolled my eyes.

"Uh, let me just grab Isobel's keys." Vanessa told Alaric, who followed her gaze over to Damon and Elena.

"Oh, these are my friends Elena, Damon and Grace." He explained, pointing to each of us in introduction. "I hope this isn't too much of an imposition." He asked, slightly concerned. Vanessa pasted on a very false looking smile. I frowned suspiciously.

"Oh please, Isobel's office is right through there." Vanessa indicated towards a nearby door across the room. "Isobel was one of my first professors. I'm a Grad student." She explained, confirming my assumption. Her face immediately became solemn. "She was brilliant, and one of the reasons I went into folklore." Vanessa went to retrieve the keys, then paused frowning and looking at Alaric hopefully. "Uh, I have to ask – has there been any news?" The three of us maintained poker-faces as Alaric shook his head, looking grave.

"No, I'm afraid not." He replied. Vanessa seemed to visibly deflate at his news.

"It's this way." Vanessa opens Isobel's office door, and we followed her inside. "I'll grab the light. Feel free to look around. It's fascinating isn't it?" Vanessa stated, before calmly leaving the room. I made a face at the piles and piles of papers, books, tomes and other miscellaneous items strewn around the office.

Fascinating wasn't quite the word I'd use to describe this particular subject.

"Where'd she go?" Damon called out, voicing the same thought we all did.

Suddenly, Vanessa comes back with a crossbow and shoots an arrow at Elena. Damon manages to intercept the arrow by shoving Elena into my arms, out of the projectile's path and receiving the arrow in his back. He grunted in pain and falls to the floor, just as Alaric launches himself at Vanessa and pushes her against the wall, restraining her.

"Jeez!" I glared at Vanessa before crouching beside Damon. "Hang on, Damon. I'll pull it out." I promised him and grabbed the arrow. But Damon's blood was making it hard to get a good grip enough to pull it free.

"Just pull the damn thing out. It hurts!" Damon grunted. I finally manage to get a grip on the arrow and gently pulled it out. Damon stands up straight and shakes himself while grimacing a little. He glares furiously at a visibly frightened Vanessa, still being restrained by Alaric from across the room. "That bitch is dead." Damon growled, and made a beeline towards her. But Elena stood right in his path.

"You're not gonna kill her." Elena told him, firmly. Damon grabbed her by the shoulders, obviously intending on pushing her aside.

"Watch me." He retorted, defiantly. But Elena got out of his grip.

"You touch her and I swear I will never speak to you again." Elena threatened him.

Damon sneered at her.

"What makes you think that has any power over me?" He snapped. "Because I took an arrow in the back for you? You're severely overestimating yourself, because I would've done the exact same thing for Grace." He stated, harshly. I narrowed my eyes at him. _Don't bring me into this!_ Elena crossed her arms over her chest as she continued to glare at Damon.

"Right. I forgot that I was speaking to a psychotic mind who snaps and kills people impulsively." Damon winced at her words, but otherwise didn't show any other sign that Elena's words had visibly affected him. She sighed, and took a step back to let him passed, calling his bluff. "Fine, go ahead, do whatever you want." She said. Damon's eyes narrowed.

"You're trying to manipulate me." He argued. Elena offered him a nasty little smile.

"If by 'manipulate' you mean 'tell the truth', then okay. I'm guilty." She retorted. That was it, I had had enough, and if the expression I saw on Alaric's face spoke volumes, it was clear he had reached his limit as well.

"Alright. Back to your corners! Enough of this petty bullshit!" I raged. "I swear you two are going to make me go prematurely grey, at 22!" Elena merely gives Damon one last scathing look before she turns and leaves the room. I turned and gave Damon a 'what the hell' look that he ignored and promptly followed after Elena. I quickly followed, aiming to re-establish harmony as fast as possible, for both my sanity and poor Alaric's as he was the one who was going to be driving us back to Mystic Falls.

* * *

In the other room, we found Alaric standing with Vanessa who was still staring at both Elena and Damon, looking completely spooked. She starts to stand up, but Alaric pushes her back down into her seat. Right! Time to get to the bottom of this entire situation.

"Please! I freaked out okay?" Vanessa attempted to plead her case. "You would've have done the same thing." She insisted.

"Really? See I kinda like to ask questions first, then shoot to kill later." I retorted, glaring down at her. Vanessa frowned at me defensively.

"But it's not possible!" She insisted. "Katherine Pierce can't be alive, and Damon Salvatore died in 1864. Okay? I read Isobel's research." I glanced at Alaric who shrugged. Everything Vanessa said was plausible, but it still wasn't an excuse to start randomly firing off weapons. Alaric gestured toward Elena and Damon.

"Well, then you should know just how possible this actually is." He told her. Elena sighed and came over to Vanessa.

"I'm Elena Gilbert; Isobel's daughter and a descendant of Katherine Pierce." She introduced herself, smiling politely. Elena gestured vaguely in Damon's direction. "And that is Damon Salvatore who you just shot." Vanessa locked eyes on Damon, who gave her a patronizing smile.

"I'd be _extra_ nice to me right now." He said. I smacked him on the arm. He ignored me. Elena rolled her eyes, before addressing Vanessa once again.

"Look, we need your help okay? We need to see all of Isobel's research. Anything related to Mystic Falls." She asked, politely. Vanessa studied Elena warily before she nodded and got to her feet. She disappeared into another room, presumably the same room she had stashed the crossbow – thankfully not taking it with her – and returned not carrying yet another weapon to kill us all with, but holding a large box which she gives to Elena.

"This box checks Katherine's arrival to Mystic Falls in April 1864." Vanessa explained to Elena, who immediately opened the box to see what was inside. Intrigued, I came over and started pulling things out of the box. I was curious about any information I could find about Mystic Falls, since it had been a part of my history since Gráinne's arrival over a thousand years before.

"Is that all there is about her?" Elena asked, curiously. Vanessa nodded.

"All that I'm aware of." She confirmed. I found some vervain at the bottom of the box and glanced over at Damon, warily. When he was in this kind of mood, he was extremely unpredictable; so it didn't hurt to give Vanessa some extra protection against him and other vampires. Namely Isobel if she ever decided to come back to Duke.

"Here, take this." I said, pressing the purple flower into Vanessa's hand. Damon was in the other room, making himself useful and searching for the relevant information, but I noticed that he was glancing over at us, smirking. Vanessa looked skeptically at the vervain I had given her, and then at Damon. I could practically hear the cogs clicking around in her head.

"Does vervain really work?" Vanessa asked Elena and me, doubtfully.

"Nope, not at all." Damon called out from the other room, making Vanessa jump in surprise. She frowned.

"Can he hear us?"

"No, that would be creepy." Damon said, cheerfully. Obviously enjoying stirring the pot and making Vanessa uncomfortable. I rolled my eyes.

"Can he read minds too?" Vanessa looked a bit freaked. I opened my mouth to reply, but Damon beat me to it.

"You know, if you want to see me naked, all you have to do is ask." Damon told her, smirking. I sighed heavily.

"Knock it off, Damon." I said, still sorting through the contents of the box. Damon came into the room, and clapped a hand on my shoulder.

"Lighten up, Grace. You're no fun at all." He teased. I cracked a small smile, as Elena eyed both him and me with scorn.

"No, that he can't do." Elena reassured Vanessa. "But he is very capable of being a first rate jackass." She told her. I glanced up to see Vanessa immediately put the vervain in her pocket, and then saw Damon smiling; obviously not at all fazed by Elena's description of him. It took a while for any of us to find anything of relevance towards werewolves, vampires or any supernatural entities. Elena was showing signs of irritation and frustration.

"Any luck?" Damon inquired to everybody in general.

But I knew that he was mostly directing the question towards Elena, obviously intending on the question to act as a verbal ceasefire. Thankfully, Elena had cooled down somewhat. She was still very cold towards Damon, but looked like she was at least willing to act civil. She shook her head at Damon's question.

"There's nothing in here about Katherine that we don't already know." Elena reported, frustrated.

"Nothing here." I replied. Damon grunted in reply, and I glanced over at him. He had an innocent smile on his face, and I rolled my eyes; silently hoping that he wasn't about to spoil the pleasant atmosphere by firing off something to rile up Elena.

"Ah, man, you know, it's a bummer we're not friends anymore because I could tell you what I know." Damon sing-songed at Elena, who looked up at him with irritation. I deflated visibly. So much for peace and quiet.

"Now who's manipulating who?" Elena retorted.

"Guys, seriously. Give it a rest." I spoke out, sharply and impatiently.

I had reached the end of my tether and I was starting to develop a tension headache. Both Damon and Elena fell silent, and I glanced up to see Damon looking at me apologetically. I raised an eyebrow at him trying to translate to him that what he had been doing for the past few hours was NOT alright. I think I need to pull him aside and privately state to him, that if he wanted Elena as much as he claimed; then he was aggressively going the wrong way about it.

"Hey guys, check this out." Alaric called out, sounding very relieved about something. Elena, Damon and I immediately dropped what we were doing and came over to where Alaric and Vanessa were pouring over a very old looking book. Vanessa looked up at us, looking pleased with what she had found.

"There is no record of werewolf mythology in Mystic Falls, but here are some records of some of the lesser-known legends." She told us. "Everything from Scandinavian skin-walkers to the Maréchal de Retz." Uh, what? Vanessa passed over the book and laid it down on the table so we all had access to it.

"Curse of the Sun and Moon?" I read, sounding skeptical. Alaric read over my shoulder.

"It looks Native American." He observed. But Vanessa shook her head.

"Actually, it's Aztec." She corrected him. "It's basically a description of the origin of the werewolf curse traced through Virginia." I shook my head as I continued studying the page. Something didn't ring true about the information Vanessa was telling us. Stories about the Aztecs being terrorized by both vampires and werewolves that stretched across the countryside and made farming and hunting impossible until an Aztec shaman cursed both entities. Taking away the sun for vampires, and condemning werewolves to turn into beasts during each full moon.

"Can they control the transformation?" Damon asked, referring to werewolves. _Hell no…_ I thought, as Vanessa shook her head.

"If it were a choice, it wouldn't be called a curse." She told him, matter-of-factly. I instantly started visualizing Henrik's ripped and torn body so clearly in my head; the result of a werewolf _losing_ control. "Werewolves will attack humans, but instinct and centuries of rivalry have hardwired them to hunt their prey of choice: vampires." I felt somebody touch my arm, and I flinched pulling away from the grip.

"Grace, are you alright? You've gone pale." It was Elena, looking at me with concern. I saw Damon with the same amount of concern reflected on his face as well. I shook my head and turned away, covering my face with my hands. "Tell me." Elena insisted, gently.

"Henrik…" I whimpered, and Elena's eyes widened in recognition.

"Oh God. Grace, I'm so sorry. I should've remembered." Elena apologized. Damon looked confused.

"Who's Henrik?" He demanded. Elena glanced up at him.

"He's a friend of Grace's. He was mauled to death by a werewolf." Elena reminded him. Damon's eyes widened.

"I guess that answers my question also." He muttered. Both Alaric and Vanessa looked shocked.

"I'm so sorry for your loss." Vanessa said. I nodded absently.

"But, if werewolves were hunting vampires, I would know about it." Damon protested. I gave him a look, as did Vanessa.

"Not if there aren't that many werewolves left alive." Vanessa explained. "Hundreds of years ago, vampires hunted them almost to extinction." Elena frowned with confusion.

"Why would they do that?" She asked.

"To protect themselves." Vanessa replied, succinctly. "Legends tell us that a werewolf bite is fatal to vampires." It got so silent in that room, you could've heard a pin drop.

"Oh..." Damon said, as the rest of us looked very, very concerned. We had two suspected werewolves waiting for us back in Mystic Falls. By the fact that the four of us were exchanging stricken looks with each other, it was almost certainly clear: Damon and Stefan at least, were screwed.

* * *

Having found what we believed we needed, it was time to head back to Mystic Falls. However there was something bugging me about that 'Sun and Moon curse'. I glanced around to see what everybody else was doing. Alaric and Vanessa were deep in discussion; presumably talking about Isobel, if the solemn expression on Alaric's face had any meaning. Damon was browsing through some old tomes and books that lined the shelves all around us; all while surreptitiously glancing at Elena with a questioning expression on his face. And Elena was on the phone with Stefan reporting back their findings; including the 'Sun and Moon Curse', detailing all the important facts.

"You're thinking hard about something." I looked up to see Damon standing in front of me, holding an old thick book under his arm. The word 'PETROVA' was stenciled on the front in a gothic block print. I frowned. Why did _that_ sound so familiar? "Uh, Grace? I'd appreciate it if you didn't ignore me. It's getting a little tiresome." Damon urged, and I glanced up into his ice blue eyes and focused.

"What? Oh, sorry Damon. It wasn't intentional." I explained, before eying the book containing the 'Sun and Moon Curse' information.

"If it were anybody else, I wouldn't believe them." I assumed he meant Elena in this instance. "But because it's you, I'll let it slide." Damon told me. I smirked. "But seriously, what's bugging you?" He asked, leaning next to me on the cluttered table we were surrounding. I let out an uneasy sigh.

"It's the 'Sun and Moon Curse'." I admitted. "My gut reaction is telling me that there's more to it than what's written there." I explained. Damon frowned. "Seriously? Despite how dubious it sounds, it seems fairly legit." He argued.

I nodded in agreement.

"I know. That's what's bugging me about it." I told him.

"Care to share?" He asked. I shrugged.

"Can't share what I'm not sure of just yet. I just need more time with the text to _be_ sure." I eyed Vanessa. "But I'm positive 'shoot first, ask questions never' won't let me take the book with me." Damon sniggered at my less than flattering nickname for Vanessa.

"I believe I might be rubbing off on you." He teased. I narrowed my eyes playfully at Damon.

"Don't let it get to your head." I chided him. "How is your back by the way?" I asked him, fingering the hole caused by the bolt that had been left behind. There was traces of Damon's blood still staining his smoky grey button down shirt. Damon scowled, probably mourning the loss of one of his shirts.

"All healed. But if you want to continue touching me, keep going I don't mind." He leered. I immediately stabbed him with my fingernail. "Ow!" He yelped, and I smiled sweetly at him, retracting my finger. Damon glanced over at both Elena and Vanessa who were now talking together while Elena was searching through a box. "Have you got your phone on you?" He asked, his tone serious.

I unzipped my purse and pulled it free.

"Yeah, why?" I asked, frowning in confusion.

"Does it have a camera?"

"Of course." I replied, promptly. Damon wrapped his arm around my shoulder and steered me towards the book.

"Document whatever information you need. I'll distract _her."_ Damon said, indicating towards Vanessa. Alaric had mysteriously stepped out of the room momentarily, as there was no sight or sound of him in the room. "Oh! And can you hold onto this for a sec?" Damon asked, pushing the Petrova book into my hands.

"Uh, okay?" I watched him swagger casually over to Elena and Vanessa, and using the opportunity presented to me; I immediately started flipping through the pages to find the correct ones, and started snapping pictures. I couldn't help but eavesdrop on the trio's conversation though.

"Hey, have you done any research on doppelgängers?" Elena asked Vanessa.

"Well, the word means a lot of different things to different cultures." Vanessa said. "But typically, a doppelgänger is a living, breathing double of oneself." Vanessa sounded like a living, breathing, walking encyclopedia.

"Did Isobel have anything that explained the link between me and Katherine?" Elena asked. I glanced up from documenting the pictures we saw earlier in the book to see Vanessa shake her head. Damon was discreetly hovering nearby, expertly shielding me from view of Vanessa. I smiled and continued taking pictures.

"That's all she had on Katherine, unfortunately, but I can tell you that doppelgängers usually torment the people they look like, trying to undo their lives." Vanessa explained. "It's not exactly uplifting." I gave an unladylike snort. Tell us something we don't know.

"Just … I want to know why we look alike." Elena pleaded. Damon chose this opportunity to insert himself into the conversation.

"Head scratcher, isn't it?" Elena threw him a withering glare.

"Do you know something, or are you just being yourself?" She asked him, bluntly. Damon didn't react, instead he just offered her a pleasant smile.

"Well, _if_ I know anything, I'm not gonna tell you. At least not with that attitude." He said. Elena gave him a sarcastic smile.

"That's good, Damon. And this is coming from someone who wants to be my friend, but you know what?" Damon raised an eyebrow. "Friends don't manipulate friends, they help each other." I froze when I realised that was _exactly_ what Damon was doing … for me. I instantly felt a warm fuzzy feeling in the pit of my stomach, and I looked up to see Damon smiling knowingly at me, and he winked.

So Damon saw me as friend, huh? I think I can live with that.

"Thank you." I mouthed at him, and he nodded graciously before striding off somewhere else; taking the Petrova book with him, while I put my phone back in my purse; having gotten what I needed from the book.

* * *

"I trust you're not gonna say anything about this to anyone?" I waited by the doorway for Alaric while he questioned Vanessa, who shook her head firmly.

"Or else Damon will kill me in my sleep?" Alaric looked surprised. "Yeah, he gave me the 411. But if you need anything, you can call." Vanessa offered him the option. Alaric smiled.

"Hopefully I won't have to." He responded.

"But if you do…" Vanessa trailed off. Alaric looked like he needed to set Vanessa straight about something. My guess was it had something to do with Isobel.

"Listen. You don't want to get caught up in this." He told her. Vanessa looked confused. "Really, it'll take over and will keep you from being able to live your life." I surprised myself. It was the first time I was actually spot on about my suspicions.

Vanessa bit her bottom lip.

"Isobel's disappearance … is it related to her research?" Vanessa reluctantly asked. Alaric clarified.

"Isobel _became_ her research. She wanted to become a vampire and she got her wish." He told her. Vanessa looked dismayed then saddened. Damon sidled up to me.

"Ready to go?" He asked, looking a little impatient. I grinned, part of me enjoying his misery. Elena must be getting on his nerves.

"Almost. Just waiting for Alaric to finish up here." I explained. Damon grunted, but didn't attempt to hasten Alaric along. I noticed that Damon was still holding the Petrova book under his arm. I studied it curiously.

"Why do you have that book anyway?" I asked. Damon handed me the book to examine.

"It's the information Elena was looking for." He explained, nonchalantly. I cocked an eyebrow.

"And you haven't given this to her because…?" Damon takes back the book and holds underneath his arm again.

"I'm using it as a white flag in our fight." He explained. I nodded.

"I see. So you think this will stop Elena from being pissed off at you?" I asked, slouching slightly against the doorframe of Isobel's office and resting my foot casually on it as well.

"Not a chance. But I'm hoping it will get to her trust that I'm not the enemy she believes me to be." He explained. I shrugged.

"It can't hurt." I admitted. Alaric comes up to us.

"Okay, let's go." He declared, and Damon made a 'finally!' expression and moved to follow him. I moved too, but gently grabbed Damon's arm wanting to voice a question that I had been trying to find the right moment to ask him.

"What's up?" Damon asked, falling into step beside me. I thought back to how the tea tasted; and to how nice Damon was treating me.

I couldn't help it; I needed to know what he was up to.

"What did you mix in with my tea this morning?" I asked him, bracing myself for the answer and hoping I didn't have to slug him.

"My blood." Damon replied, without hesitation. I blinked. That wasn't what I was expecting to hear.

"Why?" I asked, confused.

"For protection." He said, reacting like the answer should've been obvious.

"But I was practically sloshing with the stuff when I went to bed last night." I told him, confused.

Damon sighed. "Do you know the properties of a vampire's blood?" He asked.

"Only that it heals. Is there more to it?" I questioned him.

"It does more than just heal wounds." Damon explained. "It's the main component used with creating a vampire." I nodded, following so far.

"Everybody knows that." I told him, matter-of-factly. Damon smirked.

"Really? Now this I gotta hear. How do you create a vampire?" He asked, folding his arms across his chest. I frowned at him, wondering if this was a trick question. We were about halfway towards Alaric's car at this point. I could see Elena standing at the car, attempting to get inside.

"Uh, you feed on the person to the brink of death. Then you feed them your blood, and the person falls into a death-like coma for an unspecified length of time. When they wake up, they are a newborn vampire." I replied. Damon chuckled in amusement causing me to frown at his reaction. "Is that right?"

"Close, but no cigar." He said. "What you just described to me is Hollywood's version. Our method is a little different." Damon explained.

"So how do you turn a human into a vampire then?" I challenged him. Damon's eyes glittered sinisterly. I took an uncertain step back.

"We feed them our blood. You got that part right. But instead of falling into a 'death-like coma'—" Damon used air quotes for emphasis, and mocking it at the same time. "We either snap the person's neck or kill them in some other way." My eyes widen in horror. "But in some cases, humans with vampire blood in their system usually die in other ways. Stupid, idiotic ways." He looked irritated for some reason.

"And then you're a vampire?" I asked, hoping my voice didn't shake. Damon shook his head.

"Not quite. At that point when you regain consciousness; you're in what is known as transition. This is when you have a choice." He explained.

"Choice?"

"Yep. Complete the transition, or die within 24 hours forever." Damon said. I nodded.

"And if one chooses to 'complete the transition', what happens then?" I asked, intrigued despite how horrifying it sounded.

"To complete the transition, the secret ingredient is warm, fresh human blood straight from the vein." He said, sounding less than enthusiastic about the topic, despite how gung ho he had been at the beginning of the explanation. I wisely chose not to comment.

"And that's what you've done to me. Without my permission, I might add." I stated, sounding slightly irritated. Damon shook his head.

"Relax. The amount I put into your tea isn't enough to transition you into a vampire. It was only enough to perk you up this morning." He reassured me, escorting me towards the car. "It should be out of your system within 24 hours if you don't do anything stupid." He added. That rang a bell.

"So that's why you told me that back in the alleyway at the carnival." I said. Damon nodded.

"That's right. You catch on quick." He stated dryly, but then stopped and stood in front of me, a completely sober expression on his face. "But I still think it's a good idea for you to consume vampire blood regularly. Just in case." He suggested. I grinned.

"Damon Salvatore. Are you worried about my safety?" I teased, hugging his arm and purposefully trying to make him uncomfortable. It was payback for doing something without my permission. Damon quickly pulled away, looking uncomfortable. "Come back with me to my apartment. I gotta tell you something." I asked him, seriously.

He smirked lecherously. "Oh, really?"

I smacked him.

"Don't be disgusting. I'm actually trying to be honest with you. The least you could do is be serious for once." I scolded him. Damon raised his hands in surrender.

"Okay, okay. I'll be there." He promised. I smiled.

"Good." Damon broke away from me and wondered over to Elena who was still trying to open the car door. He reached over.

"Here. Allow me." He opens the door. Elena just looks at him blanking him out. Damon sighed. "You're not gonna be able to hate me forever." He reminded her.

"Can we just go?" Elena responded, then stopped when Damon passed her the Petrova Book. She blinked down at it in surprise.

"You didn't dig deep enough." Damon told her. Elena looks at him suspiciously.

"'Petrova'. I saw this on a shelf." She told him, looking confused. Damon leaned against the car.

"Katherine originally came from Europe. 'Petrova' was her real name. Katerina Petrova, to be exact." He explained. Elena looked surprised.

"How did you know that?" She asked.

"They probably talked, Elena. That's what couples do when they're in a relationship. You of all people should know that." I reminded her, as I slid into the car beside a wide-awake Henrik who was looking a little confused. I smiled at him in greeting.

"What did you find?" He asked. I leant in closer to whisper in his ear.

"I'll tell you in a minute." I told him, indicating to Elena and Damon.

"That. And also back when, I saw it engraved on an old heirloom." Damon was saying to Elena, adding on to my statement. He gave her a 'let's be serious, here' look. "Men snoop too, you know." He stated. "Let me know what you find, I'm very curious myself." Elena turned to slide in next to me, but Damon blocked her path. "You have every right to hate me, I understand. But you hated me before and we became friends. It would suck if that were gone forever." He told her, sounding very sincere with his words. "So, is it? Have I lost you forever?" I silently rooted for Damon, hoping that Elena wouldn't be a bitch and deny him what he needed.

"Thank you for the book, Damon." Elena replied, and got into the car. I stared at her, aghast. Elena frowned at me with confusion. "What?" She asked quietly, before opening the Petrova Book and started reading.

I didn't answer, I just shook my head and turned away.

"Wow. That was cold. What happened in there while I was asleep?" Henrik wanted to know. I pulled out my phone and started texting.

 _It's a long story, Henrik. I'll tell you later on. There's something I need to show you as well._ I texted him, and gestured to him with my head to read it. He nodded, and let his eyes wonder over to Damon, who was looking a combination of miserable and angry.

* * *

 **A/N: Right then. Please enjoy!**

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	11. Horrible Histories

**A/N: It's time for another chapter update. Hope that you are looking forward to reading it!**

 **Same procedure as last time: please review, and no flaming.**

 **I don't own _The Vampire Diaries_. All characters (except for Grace) are owned by author L.J. Smith.**

 **Enjoy xx**

* * *

 **HORRIBLE HISTORIES**

" _Real friends don't get offended when you insult them. They smile and call you something even more offensive."_ _ **~Unknown Author.**_

* * *

It was evening by the time we got back to Mystic Falls, and the atmosphere was toxic inside the car. Bright side? We had gathered a surprising amount of information from a single trip to a university, so I considered this whole experience a job well done. The relationship between Elena and Damon had not improved; or so Alaric had told me. I had fallen asleep on the trip back. I really hoped that I didn't snore, but judging by the annoyed expression on Elena's face and the smirking one on Damon's; I probably had.

Fantastic.

Presently, we were parked in front of the Gilbert residence. Henrik and I were waiting for Alaric to finish talking, flirting and kissing Elena's aunt Jenna – much to my revulsion. I was fairly jaded when it came to relationships. Mostly because I couldn't hold down one for very long. Damon was standing on the porch, talking to a standoffish Elena who looked like she wanted to escape to the safety of her bedroom so she could continue reading the Petrova Book. My opinion on Elena had decreased dramatically since I witnessed her cruel treatment towards Damon back at Duke when he attempted to make amends. And from what I was witnessing right this second, it wasn't going to be improving any time soon.

"Now can you tell me what's going on?" Henrik inquired from where he was sitting on top of Alaric's car. I sighed miserably, feeling sorry for Damon. Not that I was stupid enough to let him know that.

"Elena is still holding on to her grudge against Damon for killing her brother." I explained to him, sounding sullen even to my own ears.

Henrik made a face.

"Seriously? Her brother is alive and well. I think it's time to forgive and forget." He stated, with disgust. I nodded in agreement.

"Tell her that." I said, tiredly.

"So what else went on?" Henrik asked, dismissing the depressing topic of Elena and Damon's sad love life. I dug around my purse for my phone and accessed my photos.

"We found a book that had references to something called the 'Sun and Moon Curse'." I didn't see Henrik stiffen at the mention. "I'm convinced that there's more to the text than what Alaric's wife's assistant told us, so I took photos of the text to read over again." I told him. Henrik blinked down at the screen, looking at the pictures I had taken of the drawings.

"I know about the Sun and Moon Curse." Henrik eventually spoke up. I jerked my head to look at him in astonishment.

"You do?" He nodded. "Is it all true then?" I asked, suddenly getting all excited. Henrik frowned at me.

"Not at all. It's been completely faked; it has nothing at all to do with vampires or werewolves." My face fell.

"So what's it about then?" I questioned. Henrik hopped down from the hood of the car and turned to look at me in the eye.

"It stipulates instructions on how to break a specific curse. But it's not the individual curses on two different supernatural species; it's a curse that had been placed upon a singular person." I paled. "And I think you've just worked out who it is." He said, looking grave.

"Niklaus." I breathed. Henrik nodded. But I was still confused about one thing. "But who wrote this? Who faked the story?" I asked.

"Who else do you think? It was Niklaus and one of my other brothers who made up a fake story and documented it in a book. It was supposed to hide the real truth underneath a hidden alias. It's actually called 'The Hybrid Curse'." Henrik explained.

"You were there?" I was surprised. Henrik nodded.

"I was unable to move on, so I decided to follow my brothers and sister on their travels. I witnessed Niklaus and our brother constructing it. I believe it was during the 1450s, right after Niklaus failed to break the curse." I was stunned, then stricken as I glanced up at an oblivious Damon, Elena and Alaric still standing on the deck.

"Great. They're gonna be so pissed when they find out that the so-called 'Sun and Moon Curse' is a fake." I said. Henrik made a protesting noise that caused me to look up at him curiously.

"That's not your problem, Grace. Just leave it." Henrik advised.

"What? Why?" I asked, looking at him with disbelief.

Henrik shrugged.

"Because it's not your responsibility to tell them they fucked up." Henrik replied, matter-of-factly. I frowned at him; but I couldn't exactly stride up to them and reveal that the 'Sun and Moon Curse' was fake without revealing my source. And while Elena probably would believe me, Damon wouldn't. Then I remembered what Henrik said about the curse back in the 1450s.

"Hold up. What do you mean Niklaus failed to break the curse?" I demanded.

"Exactly that. The curse is still upon him because the previous doppelgänger managed to escape him and the sacrifice." Henrik clarified, not noticing how distressed I probably looked. My stomach flipped over. Doppelgänger. Elena was searching for some information regarding Katherine, and the word 'doppelgänger' was brought up several times. Then it hit me why I was having this horrible feeling.

 _Oh, you've gotta be kidding me..._ Elena is the latest doppelgänger; and 'hybrid curse' + doppelgänger + sacrifice = Elena in grave danger. Wonderful! I needed to reveal this to my friends. But something was stopping me from walking over and dropping this massive bombshell on them. I knew that if I didn't speak up, then something horrible was likely to happen and I'd probably get lynched for not speaking up sooner. So what was stopping me? In the end, I decided to keep my mouth shut. I just hoped it didn't come back to bite me in the arse. I straightened up when I saw Damon breaking off from an unrepentant Elena and storming off, looking betrayed.

I jogged after him.

"Damon!" He stopped in his tracks, and turned to face me. There was tears in his eyes. "What the hell did Elena say now?" I demanded, itching to go back over there and bitch slap her.

"Nothing that I hadn't already suspected long ago. She is just as manipulative as Katherine is." I glanced back to see that Elena had already retreated back inside her house. I sighed.

"C'mon. Let's go." I said, following Damon to his car. Henrik was already sitting in the backseat by the time we got there. I gave Damon the address to my apartment, ignoring the look Damon gave me when he recognized it and sat back to relax as Damon obediently headed in that direction.

* * *

Damon followed me silently up the staircase leading to the apartments on the upper levels. I slyly gazed down the corridor to where Alaric mentioned he lived a few doors down from me, and partly wondered if he was coming back here tonight or if he was staying over at the Gilberts with Jenna Sommers. Mentally shrugging, and not particularly caring anyway, I stopped in front of my apartment and unlocked the door. I breezed on in and threw my keys on the coffee table.

"Uh, Grace?" I paused and turned to see Damon standing at the threshold, looking a little annoyed. I laughed sheepishly.

"You may come in, Damon." I said, and Damon nodded and took a deliberate step forward; breaking through the enchantment barring him entrance inside. I closed the door and secured the security chain.

"Nice apartment." Damon observed, rubbernecking around.

"Thanks." I replied, heading for the kitchen and clicking on the kettle. "You thirsty?" I asked, not thinking.

"You offering?" Damon replied back, pointedly. I froze before turning and giving him a look, understanding what Damon meant by that response.

"Not in this lifetime." I retorted, eying Henrik who was observing us from the couch with interest. "I meant do you want a tea, coffee or what?" I asked. Damon pretended to seriously think of his answer.

"Got any bourbon?" He inquired, shrugging off his jacket, and tossing it carelessly on the couch. I turned and clicked off the kettle, and headed over to where I kept my alcohol.

"No, but I have some tequila." I replied, then thought for a moment and went to the fridge. I just remembered that I had purchased myself some limes (and other various fruits and citruses) for the sole purpose of slicing them up and adding them to some water for flavor, since I wasn't a keen water drinker unless I was very thirsty and had nothing else. I grabbed four, and sliced them up into quarters. Then grabbed my salt shaker and the bottle of tequila and carried them to the coffee table. "Up for tequila slammers?" I attempted to entice him.

Damon smirked a little.

"Are you waiting for an objection?" He asked. I rolled my eyes and went back to grab the limes and shot glasses I had forgotten. Damon made himself comfortable on the couch and moved over so I could sit down beside him. "So what did you want to talk to me about?" He asked, reaching for the Don Julio 1942 and filled both shot glasses.

"Hang on a sec." I asked him, and disappeared into my bedroom searching for my sketchbook. I started to panic when I couldn't find it.

"Nice sketches." I heard Damon call out from the Living Room. I paused, and remembered that I had done some sketching last night to help myself fall asleep. Feeling a little silly, I wondered back out and sat down, letting him flip through the pages.

"To answer your question, I wanted to tell you more about my past life. This sketchbook will help illustrate it more. No pun intended." I told him. Damon looked at me strangely.

"Why?" He asked.

"Because 1) you've earned my trust." I replied. I licked the webbing between my forefinger and thumb and sprinkled salt on the spit. Damon followed my lead. "2) I consider you my friend, and I don't keep secrets from my friends." I grabbed my shot glass. "Three, two, one." We licked the salt, knocked back the shot and sucked on the lime. I enjoyed the tanginess of the lime and the burn of the alcohol trickling down my throat. "And 3) I would like at least _somebody_ else to know about my former life." I concluded.

Damon frowned quizzically.

"Who else knows your former life?" He asked, refilling the shot glasses.

"Elena." I replied, promptly. "She found out the same day I first arrived in town and on the day of the Mayor's wake." I told him when he looked at me for more information. Damon responded by knocking back his shot, and refilling.

"Ready when you are." He said, sitting back in the seat.

I glanced over at Henrik and he gave the 'go ahead' gesture. I picked up the sketchbook and turned to the first picture I had created when I made the journey towards Mystic Falls. Damon looked down at the page, and listened as I described Gráinne's humble beginnings back in the 11th century. About the family of immigrant Vikings that came here with my past life to America, which had been known as the New World back then. How Gráinne fell in love with Niklaus (not telling Damon that was his name) and accepted a marriage proposal from him. Re-told the story of Henrik being killed by a werewolf, and how it devastated his family and Gráinne forever. Before finishing the history lesson by telling Damon how Gráinne had been murdered to prove a point.

At the same time, when I was telling my story, both of us continued drinking the tequila and I started to loosen up. Enough that I, without pause, stood up and removed my shirt (causing Damon – who I learned later on wasn't even close to being drunk at the time – to widen his eyes in surprise) to show him my birthmark and detailing that it was a representation of how I was killed by Niklaus' abusive stepfather a thousand years before.

"And that's my life history." I concluded, picking up my shot glass and eying him curiously. "The question and answer portion of the lesson begins now." I said, slurring slightly, and taking my shot. Damon didn't say anything for a few minutes. Instead he was content with turning the pages of my sketchbook and looking at each picture individually.

"Why do all these people have blank faces?" He asked, pointing at the 'family portrait' and the sketches of Niklaus I had created. I pushed the bottle of Don Julio towards Damon, who took the bottle without question.

I'd had enough.

"That's how they always appear in my dreams. Blurred out, and unrecognizable. I have no idea what they really look like." I answered, sounding a little depressed at the thought. "Although, I do know what my 'was-soon-to-be' fiancé sounds like." I told him. "All deep and European." I giggled drunkenly. Damon nodded and turned another page. It was the picture I had created of Henrik while he had been sleeping back at that motel. I stopped Damon from turning the page. "That's Henrik." I told him. The real Henrik came over and sat down in front of us, looking at me with concern. I had never allowed myself to get this drunk before. Maybe I was just that unhappy, and needed somebody.

"He looks like a kid." Damon said, sounding appalled. I nodded.

"He was. Fifteen." I confirmed.

"Shit…" Damon muttered. "Why'd did you go into detail with the wounds on his chest?" He asked. "Isn't that a little morbid?" I shrugged.

"I don't think so. I drew these pictures to help me with my memories." I told him, half-lying about the reason why I had drawn Henrik with his ripped up tunic. Damon looked at me with concern, but decided to let the topic go, and closed the sketchbook; setting it aside.

"I still don't understand why you told me about your past life, Grace. But I'm touched that you trust me enough to let me in on it." Damon told me, sounding for once in his life, sincere. I smiled.

"You're the first friend I've ever made that I've actually trusted enough to reveal the truth to. Let alone keep around and be afraid to lose." I told him. "Even if you do piss me off at times." I couldn't resist tacking that last part on the end, and Damon made an amused face at me in response.

"You're a little minx, you are." He decided. Then sighed, seemingly making a decision of his own. "I didn't want to become a vampire." He admitted, and I blinked at him in surprise.

"You decided not to complete transition?" I stated, astonished. He shook his head, smiling bitterly. "And yet, here you are?" He scowled darkly.

"I had my decision taken away from me … by Stefan." He revealed. My eyes widened. Quiet, and sometimes stern Stefan had a selfish side it seemed.

"How did you become a vampire?" I asked him, quietly. Henrik came and sat down beside me, looking intently at Damon; also interested in his story. Damon got to his feet, and started pacing. I barely knew him, but I could sense that it was a sign that he was feeling restless and uncomfortable.

"It was during the tail end of the Civil War in 1864." Damon said. I nodded, remembering Vanessa telling us that when she had attacked us with a crossbow bolt earlier today. "My father showed some hospitality to Katherine, who was posing as an orphan who had recently lost her family before coming to stay with us." I frowned. I didn't think that that pathetic sob story could've been concocted by anyone but Katherine of all people. It just didn't seem to fit her.

"Let me guess: it was love at first sight? A 'boy meet girl' scenario?" I asked, dryly. Damon gave me a warning look that told me that I was pushing it and to be careful with what I said next.

"Not at first." He smiled slightly at the memory. "I believed that Katherine was just a nice girl, and we developed a friendship with each other. Neither Stefan or I knew that Katherine was a vampire." Damon explained.

"And how long did it take before you started falling for her?" I asked, cautiously.

Damon chuckled.

"Not very long actually. Contrary to what 'Saint Stefan' believes, the feelings I had for Katherine were real. None of it was the result of compulsion, unlike Stefan." Damon sounded extremely bitter about this and I was tempted to stop him from continuing the story, as I could see how much this was hurting him to relive it.

"Damon, you don't have to tell me any of this if it's making you uncomfortable." I reassured him. Damon threw me a hard look before calming down and giving me a very weak smile.

"No, it's only fair that I tell you a little bit more about what Katherine is like, since you trusted me with your secrets." I nodded, still unconvinced and confused about how Katherine was involved in all this.

"If that's what you want." I replied. Damon continued his story.

"Her presence in our home sabotaged my relationship with my brother. We used to be the best of friends before Katherine came to live with us. But before you ask the question I know you're about to ask me, I'm not in any hurry to repair our relationship. I'll tell you more about that later." Damon grabbed the Don Julio again and took a swig from the bottle. "Needless to say; Stefan, Katherine and I were in a bit of a love triangle." He chuckled without humor.

Henrik and I exchanged glances with each other. _History is repeating itself, I see…_

"So I can assume that Katherine was the one who changed you and Stefan into vampires?" I asked him. Damon nodded. "Right. Can you walk me through the events that led you to become what you are now?" I tried to word it appropriately. Damon frowned in annoyance.

"Back in 1864, the Council were extremely aware of the presence of vampires in this town. My father was one of the council members, and he had always been a paranoid, suspicious bastard long before Katherine showed up in our lives. And while he was pleasant and charming towards her, he never really trusted her and decided to lay a trap for her." Damon explained.

"A trap?" I echoed him.

He nodded.

"Stefan is probably the best person to tell you this, as it was him that Father unwittingly used in his trap to catch Katherine. But from what I remember him telling me, Father slipped him vervain in something he drank. So when Katherine fed from Stefan, the vervain in his blood burned her; giving her away to Father who captured her and threw her into a carriage to be taken away." I watched the emotions play across Damon's face. Whatever he was remembering obviously wasn't pleasant.

"Where were they planning on taking her?" I asked.

"There was a tomb underneath what is now the ruins of Fell's Church. The witches combined their powers to make it so no vampire would be able to leave once placed inside. Katherine was supposed to be taken there to be contained with the other 26 vampires the council had captured…"

"But she managed to escape." I finished the sentence for him.

"Got it in one." Damon congratulated me. "Bitch made me believe that she had been stuck in there for 145 years. I died trying to save her manipulative ass." He growled. My eyes widened.

"That's how you became a vampire?" I exclaimed, incredulously. It would suck if that were true. Damon made a face.

"Not exactly. You remember what I told you about how to create a vampire?" Damon asked me, a serious expression on his face.

"Yeah. With excruciating detail." I replied, flatly. I wasn't liking the direction this story was taking.

"Well, Katherine had kept Stefan and me on a continuous supply of her blood. Enough that we were practically sloshing with it. The night she had been captured by the council, Stefan and I attempted to save her. But our father intervened and shot us both in the back with his shotgun, although we didn't know it was him that prematurely ended our lives until Stefan heard it from the man's mouth hours later."

My mouth fell open.

"Your _father_ killed you?!" I exclaimed. Damon nodded, taking another swig from the tequila.

"Like I said, some humans with vampire blood in their system die in stupid, idiotic ways." Damon told me. I couldn't believe what I heard.

"The man who was supposed to love, support you and be there for you for the big moments, killed you?" I was speechless.

Damon made a face.

"Without turning this into a crappy soap opera, yes he did. But I wasn't exactly his favourite son growing up. I'm sure he probably got his jollies blowing me away." Damon spat hatefully. "Plus, shacking up with a vampire didn't exactly win me favour with him either." Shit. Damon really has had it bad; for his whole life and _un_ life it seemed. I couldn't help feeling even worse for the poor guy.

"Wow. Damon is a lot like Niklaus than I thought." Henrik piped up unexpectedly. I nearly jumped, as I had almost forgotten he was there. Luckily, Damon wasn't looking in my direction at the time.

"What?" I blurted out to Henrik without thinking. Damon turned to look at me, curiously.

"Pardon?"

"What happened next?" I quickly self-corrected.

"I remember waking up next to Stefan in a dilapidated hut next to a quarry. The sun was blinding, and it hurt, and I felt weak and unbelievably thirsty." I winced. That didn't sound fun. "We were approached by Katherine's maid, a powerful witch called Emily Bennett. She was the one who had found us and brought us to the quarry; even supplying us with specially made Lapis Lazuli rings that Katherine had prepared for us, when she realised we were in transition." My ears pricked up at the familiar name.

"Bennett? As in Bonnie Bennett?" I asked. Damon nodded.

"Her ancestor." He said.

"Wow. A lot of families are connected in this town." I commented out loud.

"Emily was there to tell us that we were in the process of becoming vampires. She told us exactly what I explained to you: that we had the choice to either complete transition or do nothing and die." I nodded, understanding. "I believed that Katherine had been killed, and I didn't want to survive either, so I decided to not complete transition. Stefan did too at the time."

"So how come you both are still here, not dead and buried?" I queried. "And what happened to your Father?" Damon chuckled a dark laugh.

"Karma is a bitch. In many ways than one, unfortunately. Stefan was unwilling to die without making peace with our father, so he decided to go back to the Salvatore Estate to see him. Except that Father immediately rejected Stefan the second he saw him.'

"They struggled and Stefan lost control and killed our Father. Except now he was a vampire, and apparently he didn't want to be alone in the world. I don't know if it was the euphoria of the blood he had tasted for the first time, or the exhilaration he was feeling; but he somehow managed to persuade me, against my will, to feed from one of our maids. And because of this, I have vowed to make Stefan's life a misery forever." Damon seemed relieved that the story was now completed.

"Is that the only reason?" I asked. Damon looked at me shrewdly.

"Well, I was pissed off that Stefan had been changed into a vampire alongside with me. It was supposed to just only be me and Katherine." Damon stated. "Still, it doesn't matter now. The bitch is dead to me." He knocked back another shot, looking extremely bitter.

I didn't blame him.

"Well, Damon. Thank you for sharing that with me. Looks like we have a lot in common." I observed. "We've both got men in our lives – or my case past life – who have managed to ruin everything." Did I sound bitter just then? "And that bitch Katherine has screwed up a lot of lives. She needs to pay somehow." I vowed. Damon nodded, but definitely looked like he wanted to kill something or someone. He needed a distraction. Lucky that we had just been searching for answers about the Lockwood Family today, right? "So different topic. What are we going to do about the 'sun and moon curse'?" Damon saw the obvious attempt to distract him, and he smiled a little and went with it.

"I was thinking we could have a barbecue at the Gilbert's house tomorrow night. Nothing fancy, just something to 'welcome' Mason Lockwood to the town." Damon told me, chatty-like. It sounded extremely false. I raised an eyebrow.

"That seems awfully neighbourly of you, Damon. What's the real plan?" I asked, suspiciously.

"I'm gonna stick something silver into Mason Lockwood. See if silver actually does anything detrimental to werewolves." He replied, without hesitation. Then he grinned at me from ear to ear, throwing me off guard. "You in?" I exchanged a slightly taken aback glance with Henrik who was standing behind Damon, out of sight.

He was shaking his head, disapprovingly.

* * *

And that's how I ended up being Damon Salvatore's date to what I assumed would end up being a very dysfunctional barbecue at the Gilbert Residence; just so we can get proof that Mason Lockwood was in fact a rare werewolf. Don't ask how he managed to get the party organized. Let's just say, we really had to - figuratively speaking - twist Jenna Sommer's arm to get her to agree. She really didn't like Damon at all. The fact that we promised to bring dessert specially ordered from the Mystic Grill just for the occasion – and to help put the plan of sticking silver cutlery into Mason Lockwood, that much easier – sealed the deal for her. Well, that and Alaric had been let in on the plan and he 'insisted' that Damon be in attendance as well.

"Hey look! There's Elena." Damon told me as we both walked into the Grill to retrieve Damon's dessert order on our way to the barbecue. I glanced over to where he was pointing. Elena was sitting by herself at a table, reading a book. "Let's go sit with her while we wait." He suggested.

I nodded, but there was something that I needed to follow up on first.

"I'll be back in a minute. Just going to inquire on something." I told him. Damon shrugged and went to bug Elena. I walked over to the bar to talk with the manager for an update on my job application. Henrik shrugged and followed me. I approached the bartender on duty who looked up and flashed me a professional smile.

"Hey, what can I get you?" She asked, brightly. I smiled back and sat down on one of the bar stools.

"I was actually wanting to speak to the manager, if I may?" I requested politely. The girl nodded.

"No problem. I think she's here today, I'll just go and see if she's available right now to talk." She told me. "Won't be a moment." She promised. I nodded politely, and swiveled around on the stool watching the comings and goings in the restaurant. But mostly upon Damon and Elena, who were having what looked like a very interesting conversation over at her table. Interesting because Elena looked highly suspicious, and Damon was being way too perky for a guy who was normally a 'kill first, ask questions later' type of vampire.

I raised an eyebrow at the display.

"Hi, you wanted to see me?" I spun back around and gave the manager, a woman in her mid-30s, a friendly smile.

"Yes, hey. My name is Grace Williams. I put in an application for the 'mixologist' position a couple of days ago. I was following up on it." I queried. The woman immediately wondered over to where some documentation was being stored. She picked up a handful of familiar application forms and came back over.

"You said that you were Grace Williams?" The woman asked. I nodded. She thumbed through the applications before finding the correct one and scanning it over. "Okay, now I've read through your resume and I can't offer you a position at the moment." She told me, apologetically. I sagged a little. "However, I'll keep this on file just in case something does pop up in the future." I smiled graciously.

"Thanks for letting me know. Well, having a nice evening." I said.

"You too, and you're welcome." The woman replied. I waved and turned to head over to the table where Elena and Damon were still talking.

"I made myself clear, Damon. I want nothing to do with you." Elena was saying, packing away her things. I frowned a little, before looking at Damon for his reaction. To my surprise, Damon didn't seem at all fazed by Elena's dismissive words.

"Okay. We'll see you at Jenna's barbecue" He said, popping one of Elena's fries into his mouth. Elena froze, and looked back at him with surprise.

"We?" I came over to the table, and waved.

"Hey Elena. What did I miss?" I asked them, checking the time on my phone. Damon stood up and wrapped an arm around my shoulders, and I fixed him with a 'what the hell' look.

"Hello, Grace. Just letting Elena know that we'll be attending her aunt's barbecue tonight." He told me, pleasantly. I feigned surprise.

"Oh?" I played along.

"Hang on. How did you know about Jenna's barbecue?" Elena asked, looking at both Damon and I suspiciously. I felt extremely uncomfortable being scrutinized. Damon smiled innocently at her.

"It was my idea." Damon took the credit. "Jenna went to high school with Mason Lockwood, so I figured a social gathering would be a good way to get to know the guy." He explained. "So I told Ric to tell Jenna and…"

"Does Jenna know that you're going to be there? Because she's not exactly a fan of yours." Elena inquired, curiously.

"She was very much against Damon coming along." I confirmed, smiling nervously. A waitress arrived carrying a large white box, which she gave to Damon; all smiles. He lifted the lid off the box and peered inside.

"Perfect. Thank you." He said to the waitress, who smiled back and nodded before heading back to the kitchens. Damon turned back towards Elena. "I'm hoping this peach cobbler will pave the way." He told her, giving her a charming smile. Elena was still suspicious.

"What are you up to?" She demanded Damon, who gave her a look of mock-offence.

"Why are you asking just me?" He asked, looking 'hurt'. I smirked at him from behind Elena's back; I was loving the theatrics I must say. "Grace is involved in this as well." The smirk dropped, and I looked at him accusingly.

Elena shook her head, looking irritated.

"Because this whole thing screams you, not Grace." Damon looked thoughtful.

"It does, doesn't it?" He mused. Elena sighed, looking like she was gathering all her patience together. "Don't drag her into one of your schemes, Damon." Damon nodded agreeing with her, and came up to mutter in her ear.

"Well, I'm gonna put some silver into Mason Lockwood and prove he is a werewolf." He explained to Elena, whose eyes widened in shock. Damon promptly grabbed my hand and started towing me to the front doors. I nearly tripped over my heels trying to keep up with his large strides. "See you at the barbecue!" He called over his shoulder. "Let's go, Grace. We need to buy some ice-cream for the cobbler." He announced, loudly.

I rolled my eyes.

"Uh, talk soon!" I added, turning to wave hastily at Elena.

* * *

Damon was still in a chipper mood as he drove us towards the Gilbert house, a few hours later.

"Was that really necessary back there?" I asked Damon. He looked back at me with confusion.

"What? I was just trying to be friendly." Damon protested his innocence. I looked at him skeptically.

"By going over and sitting with her while she was reading her book? Uh uh, everyone knows that when someone brings a book and sits by themselves in a restaurant to read it, it means 'shields up' or 'do not disturb'." I narrowed my eyes at Damon, who stubbornly refused to look over at me. "I think you did that on purpose. It looked like you were deliberately taunting her for revenge." Damon flinched. "Talk to me. What did she say or do to you last night?" I asked, gently.

"She manipulated me yesterday into telling her the truth about killing her brother. It appears that she and Katherine have that in common with each other." He admitted.

I blinked. Can't say that I'm surprised that she stooped that low.

"Huh. That cheeky, scheming little bitch." I muttered. Damon smirked.

"Precisely." He agreed.

"Then what you did was justified." I told him. "But just this once." I warned him. Damon grinned.

"Scouts honour." I made a face at him.

"I highly doubt that you were a boy scout." I retorted, giggling slightly at the mental picture of Damon wearing a scouts uniform and doing the three-finger salute. He looked at me questioningly.

"What's so funny?" He demanded, looking a little apprehensive.

"It's probably best you don't know." I said, winking at him. Damon opened his mouth to protest, but stopped himself when we pulled up in front of the Gilbert Residence. "You ready to expose Mason's werewolf side?" I asked him.

Damon gave me a poker-face.

"How can you even ask me that question? It's like you don't know me at all." He then smirked. I grinned, as I followed him out of the car. "Shall we?" He offered me his arm, channeling the Southern Gentleman he used to be. I smiled and nodded.

"Lead on." I requested, hoping that this plan of Damon's didn't blow up in his face and suddenly put us into harm's way.

* * *

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	12. A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

**A/N: Wow! 12 reviews after one chapter update! Thanks guys, you must be really digging my story!**

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 **I don't own** _ **The Vampire Diaries.**_ **All characters (except for Grace) are owned by author L.J. Smith.**

 **Enjoy! :D**

* * *

 **A WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING**

" _Be very careful with who you allow to get close to you."_ _ **~Unknown.**_

* * *

I watched with trepidation as Damon breezily strides up towards the Gilbert's front door and raised his fist to knock solidly on the white wood. I came up beside him holding the paper shopping bag with the slightly melted vanilla ice-cream, feeling nervous, and questioning why he had talked me into doing this in the first place.

"Let the games begin." Damon declared, smiling at me with a crafty grin. I rolled my eyes.

"Don't get too cocky, Damon. That always seems to be your downfall when it comes to plans like these." I reminded him. Damon grunted dismissively just as the front door opened, but nobody seemed to be behind it to give admittance. I pushed open the door and stepped inside. "That was weird." I muttered, but Damon merely breezed on in like he owned the place.

"You'll get used to it eventually." Damon reassured me, as he walked passed holding high the peach cobbler. I frowned at his back.

"So why don't I find that comforting?" I muttered following him down the hallway towards where I assumed the kitchen was. Damon looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Because you're paranoid?" He suggested.

"What? And you're so perfect?" I retorted, making a face at him.

"Have you seen me? I exude confidence." Damon bragged, smirking at me. I snorted.

"Yeah, I'm surprised you managed to get that big head of yours through the front door." I rubbernecked the hallway, taking in the décor, the brown stained staircase that led upstairs to the bedrooms, and the various collection of family photographs that lined the walls. Damon chuckled.

"Meow! This kitten has claws." He noted. I turned and threw a very Damon-like smirk back at him.

"And she's not afraid to use them." I confirmed. Damon continued laughing as we came closer to the kitchen. I immediately heard Alaric's voice.

"Oh, the expensive stuff! I like you already." He crowed loudly, obviously pleased by some sort of brand of alcohol, I assumed.

"Just happy to be invited." A familiar voice replied. Oh? Mason was already here? Great, time for a battle of wits between vampire and suspected werewolf. I could hardly wait. Damon and I exchanged glances as Jenna darted into view. She was smiling appreciatively at an unseen Alaric from across the room.

"Thank Rick, it was his idea." She told Mason.

"Really?"

"Yeah, you know, I thought it would be nice to meet some of Jenna's high school friends. Dig up a little dirt."

And then some.

"I've got dirt. I've got dirt." Mason reported, confidently. I had to place a hand on Damon's arm to prevent him from bursting in at the wrong moment. It was tacky to be too eager.

"I have no secrets. Only dirty shame." Jenna revealed.

"To dirty shame." Alaric made a toast and I elbowed Damon when I noticed him taking an unwelcomed interest in what Elena's aunt had just said.

"What?" Damon whispered to me, looking innocent. Innocent my arse.

"You know _what_. Behave yourself, and keep your head in the game." I scolded him. Damon grinned playfully.

"Whatever you say, ma'am." He replied mockingly, as he wraps an arm around my shoulders and casually leads us into the kitchen. "Hey." He greets everyone, and Jenna's cheerful, carefree smile immediately drops and goes stony.

"Damon." She greets him, and I smile apologetically.

"Hey, guys. We knocked but nobody answered. Plus, the front door was open." I reported back, and Jenna looked surprised and a little alarmed.

"It shouldn't have been." She stated. Alaric changed the subject.

"We were just doing shots. Let me give you a shot glass, buddy." He said, heading for the glass cabinet.

"Here. Use mine." Jenna said, placing her shot glass in front of Damon and walking hastily from the room. Alaric grimaced and looked at me.

"Grace? Shots?" He asked, raising his shot glass at me. I grimaced, feeling my stomach rebelling a little.

"No, thanks. Upset stomach." I replied, and headed for the coke pouring myself some when Alaric followed after his girlfriend.

I wasn't entirely over my slight hangover from last night's tequila slammer binge. I had a high tolerance for alcohol, but at the time yesterday when we had been knocking back the drinks like camels, I hadn't eaten anything just yet; which meant the alcohol had a better opportunity to dull my senses. An admittedly stupid move; considering I had been sitting vulnerable in my apartment with a dangerous vampire, who was angry and upset, and often lashed out irrationally when he was angry.

"She doesn't like me very much." Damon stated the obvious to both Mason and me. I snorted.

"Can you understand why?" I muttered, loud enough for – presumably – only Damon to hear. He ignored me, focusing on Mason who stretched out his hand to Damon.

"We haven't met. Mason Lockwood." He introduced himself to us.

"Oh sure. Damon Salvatore." Damon accepted Mason's handshake and pumped the hand up and down before releasing.

"I know. I heard great things about you." Mason told him, making both Damon and I look at him with suspicion.

"Really? That's weird. I'm a dick!" Damon replied.

"You heard it here first, folks." I joked as Damon wrapped an arm around my waist and pinched my side. I trod on his foot, on purpose. "Grace Williams." I said, taking Mason's hand when he offered it. I had expected him to shake my hand, like he had with Damon, but I stiffened and felt my eyes widen he kissed it unexpectedly.

"Charmed, I'm sure." He flirted and I smiled painfully back and retrieved my hand, and yelped when Damon possessively tightened his grip around my waist. I heard the front door opening and closing. An escape from this increasingly uncomfortable situation was what I was seeking, and investigating who had just left the house seemed like the perfect opportunity.

"Excuse me." I said to both Damon and Mason, before pulling out of Damon's grip and disappearing down the hallway to the front door.

"Your girl?" Mason asked Damon, indicating me. I groaned, and waited for Damon to immediately say no because of his feelings for Elena.

"Is it that obvious?" I stopped in my tracks and turned to give a 'what-the-fuck?' expression to him, which was returned with a wink and a smirk. I let out an exasperated sigh and continued walking to the front door. I cautiously opened it and peered out; noticing Elena sitting on the porch, alone. I frowned with concern, until I noticed she had her phone in her hand and was calling someone.

"Hey, just checking in." Elena sounded worried, so the person she was intending on calling was probably Stefan. "Did you get my message about Jenna's barbecue? Call me when you can." She flipped the phone shut and sighed, leaning against the column she had been sitting next to.

"Elena?" I called out to her. She turned and looked at me with surprise. "You okay?" I asked her.

Elena frowned.

"Not really." She admitted, as I shut the front door and came over to sit with her on the steps. "Why did you come out here? To check up on me?" She asked, slightly accusatory. I shook my head.

"No, of course not. I just needed some air. I had some tequila last night that didn't agree with me." I explained, then hooked a thumb over my shoulder. "That, and Damon was kinda showing off a little in front of Mason." I added, raking a hand through my hair. Elena hummed in sympathy.

"Don't pay any attention to him." She advised. I bristled a little, but let it go just as Caroline suddenly materializes in front of us; carrying a bag of chips that she was in the middle of snaking on.

"Was that Stefan?" She asked, sitting down with us. "Hey Grace!" Caroline greeted me, brightly. I smiled back. Elena glared down at her phone.

"Yeah, he hasn't call me back. I'm trying to decide if I should be worried." She admitted. I hummed in understanding.

"I wouldn't."

"Yeah, I agree. I'm sure he's fine." Caroline reassured her, popping a chip into her mouth. I eyed the bag with curiosity, grabbing Caroline's attention. "You want one?" She asked, offering me the bag. I waved a hand politely.

"No, thank you." I replied. Caroline shrugged as she continued stuffing chips into her mouth, frowning a little in disgust.

"God! I cannot stop eating." She bitched, earning a raised eyebrow from both Elena and I for the random outburst. "Stefan says it's a great way to sublimate the cravings. It's horrible just fighting the urge for blood every minute of the day." She ate another chip.

"I know that Stefan really hates that part of himself." Elena relayed to us both. Caroline immediately looked uncomfortable.

"Yeah and he hates that you're a constant temptation." She told Elena. I winced at the blunt way Caroline explained this to Elena who looked a little taken aback by this news.

"He said that?" She said with a small voice. I groaned, hoping that Damon wasn't eavesdropping on this conversation. I needed more conflict between them like a hole in the head. Caroline nodded.

"The desire to rip out your jugular every time he's with you? Trust me, it's there. It's why I had to break up with Matt." Caroline explained, all chatty-like.

I frowned, recognizing the name.

"Matt? As in Elena's ex?" I asked, and cursed when I saw Caroline stiffen and look a little resentful. Elena nodded.

"That's him." The relaxed atmosphere suddenly got a little awkward, and I could've kissed Alaric when he suddenly stuck his head out the door to talk to us.

"Hey! Food's ready, come get it." He announced. Caroline was the first one of us to get to her feet.

"Finally, I'm starving." She said, and goes inside. I looked at Elena, feeling a little lost.

"I stuck my foot in it, didn't I?" I stated. Elena smiled sympathetically.

"Yeah, but it's not your fault. You weren't to know." She reassured me. Elena got to her feet, and offered me a hand up. I smiled and accepted it. "Hope you're hungry." Elena said, smiling a little.

I shrugged.

"Mostly worried about what Damon's got up his sleeve to prove Mason Lockwood is the werewolf we've been suspecting he is." I confessed.

"You and me both." Elena agreed, scowling a little as we both walked inside.

* * *

The barbecue dinner lead to a 'rousing' game of _Pictionary_ aka Damon Salvatore being less than tactful. The second they brought out the game, I made a beeline for the door; desperately attempting to avoid playing. But Damon, flashed in front of me.

"Woah, Grace. Where's the fire?" He asked as he half-carried, half-dragged me over to the couch we were playing the game in front of, and dumped me right in the middle of the couch. "Right then. Who wants to go first?" Damon asked. I scowled Black Death at him.

"I hate you so much right now." I muttered through grit teeth as Mason took a seat next to me on the couch (much to my discomfort) and Caroline sat beside him.

"Thank you for volunteering, Grace!" Damon grabbed my hand and nearly pulled my arm out of its socket yanking me to my feet. He pushed me over to the easel and I reluctantly picked up a card and scanned what it said. I groaned, and glared once again at Damon before picking up the black marker and started drawing.

"Sheep! Baa Baa Black Sheep!" Caroline shouted, kicking off the guessing part of the game, and I hadn't even finished drawing yet.

It took several goes before eventually:

"A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing." Mason guessed it right, and I pointed towards him.

"Nice one, Mason." Damon congratulated him, before getting to his feet. "I'll take over Grace. Thanks for kicking off the game for us." I gave him a sarcastic smile before taking his seat and watching him pick up a card.

"Have you considered drawing professionally?" Jenna asked, slightly drunk. I shook my head.

"Nah, I prefer to sketch for a hobby. I'm trying to become a professional writer actually. Doing research for a novel right now." I told her.

"And how's that going?" Caroline wanted to know.

"Bit of writer's block." I said shrugging. Damon finished drawing and I groaned, realizing what it was.

This was going to be a long game.

The game continued on until we decided to wrap it up after the current drawing. It was getting a bit uncomfortable, especially when Mason caught on quickly that we were on to him about his werewolf heritage. Damon wasn't really helping matters either. He had just finished drawing a picture of a wolf dressed up in a tutu.

"Dress! Ballerina!" Jenna guessed, now well and truly on her way to becoming soused. Caroline bounced excitedly in her seat, nearly causing me to inhale my drink up my nose while I was in the middle of taking a sip.

"Puppy! Puppy with a tutu!" She shrieked, while I was coughing up the drink. Damon shook his head, looking amused by the answers we were all shouting at him. I wisely chose not to participate, and decided to subtly observe Mason.

"No. No." Damon stated, causing Caroline to pout that she had gotten it wrong. Jenna decided to try again.

"A dog!" What gave it away? "Hound-dog!" Jenna insisted, looking at Damon urgently; believing that she had the right answer.

"Dances with Wolves." Mason piped up, using a deadpan tone and eying Damon with exasperation. My best friend grinned like the cat who caught the canary. He was enjoying the fact that he was getting on Mason's nerves, and apparently on the receiving end of my ire. Was he trying to get us both killed?

"Mason wins… again." Damon declared, causing Jenna and Caroline to whine with disappointment. But then Jenna squinted at the picture Damon had hastily drawn on the large sketch pad.

"How is that a wolf?" She demanded, frowning a little. I got to my feet and headed for the kitchen.

"Getting a refill." I called back to the gamers. I found Elena, who had somehow managed to avoid playing that torturous game, taking the peach cobbler from the box and placing it on a cake display. "Hey Elena." She smiled slightly at me in acknowledgement. "FYI your Aunt Jenna is getting a bit tipsy. Just giving you a heads up." I told her. Elena scowled at this information.

"Well then, tell your friend Damon to stop plying her with alcohol then." She instructed, just as Damon sauntered into the room and leant up against the table between the two of us.

"But I want her to like me." He protested playfully, obviously not in the slightest bit concerned if Jenna cared that he existed. Elena rolled her eyes.

"How is operation Lockwood?" She asked, aiming for casual and ending up in the vicinity of patronizing instead. I rolled my eyes, getting really sick of their sniping and backbiting towards each other. Damon smiled pleasantly, thankfully.

"He's my new BFF." He reported proudly. Jenna walks into the kitchen, nearly walking into me in the process.

"There you are." She says to Damon, a little too cheerfully. "Isn't this fun?" I head for the kitchen sink, filling up a tall glass full of water; with the intention of giving it to Jenna. Damon smiled at her, laying on the charm.

"Yes, thank you so much for inviting me." He said, as I come over to her side and handed a confused Jenna the glass. I eyed Elena who mouths 'thank you' at me, just as Jenna shrugs when she realised that I had handed her a glass of water and drinks it down in a couple of big gulps. I shrugged as I continued refilling the glass, encouraging her to continue drinking. She made a face at Damon's words.

"Did I have a choice?" She asked pointedly. Damon shrugged, and made a sad face.

"I know what you must think about me." He said. Jenna snorted and started laughing humourlessly.

"No, you don't. You've never dated you; I have dated many you's." Jenna shared with us all. Damon leaned closer to the strawberry blonde and gave her his best flirty smile.

"I'm a work in progress." He told her, winking. I smirked, and wondered over to him after pouring Jenna her final glass of water.

"I should hope so." I agreed, earning a smile from Damon. Elena comes over and hip-checks him out of the way as she reaches into the drawer and pulls out a cake knife from a set, handing it to Jenna. Both Damon and I notice, and my eyes widen before I shake my head no at him.

He ignores me.

"These are fancy." Damon observes, casually. Jenna smiles back at him, oblivious to Damon's plans.

"Thanks. My mother's silver set." She tells him, before quickly leaving the room with the knife. Elena and I look at him, and both of us had differing reactions when he reaches in and takes a knife from the set. He picks up the cobbler and with a wink, sets off for the dining room where everybody was sitting down waiting for dessert.

"Wait, Damon…" I started and followed him in, while Elena walked off in a different direction.

It was obvious that she was still lost in thought about Stefan, and wasn't about to let up about it. At least, not until somebody attempts to make her see reason, or distract her long enough for the solution or situation to sort itself out. I was having second thoughts about this entire plan. It was doomed to fail big time. Damon strode determinedly towards the table and placed down the cobbler in the middle of the table, and offered the knife to Mason.

 _God… way to be subtle, Damon!_ I thought as I went and sat down in the nearest chair, both curious and nervous to see what result Damon's little 'experiment' came up with in the end.

"Mason, why don't you start us off?" Damon asked him, pleasantly. Mason gives an equally pleasant smile back that made me tense up.

"Sure." He replied before completely ignoring the knife altogether (making both Damon and I inwardly curse) and reached for the cobbler, taking a large slice with his hands. "I apologise, I'm an animal." Mason told us all. But what this action really told us, was that he was onto us BIG TIME. Damon frowned and took his seat next to me. I had flushed out of embarrassment.

"So Mason, you and Jenna never dated?" Alaric asked out of interest, or maybe to distract us all from the suddenly awkward atmosphere. Mason smirked at the memories.

"She was always lost in Logan Fell land." He replied, as Jenna made a disgusted face.

"My first mistake." Jenna added. "Mason was a catch; he had girls lining up."

"Really? I always pegged you for a _lone wolf_." I groaned and allowed my head to thud solidly on the table top. Damon smirked, apparently recovered from failing plan A, and seeking retribution. I raised my head enough to be able to see Mason's smile had dropped slightly, and his blue eyes flashed at Damon in warning.

"I'm sure I wasn't half the _lady killer_ you were." He responded evenly. I rolled my eyes. They both were their own worst enemies as far as this entire situation was concerned. I needed to retreat from the table before this situation got out of hand. It was then that I realised that neither Elena nor Caroline had come over to the table to get their portion of the peach cobbler.

"Excuse me. I gotta powder my nose." I told the entire table and pushed back my chair to get to my feet. I ignored the questioning look from Damon as I quickly retreated from the room in search of my friends.

* * *

The 'powder-my-nose' excuse wasn't a complete lie, by the way. I really did need the bathroom. But my primary reason for leaving the table as far as I was concerned was to look for Elena and Caroline. I found them in the living room and it looked like Elena was still sulking over Stefan.

"Would I be the worst friend in the world if I abandoned you and went to Stefan's?" Elena was asking Caroline. I frowned and nodded.

Absolutely, she would be.

Stefan wasn't the 'be all, bloody end all', and thankfully, Caroline seemed to agree with me.

"You want to leave?" She sounded doubtful. I smiled approvingly at the back of Caroline's head. Elena sighed heavily.

"It's just that he hasn't gotten back to me, and I'm starting to get this bad feeling." Elena explained, sounding a little bit pathetic. Caroline frowned.

"I don't think that's a good idea, Elena." She insisted. Elena got to her feet, looking determined.

"Grace and Damon have got it under control here." She attempted to reason with Caroline, but she didn't want a bar of Elena's persistence. She grabbed her hands in hers, making Elena focus upon her baby blues.

"Take it from me, there's nothing worse than a clingy girlfriend." Caroline told her. Elena shook her head.

"I'm not being clingy, I'm just concerned." I made a face.

 _That's exactly what overly possessive, and territorial girlfriends say when they want to justify their actions…_ I thought, sadly.

"You understand right?" Elena made a hopeful face at Caroline who seemed to hesitate. Eventually, she looked like she had come to a decision; and I prayed that it was the right one.

"How about I drive you?" Caroline suggested and I nearly face-faulted.

 _No! Caroline, what are you doing?!_ I thought frantically, as Elena seemed to sag with relief and nodded, smiling gratefully.

"Yeah, okay. That'll be great, thanks." She responded, as she quickly gathered up her things and immediately headed for where I was standing, eavesdropping on their conversation. My eyes widened in alarm, and I practically ran for the loo; getting there in time, just as Elena stepped into the hallway. I discreetly opened the door, enough so I could see the girls and so that I could hear the rest of their conversation. Elena was too distracted by her own thoughts as she quickly opened the front door and disappeared down the porch steps.

Caroline took a little longer to leave, and she paused just before going out of the door and turned looking right at me. I flinched, looking guilty. However, Caroline merely smiled and nodded in my direction; understanding what I was doing, and also indicating that she knew that I had been there all along. I mentally cursed myself for forgetting Caroline's new status of vampire. She probably heard my heartbeat. The blonde vampire immediately walked out of the front door and closed it behind her. I quickly darted back out of the loo and practically skidded on my boots heading for the door. I opened the front door enough to see what was going on and saw an oblivious Elena getting into Caroline's car, while Caroline deliberately deflated one of her tires before getting into her car and 'driving' off.

Sighing, I closed the door and actually went to use the loo, before returning to the dining room to see what damage Damon had managed to create in my absence. But the party had relocated back to the living room. Somebody had packed away the _Pictionary_ game (thank god) and I thought that we would be on for a chat instead. I regret to inform you all, that this was not to be the case. Jenna, by now, was steadily getting drunker despite my attempts to prevent this with glasses of water; so our next piece of entertainment, was apparently _Guitar Hero._ While actually a really fun game to play, I was so not in the mood anymore. I turned round and headed for the kitchen. Which was where I had found a slightly discouraged Damon leaning against the island bench. 4

He was sipping at some bourbon, looking lost in thought.

"Where'd you go?" He asked me, a little suspiciously. I yawned and allowed my head to rest on his shoulder, as I hooked an arm around his.

"The bathroom." I replied, like it should be obvious. "And eavesdropping on Elena and Caroline's conversation in the living room." I replied, smirking slightly. Damon raised an interested eyebrow.

"Really? Do tell." He requested.

"Well, apparently Elena is getting worried about Stefan; and attempted to convince Caroline that she wasn't being a clingy girlfriend because she wanted to go and see him." I explained.

"A pointless exercise." Damon stated, taking another mouthful of his drink. I nodded in agreement.

"Completely. Caroline thought so too." I reported. "But Caroline ended up caving and offered to take her to the Boarding House." I told him. Damon snorted.

"Figures. She really is useless." He muttered, and I elbowed him in the side.

"Be fair. I think Caroline was attempting to stall Elena, because I witnessed her deflating one of the tires on her car." I sighed. "Elena is becoming a bit of a martyr." I said, worriedly.

Damon smiled at me.

"I could've told you that." He said, matter-of-factly. I rolled my eyes. Mason walks into the kitchen, grabbing both of our attention.

"Jenna just brought out _Guitar Hero._ Might be time to mutiny." He announced. Damon smirked, and I gathered every bit of patience I possessed as I watched Damon sizing him up.

"Well, I just happen to like _Guitar Hero._ So you, my friend, are _barking up the wrong tree._ " He responded.

"Damon…" I moaned in annoyance. Mason immediately frowned at Damon as I groaned and pulled away from him, making my way over to the sink and filling a plastic cup with water.

"Okay. Enough with the innuendos. You win, you're hilarious." Mason waved the 'white flag'. Damon looked positively dangerous at that moment.

"Thank you." He replied graciously. Mason sighed, obviously realizing that Damon wasn't going to back down from this.

"Come on, man. You think I don't know what you and your girl were up to? What this barbecue is about?" Mason stated, sounding tired. Damon's blue eyes narrowed.

"How do you know about me? Your brother was completely clueless." Damon interrogated him. Mason shook his head, chuckling humourlessly.

"It doesn't matter; I'm not your enemy, Damon." Mason attempted to extend the olive branch.

"You tried to kill my brother." Damon insisted, ignoring the olive branch. I felt like I was stuck in the world's most intense tennis game, and I was the only spectator. Mason grimaced apologetically.

"That was a mistake." He admitted, regretfully. Damon looked skeptical.

"Really?"

"There was confusion; I couldn't chain myself up in time. I have no control once I shift." Mason explained. I was confused.

"Hang on a minute." I stepped between them, drawing their attention. "What happened between you and Stefan?" I asked, worriedly. Mason flushed in embarrassment, as Damon answered me.

"Stefan stumbled upon Mason here when he was getting in touch with his inner mongrel." Damon explained, his eyes not leaving Mason's for one second.

I paled.

"Holy shit." It was Henrik's fatal accident all over again. "It sounds like Stefan's bloody lucky to be alive." I exclaimed. Damon frowned in annoyance.

"Not really the point, Grace." He insisted. Mason frowned defensively.

"Like I said before: I have no control once I shift."

"What no obedience school?" Damon sneered, scathingly. I turned on him.

"Damon!"

"I'm serious. Let's not spark some age-old feud that doesn't apply to us." Mason suggested. Damon snorted, pulling me closer to him and shoving me behind him for protection. I huffed in annoyance.

"You expect me to believe that you are in Mystic Falls planting peach trees?" Damon demanded, disbelievingly. Mason looked like he had enough of being interrogated for one night and straightened up from his lean against the island bench.

"I lost my brother, my nephew lost his father." He told Damon, firmly. "I'm here for my family. Let's be above this." He suggested, extending his hand for Damon to shake and then me. I offered him an apologetic smile. Mason returns it before turning and leaving the kitchen. I turn on Damon, disapprovingly.

"Really, Damon? You couldn't just let it go?" I told him. Damon glared at me, before heading for the silverware drawer and taking a knife from the cutlery box and hiding it up his sleeve. He quickly left the kitchen. "No, of course not. What a foolish question." I mumbled before following him.

* * *

Everybody met up at the front door to bid each other goodbye. Mason was shrugging on his jacket, while Damon was eying him angrily from a distance.

"So, no more takers for drinks at the Grill?" Mason asked, teasing a little. "It's like I'm with a bunch of adults here!" He exclaimed.

"I prefer the term 'role model'." Jenna shrugged, nonchalantly. Mason grinned.

"Okay. Well, thanks for having me. It was awesome." He hugged Jenna goodbye and eyed Alaric. "Alaric, catch that game next week?" He asked, hopeful. Alaric nodded, smiling tiredly.

"Yeah, I look forward to it." He replied. I was shrugging on my jacket when Damon stepped forward.

"You know, I should probably head out too." Damon decided, once again grabbing my hand and tugging me to his side. "I need to take Grace home." He explained, and I tugged my hand out of his grip; resentful that I was being used in his excuse to leave the party. I folded my arms across my chest, watching Mason open the front door and stride down the porch steps, headed for his car. Damon didn't seem to notice.

"Thanks for having me." I told Jenna, giving her a polite smile. Jenna nodded, smiling at me sympathetically. She must've noticed that I was particularly frosty towards Damon, and assumed (wrongfully) that we were currently having a 'lover's spat'. Damon strides over to Jenna and gallantly takes her hand, brushing a kiss over her knuckles.

"Jenna, you are a wonderful hostess." He complemented her, laying on the charm. Jenna blushed a little, but then smirked; knowing what Damon was up to.

"And _you_ are a terrible artist." She told him. Damon shrugged, not really caring.

"Is that the only thing that makes me terrible?" He asked, keeping up the appearance of a man seeking approval. Jenna pretended to seriously consider his question before putting him out of his misery.

"I'm still deciding." She replied, her smirk broadening. Damon gave her a charming smile.

"Good enough for me." He replied, turning towards a bemused looking Alaric. "Alaric, let's _not_ catch that game next week." He told him, striding out of the front door; not bothering to see if I was following. Which meant that I had to trot after him to catch up.

"Good night!" I called back.

* * *

After this disaster of a night, all I wanted to do was go home and shower before curling up in bed with a cup of tea and watching TV until I had to fight to keep my eyes open. Unfortunately, Damon had other ideas. But I had no idea that during our trip back from the Gilbert's, his scheming little brain was putting together his plan B. So when he finally pulled up in front of my apartment block; I naturally assumed it was to drop me off, and he'd be on his way to sulk or go off to 'lick his wounds'.

No such luck.

"Well, goodnight Damon. Sorry that tonight didn't work out the way you wanted it to." I told him, yawning slightly and unbuckling my seatbelt. I opened the door and got out of the car. I had just closed it behind me when Damon suddenly flashed in front of me, blocking off my escape route.

"And where do you think you're going?" He demanded, a little harshly. I scowled at him, both for the tone and because he was interfering with my intentions of going home and getting into bed.

"To bed. I'm tired." I replied, moving to walk around him. But he flashed in front of me again. "Damon, would you knock it off." I requested in annoyance.

"But you'll miss plan B." He insisted, and the sound of a car pulling up grabbed my attention. I turned and saw Mason's car about three cars down from Damon's. I groaned.

"Damon, just let it go." I moaned. But Damon ignored me once again and approaches Mason, who jumps when he sees him, but then looks annoyed.

"Damon?" My best friend just looks at him with a serious, unblinking look on his face. I bite my bottom lip, feeling worried. "What? More dog jokes?" Mason taunted him. Damon offers him a sarcastic smile.

"Nah, those got old." He told him breezily, before stabbing him with the stolen silver knife he had taken from Elena's cutlery drawer. I yelled in horror, before watching Damon walk over to the tail of Mason's car and dropping it open. Mason hunches over from the pain and struggled to remove the knife from his chest. He looked up, glaring at Damon.

"You know, I think it was werewolves who started the whole silver myth." Mason finally removes the knife from his chest. "Probably for moments like this." He gasps, and walks over to his car to close the tail. Damon watches him with calculating eyes.

"Duly noted." He muttered, with disappointment. Mason's eyes narrowed further as he glanced down at his slowly healing chest.

"I was really looking forward to last call." Mason told him. "Now you made an enemy." He promised, before looking over at me. I felt the blood drain from my face. "It was nice meeting you, Grace." He told me before getting into his car and driving off. I let out a shaky breath before turning to face Damon. He didn't look at all remorseful for his actions. I raked a hand through my hair.

"Damon, why?" I demanded. He shrugged, shoving his hands into his coat jacket pockets.

"We needed to know if silver would hurt him. I solved that problem." Damon explained. I nodded.

"Yeah, and made an enemy out of him. Now we've got a pissed off werewolf on our hands." I retorted. Damon waved a dismissive hand.

"It's a minor setback. But at least we've got solid evidence." He said. I swear, I could feel the beginnings of a headache coming on. I suddenly wished that I was already in bed, passed out and in fact dreaming all of this.

"So now what happens?" I asked. Damon smiles.

"Now, you go home. Get some rest, and I'll pick you up so we can go to the Volunteer Day tomorrow." He tells me.

I raise an eyebrow.

"Volunteer Day?" I parroted him. He nods.

"Yeah. I'm not thrilled about it either, but there we are. So, have a good night, and I'll see you about 10am tomorrow." He tells me, before coming over and kissing me chastely on the cheek. I blink at him as he speeds over to his car, gets in and drives off; leaving me standing in the middle of the street, and feeling utterly bewildered.

* * *

"So what are we doing here again?" Henrik asks me for the umpteenth time in the past few minutes I've been standing here waiting for Damon to show up. I took a sip from my take away Hot Chocolate I had just purchased from the Grill.

"Your guess is as good as mine, Henrik. This is Damon's idea, I'm just along for the ride. But I'm assuming it has something to do with Mason Lockwood." I told him. Henrik raised an eyebrow.

"The alleged werewolf you guys are talking about?" He sounded dubious. I nodded, sipping from my drink again. When I finally got home last night, I had to explain to Henrik what the hell went on last night. Needless to say, Henrik was eager to come along with. He was very interested in seeing what we were getting up to. Suddenly, Damon pulled up in his convertible. The top was down and he was wearing a pair of black aviator sunglasses with his usual ensemble of black on black. He raised an eyebrow at me.

"That's what you're wearing today?" He asked, sounding amused. I glanced down at my clothes.

"What's wrong with it?" I asked, worriedly. I was wearing black dungarees, with a loose white T-shirt, socks and my converse. I had put my hair into a high ponytail and was wearing _my_ aviator sunglasses. Damon snorted.

"Nothing. Except you look a little like a farmer." He explained. I sighed and stomped over to his car, getting in. I ignored Henrik, who was sniggering in the backseat.

"You said we were going to a 'Volunteer Day'." I retorted, as Damon put the car in drive and took off towards our destination. "Odds are, we might be called upon to help at some point." I told him.

"Might being the key word here." He said, shortly. I sighed.

"You're in a mood this morning." I observed, finishing the last dregs of my Hot Chocolate.

"Don't remind me. I had words with Katherine last night." He reported back, and I winced.

"Ouch." I replied, sympathetically. "Anything I can do to help you?" I offered. Damon took his eyes off the road momentarily to look at me. Then his serious expression softened and he reached over to take my hand in his.

"No, but thanks for the offer." He raised the back of my hand to his mouth and kissed it, before returning it to my lap. I smiled at the gesture. Damon navigated his car towards a nearby park, which was conveniently not too far away from the Lockwood Estate. In both parts of land, volunteers were busily setting up for what looked to be one hell of a shindig hosted by the Lockwood's.

He parked the car and immediately got out, looking like a man on a mission; which essentially, considering how yesterday turned out, wasn't far from the truth. Both Henrik and I followed him through the park. We eventually came upon a temporary stage that had been set up in the middle of the event. A well-coiffed and neat casual dressed up brunette woman - who really stuck out like a sore thumb at an event like this where almost everybody was dressed in shabbier casual clothes – stood centre stage with a politician's smile on her face as she greeted the gathering crowd.

I frowned at her.

"Who or what is she?" I asked Damon, who rolled his eyes looking thoroughly bored.

"That is Carol Lockwood. The late Mayor's bitchy wife, and Mason's sister-in-law." Damon replied gruffly. My eyes widened in surprise.

"Really? So how come I didn't see her at the wake?" I asked, frowning a little suspiciously. Damon snorted.

"Probably because the 'grieving widow' was keeping up appearances and acting like the dutiful hostess. Apparently saving face, and not making a spectacle of herself was more important." Damon replied.

I made a face.

"Charming woman. Reminds me of some of the airheads I went to school with." I muttered, as Carol attempted to quiet down the crowd to make a speech.

"Oh, look. 'Madam President' is gonna say something." Damon quipped, earning a barely muffled chuckle from me and a slightly scandalized look from Henrik.

"This is all part of the historical society, continuing efforts to give back to the community." Carol stated. "Thanks to the generous donation of the Fell family. We are now standing on the site of our newest public park." The crowd clapped enthusiastically. "Thank you to everyone who has shown up today to lend a helping hand. Thanks." Carol waves to the crowd before turning and stepping down from the stage.

Damon rolled his eyes.

"Very inspiring. I feel so moved." Damon was dismissive, and I rolled my eyes; sensing that he was getting angsty and restless.

"Isn't that Stefan over there?" I heard Henrik ask, and I glanced down and noticed Henrik staring at something off in the distance. I turned and noticed Mason removing boxes from his trunk, and a calm but determined looking Stefan approaching him. I nudged Damon, who turned to cuss me out before he also noticed the two men. "Wonder what they're talking about?" Henrik wanted to know, and started walking towards them. I let him go, knowing that nobody could see him anyway, and telling him otherwise would only encourage him to do what he wanted. Both Damon and I waited for Mason to walk off, leaving both Stefan and Henrik watching him go. Henrik looked pensive after hearing whatever the two of them were discussing.

Damon and I approach Stefan, who grimaced at his brother.

"What are you doing?" Damon asked Stefan.

"Negotiating peace on your behalf." Stefan responded, still looking over at where Mason had disappeared off to. I glanced at Henrik who nodded, confirming what Stefan had said. Damon frowned.

"I don't want peace." He protested, and Stefan clapped a condescending hand on his older brother's shoulder.

"Consider it opposite day." Stefan suggested. "Hey Grace." He greeted me, with a small smile. I nodded back, as Damon huffed underneath his breath.

"Stefan, please tell me you don't seriously think a hand shake just solved our problem." Stefan frowned, looking frustrated.

"No, actually. I think that the first chance Mason Lockwood gets, he's gonna drive a stake through your heart and then through mine, all because you took it upon yourself to try to kill him." Stefan retorted, before turning to look him right in the eye. "So thank you, because we don't have enough problems." Stefan gave him a withering glare before he walks away. Henrik turned towards me.

"I'm gonna follow him." He decided. I nodded, smiling at him before Henrik jogged after Stefan. I walked off to where I saw Mason last. Damon grabbed my arm.

"Where are you going?" Damon asked, sounding annoyed. I took his hand off my shoulder and turned to face him, smiling patiently.

"I'm gonna follow Mason, and attempt to gather information about him and what he's planning." I explained to him. Damon hesitated for a moment before he eventually nodded and let go of my hand as I headed off in the direction of where I last saw Mason go.

* * *

 **A/N: We'll stop here. Hope you've enjoyed the chapter today!**

 **Until next time, guys ;)**


	13. Getting Even

**A/N: Welcome back to _'A Thousand Years'._ If you've kept up with the story so far, thank you for sticking around for so long. 😁**

 **I am writing this story for my own pleasure, but reviews are desired. But no flaming, please 🙂**

 **I don't own _The Vampire Diaries._ All characters (except for Grace) are owned by author L.J. Smith. **

**Enjoy 😍**

* * *

 **GETTING EVEN**

" _Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate… leads to suffering."_ _ **~Yoda.**_

* * *

I've always viewed myself as a bit of a pacifist, and I was proud of it. But there have been a few times in my life when I've been tempted to just bend that classification a bit.

This was one of those times.

My change of heart occurred soon after I had found Mason and learned of his ulterior motive against both Damon and Stefan, by default. I was wondering around, trying to find a hint or a whisper of Mason's current whereabouts; before finally spotting him helping an older blonde woman in her late 30s, early 40s with a project. I came over to where they were standing, and once again eavesdropped on another private conversation.

I am honestly surprised that I haven't been caught yet.

"Thanks, Mason." The blonde told Mason who waved it off like it was nothing. He was about to turn and walk away, when he paused and seemed to hesitate about something before giving in.

"Hey Sheriff, you've got a second?" I blinked. So this was Mystic Falls' town Sheriff. I was surprised, as I had expected that it would've been a guy. The newly revealed Sheriff, smiled at Mason with bemusement.

"I'm out of uniform. Let's go with Liz." She suggested. Mason (and I) nodded in agreement.

"Alright, Liz." Mason went straight to the point. "I was hoping to talk to you about the council." Mason stated, and almost immediately, Liz dropped the smile.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Liz said, clearing her throat discreetly and returning back to her assigned project. Mason rolled his eyes. He had obviously expected this kind of reaction from her.

"I know you and the other founding families have a secret council." Mason stated, firmly. Liz paused and turned to look at Mason with a hard expression on her face.

"If that were true, then you'd know it's a secret and isn't discussed with non-council members." I ducked out of the way, hoping that neither of them had spotted me. Mason huffed in frustration.

"I know I rejected all that but it's only because I wanted a life outside of this town, but not because I was a non-believer." He told Liz. "Look I know vampires exist, and you have two of them living right under your nose." My eyes widened, and I felt red hot anger bubbling up inside me.

"Really?" Liz sounded sceptical, but to my dismay; also a little bit curious.

"Yeah." Mason confirmed.

"Who would they be?" Liz asked, quietly.

"Damon and Stefan Salvatore." Mason replied promptly. My hands clenched into fists so tightly, I almost broke the skin.

 _You son-of-a-bitch!_ I seethed.

Thankfully, Liz immediately shut down the 'theory'.

"That's impossible. I know Damon Salvatore." She told him, sounding angry. "Do you know what he's done for this town?" She demanded.

"I know it's a lot to digest." Mason reassured her.

"No. I watched him kill vampires. He's an ally; he's part of the Council." Liz insisted. I looked around the bush I was ducking behind, and saw Mason looking extremely determined to make Liz see the truth.

"Think about it. When did the vampire attacks begin?" Liz seemed to pause, taking this in. I started to panic. "When Damon and Stefan Salvatore moved to town?" He hinted. Liz shook her head.

"They walk in the sun, Mason." Liz insisted.

"They've evolved. It's not 1864. They figured it out, Liz." This time Liz looked a little doubtful of her own words. I cursed underneath my breath.

"No. Damon Salvatore is my friend." She insisted, stubbornly. I grinned triumphantly.

 _Good! Hold onto that thought!_ I thought desperately. Mason looked frustrated, but then a calculating smile spread across his face. I knew that it wasn't going to amount to anything good.

"What if I can prove it to you?" Mason asked, casually.

* * *

Wasting no time, I immediately ran straight for Damon who was looking around for something or someone. He looked relieved the second he caught my eye, and I knew that he had been looking for me. I frowned, realising that I must've been gone longer than I realised. It appeared that Mason really liked to talk, or at least hear the sound of his own voice.

"Where the hell did you go?" Damon demanded.

"I was listening in on a conversation between Mason and the Sheriff." I explained hastily. Damon's eyebrows rose.

"Liz? What were they talking about?" He asked, curiously.

"Mason basically revealed your status to Liz. Stefan's too." I told him, not bothering to sugar-coat it. Damon immediately went stony faced. "But I don't think Liz believed him though." I reassured him. Damon didn't look very reassured.

"He needs to be put down." Damon stated, probably unaware that he had made another tasteless 'dog joke' again. I hesitated.

"I think Mason is going to attempt to prove to Liz that you are indeed vampires. So beware." I warned him. Damon nodded and his eyes clapped onto Liz. He and I strode determinedly over to her, trying to act natural and not give away any hint that we knew what had been discussed between her and Mason. I could tell that Damon was not happy.

"Hey!" Damon greeted Liz. We could tell straight away that Liz, despite defending Damon fiercely to Mason, was having doubts and was eying Damon warily. Damon, bless him, ignored this. "We saw you with Mason earlier." He stated, casually.

"We?" Liz glanced at me, curiously and a bit worried when she saw that he was holding my wrist. I immediately took it back, realising how this looked and didn't want it to raise Liz's suspicions higher. Damon seemed to realise this.

"Oh, sorry. This is Grace. She's just moved here a few days ago." He introduced me to her. Liz shook my hand warmly.

"Nice to meet you." I replied. Liz gave a tentative smile back.

"Are you friends with my daughter, Caroline?" Liz asked, gesturing over to where the blonde vampire was painting with Elena and deep in an earnest conversation with her. I smiled.

"I guess we are. We only just met a couple of days ago. At the Carnival, actually." I confirmed. Liz looked relieved.

"That's great. She's been a little down lately…" Liz trailed off. I frowned at her with concern, as did Damon. But first things first.

"So back to the Mason question. What was that about?" Damon asked, getting right to the point. I nodded eagerly as well. Liz came back to life and waved her hand dismissively.

"Oh, I ah, I just asked him to help with the clean-up in the woods." Liz answered, sounding a little flustered and avoiding direct eye contact with both of us. Damon and I exchanged a look between us. Liz was lying, which meant that Mason had obviously planted some sort of seed of doubt in her thoughts.

"That's what I'm here for. Put me to work." Damon volunteered his services.

"That goes for me too." I chimed in, smiling. Liz looked at us calculatingly.

"Should I go help him?" Damon asked, practically itching to go after Mason and confront him once again. I subtly elbowed him in the side.

"Oh no. You know, he's … I'm sure he's fine." Liz said, unconvincingly. I frowned; clearly Liz was more upset about something else other than whether or not Damon and Stefan were both vampires.

"Liz, if I may call you that? Are you okay? You seem really upset." I asked her, concerned. Damon seemed to agree with me, but Liz seemed reluctant to respond.

"It's Caroline." She admitted. "We had a moment." She said. I tutted sympathetically.

"That's too bad. Anything we can do to help?" I asked. Damon glanced over at where Elena and Caroline were still talking together, and frowned at the blonde.

"No, but thank you." Liz smiled sadly at me. Damon turned back to look at Liz with empathetic eyes. "It's just horrible parental skills paying off in spades." Liz explained, sounding defeated and she walks away. I looked at Damon, deciding that at least one of us could confront Caroline and ask what's up.

"Odds or evens?" I asked him. Damon looked at me strangely.

"Sorry?" He asked, looking confused. I smiled patiently at him.

"Who wants to go confront Caroline?" I explained. Damon simply pushes aside my hand, and holds it; squeezing it a little.

"You're adorable. I'll go and talk with her." Damon confirmed before going to do just that. I decided to go and fill Stefan in on what was going on. But that plan derailed when I saw Elena break away from Caroline and head over to Stefan herself. I slowed down and came to a stop, as I knew that I would be potentially interrupting a moment between them. I waited until Elena broke off, looking both upset and frustrated. But Damon returned unexpectedly and intercepted me before I could resume course. "Best not. My dear brother and Elena just had a lover's spat. He's probably not in a very talkative mood right now." Damon suggested.

I raised an eyebrow.

"Since when would that stop you?" I asked him, sceptically.

"It wouldn't. But I'm less breakable than you are. If you catch my drift." He replied.

I did, unfortunately. We decided to go and make nice with Mason instead.

* * *

We found him accepting a cup of lemonade from a little girl operating the stand.

"Thank you" He said to her. The girl smiles at him, with a toothy grin.

"You're welcome." She says brightly. Mason smiles back at her before turning and taking big gulps of the tangy drink but immediately falters when Damon and I approach him.

"Well, Mason. Working hard?" Damon asks him, looking like he was barely containing his anger. I maintained a blank face.

"Doing my part." Mason agreed, as he nodded at me.

"I heard you talked to Stefan." Damon stated. Mason nodded, not giving away any emotion; although it was obvious that he didn't trust him at all.

"Nice guy." Mason observed, referring to Stefan.

"Nicer than Damon." I agreed with Mason's description. He didn't smile, but instead frowned knowing on some level that I was helping Damon.

"Nice is overrated." Mason was dismissive, making Damon grin triumphantly.

"That's what I thought. Huh!" Damon grinned. I studied Mason's mannerisms closely. He seemed a little too calm for a guy who had a bone to pick with Damon. No pun intended, of course. Mason smiled politely at us both.

"You have a good day." He walks off just as Stefan comes over to us. I was still trying to work out what Mason was up to as Stefan folded his arms across his chest, studying his brother sternly.

"Please tell me that you were just bonding." Stefan asked Damon with a tired tone. Damon sidestepped the question as I went to grab a cup of lemonade. I was baking a little underneath the warm sunlight.

"So what's up with this faux drama in your relationship?" Damon wanted to know. I turned to study both brothers, as I took a sip of the lemonade. There was a strange taste that burst on my tastebuds, and I frowned at the flavour.

 _What the?_

I was pretty sure that lemonade did not taste like this. Neither brother noticed my reaction.

"What are you talking about?" Stefan retorted as Damon sneered.

"Oh come on, Stefan." Damon studied his brother, curiously. "You and Elena don't fight. Especially over me." He pointed out the obvious.

Stefan immediately frowned. "Drop it, Damon."

"With pleasure." Damon smirked, and turned towards the lemonade table.

"Would you like some lemonade?" The same little girl Mason had been talking to moments ago, smiled up at Damon as she poured him some lemonade and offered it to him. Damon gave the little girl a genuine smile as he reached for the cup. My eyes widened when I realised what I was tasting and immediately moved to stop him, tossing down my own cup.

"Thank you, sweetie." Damon said. I darted towards him, and put my hand over the rim of the cup. Just in time to feel Damon's lips touch the back of my hand.

I grimaced.

"No, Damon! Don't drink that!" I said, alarmed. Damon and Stefan looked at me strangely.

"What's wrong?" Stefan asked, looking at me with curiosity. But just before I could respond, somebody brushed past me; knocking me straight into Damon and spilling the lemonade onto him. Almost immediately he hissed with pain and his skin started smoking where the liquid splashed on him. I glanced over at Liz, whose mouth dropped open in shock.

 _Oh shit!_

"Somebody slipped vervain in this lemonade!" Damon shouted through gritted teeth, and grimacing from the pain. I scowled dangerously.

"Yeah, Mason." I stated, angrily. "And now Liz knows the truth." I thumbed over my shoulder as I swiped a bottle of water from a nearby booth and grabbed Damon by the arm to lead him somewhere discreet. "Here! Rinse off." I thrust the bottle of untainted water at Damon who immediately snaps off the cap and pours the water on the affected parts of his skin. He is very angry.

"I'm gonna kill him." He vowed, and immediately goes to find him. I didn't make an attempt to stop him, but Stefan did.

"Listen to me! Sit! Sit!" He drags his brother towards a nearby bench and pushes him down onto it. But Damon immediately gets to his feet.

"No! I'm not listening to anymore of your 'give peace a chance' crap. He's dead!" Damon snarled.

Stefan looks conflicted.

"Okay. I don't like this." He stated. "He's making threats. He could expose us." He said. I turn on him.

"He already has, Stefan. Liz remember?" I told him. Stefan groans. Finally, he reluctantly agrees that Mason had gone too far. "We need to put him down." I looked away, feeling guilty for condoning their attempts to put Mason down permanently.

Damon got to his feet.

"Alright. Let's do it." He spots something behind me, and I turned to see what caught his attention. It was Mason going into the woods by himself. A malevolent grin spreads across Damon's face, while Stefan looks grim. "Woods. Trash duty." He gestures at Stefan. "Come on." Stefan nods and takes off towards the woods. I go to follow, but Damon stops me. "Uh no. You stay here. It'll be safer." He tells me firmly. I didn't protest as I watched my two friends follow Mason into the woods. However, after the brothers disappear into the woods, I spot Caroline and Elena heading there as well.

My eyes widen in horror.

"Elena! Caroline!" I sprint over to them, trying to grab their attention, anything to stop them from heading towards the danger.

"Grace? What's wrong?" Elena turned and looked at me with concern.

"Don't go down there, it's gonna get dangerous." I warned them. Caroline's eyes narrowed at what I said and she immediately headed for the woods.

"Caroline, where are you going?" Elena yells at her, then turns to me for an explanation. "What's going on?" She demanded. I grabbed her hand and took off after Caroline.

"Caroline, stop!" I said, firmly. The blonde vampire scowled at me in annoyance.

"I need to able to hear better." She insisted. Elena was confused.

"Hear what?" She asked, urgently. I was getting very worried for both Damon and Stefan. I had no idea what Liz and Mason had in mind, but the fact that Damon made me stay behind meant that it was going to be dangerous for them. Which meant if I had of gone with them, I would've been as defenceless as a cat toy. Caroline closed her eyes, listening intently. After a few minutes her eyes snapped open and she looked stricken.

"Something's wrong." She tells us. I swore underneath my breath grabbing Elena's attention.

"Caroline…" But the blonde raised her hand, silencing her.

"Shh." Several moments passed then Caroline looked horrified. "Oh god." I snapped my head towards her.

"What is it?" Elena demanded.

Just then Henrik materialised in front of me.

"Grace! You better come, it's bad!" He looked frantic and immediately took off in a random direction. I wasted no time following him as I heard Caroline answering Elena's question behind me.

"Stefan and Damon."

* * *

I followed Henrik through the trees, nearly losing sight of him a couple of times. Just then I nearly crashed into someone who immediately grabbed me and pulled me into a nearby set of bushes before I could get a good look at their face.

I jolted in shock. That was extremely familiar…

"Oh, not now…" I muttered in anxiety, and began to feel that same familiar bout of dizziness.

* * *

 _ **~:FLASHBACK:~**_

 _I was running through the woods, just like I had been moments before when I was following Henrik. It was night, and I out of breath, tired and could feel my lungs burning due to the lack of oxygen in them. I could feel the adrenaline pumping through my system as I continued glancing behind me, frantically searching for a glimpse of something or someone who was apparently following me with malicious intentions._ _At least, that's what I assumed was the reason why I was fleeing._

 _"Father, stop! She doesn't understand!" A deep familiar, and yet not familiar European voice echoes from behind me._

 _I ran faster._

 _"Mikael, she is innocent!" An older female's voice chimes in, echoing like the first voice._

Who the hell is Mikael? Is he the one chasing me?

 _I was so intent on running, that I wasn't expecting somebody with a blurred face to be right in my path. I nearly crashed into him; but before I could move around him and continue to run away, his strong but unusually gentle hands grabbed my shoulders to prevent me from fleeing._

Niklaus? _I immediately started attacking him, trying to fight him off as he pulled me down into the bushes, clamping a hand over my mouth._

 _It was almost exactly like what happened before the flashback. Niklaus' blurred face looked at mine._

" _Hush, love. I'm trying to save you…" He whispered, urgently._

* * *

 _ **~:REALITY:~**_

"Grace? Are you alright?" I blinked and refocused upon the faces of both Elena and Caroline, who had obviously vamp sped in the same direction I had taken off after Henrik in. Caroline was frowning at me with concern, while Elena; who had been the one who had spoken, grabbed my shoulders to get my attention. "Grace, you're scaring me. What happened?" She asked me, frantically. Something was moving out the corner of my eye and I noticed Henrik trying to grab my attention. Without answering Elena, I immediately got to my feet and sprinted over to Henrik's position.

"Grace, what's wrong? You're as white as a sheet." Henrik observed, urgently. I reacted to his deep European accent and his eyes widened in realisation. "You had another flashback, didn't you?" He guessed.

"I'll discuss it later, where are Damon and Stefan?" I demanded urgently. Henrik got serious and pointed towards what looked like a couple of basement doors. The kind you'd disappear into to avoid being blown away by a hurricane or a tornado. I made to go into it, but Henrik stopped me. "I wouldn't. There's a lot of violence going on down there." He warned me.

"Thanks, Henrik."

"Henrik?" I jumped and turned to see Elena looking at me with realisation. "He's here?" She mouthed. I nodded, just as Caroline frowned with confusion. Both girls looked a bit windswept. It looked like Caroline had used her vamp speed to get both she and Elena here. Caroline also looked pissed off.

"Who's Henrik?" She demanded.

"Never mind." I said quickly, forcing myself not to look in Henrik's direction, and hoped he understood. I changed the topic. "Damon and Stefan are down there." I said, pointing towards the basement doors. Elena and Caroline were immediately alert.

"How do you know that?" Caroline wanted to know. A loud gunshot was heard, answering her question. We quickly scrambled as silently as we could down the staircase. Henrik suddenly called out to me.

"Grace, listen!" He sounded extremely alarmed. I stopped both Elena and Caroline, and they both took the hint and fell silent. Neither Elena nor I could hear what was going on, but I looked over at Caroline for the answer.

"What is that?" Elena hissed. Caroline had to relay it to us.

"It's Mom. She's speaking to somebody else." Caroline sounded dismayed.

"Is it Stefan?" Elena asked, hopefully.

"Or Damon?" I added. Caroline shook her head. She closed her eyes, craning her head to listen clearer. Her blue eyes snapped open in horror. My heart sank at her expression.

"Caroline. Caroline, what is it?" Elena demanded. Caroline was finding it hard to answer.

"My mom. She's killing them…" She mumbled. Elena's face paled.

"What?!" She whisper-shouted. My face darkened with anger.

"Like hell." I growled, and both Elena and I started motioning forward; Elena to rescue Stefan presumably, and me to rescue one of my best friends. But Caroline grabs our arms, locking her grip.

"No, no, no, no!" Caroline whisper-shouted herself, frantically. Elena turned to her, a desperate look on her face.

"We have to stop her!" Elena struggled against Caroline's grip. I winced, she was going to be black and blue if she keeps this up.

"No, I can't. Elena, she's gonna find out about me." I managed to wrench my arm out of Caroline's grip and thundered down the rest of the staircase. "Grace!" Elena used Caroline's distraction to break free and run after me. "Elena!" Caroline yelled after us frantically. Henrik was running alongside me, looking disapproving.

"Grace, think about this for one second!" He said, sternly.

"Henrik, Damon's the closest person I have to somebody resembling Niklaus right now. Plus, he's my friend. I'm not gonna just stand there and let him be killed!" I growled at him, softly enough that Elena couldn't hear me.

Henrik sighed, in resignation.

"Just be careful, Grace. Niklaus will never forgive you if you get hurt or killed." He warned me and I nodded curtly. Elena and I reached the bottom step, and overheard Liz's stern, commanding voice giving out her orders to her deputies.

"Let's do this. Each with a stake in the heart, then burn them both." She instructed. Elena let out a horrified squeak and was about to charge in without thinking, when I wrapped my arms around her waist.

"Wait, Elena. Use your head!" I hissed. Just then a metallic creaking sound came from behind us, causing both of us to jump. There was silence for a couple of seconds. Then…

"Check it out." Liz's voice rang out.

Elena spotted a plank of wood lying nearby, and poked me in the arm. She gestured towards it and I nodded. We heaved it up together and when one of Liz's deputies appeared, we swung the plank as hard as we could at him; knocking him out. We tossed it aside and dashed into the main room. Liz trains her gun on us both, and reacts in surprise.

"Elena! What are you and your friend doing?" Liz looked horrified. Elena bravely stepped closer, and I followed a little more cautiously.

"You can't kill them. I'm not gonna let you." Elena vowed.

" _We're_ not gonna let you." I corrected Elena. Somebody pushes me forward and I stumbled into Elena. I grabbed her, and pushed her behind me as the deputy we had hit before with the plank points his gun at us. Elena clutches to me in fright when the door closes by itself and something blurs behind her.

It was Caroline.

"What was that?" The deputy stammers. Liz looks at us, sternly.

"Who else is with you?" She demands. Caroline makes her move as she vamp speeds around, closing in on one of the deputies and takes a bite out of his neck. I dived over Elena, shielding her as the first deputy fires wildly at Caroline.

"GRACE!" I hear Henrik shout in horror. Elena cringes from underneath me, as the deputy continues firing. However, when he stops shooting, Caroline rushes him from behind and knocks him to the ground.

"Hi mom." I hear Caroline greet Liz meekly.

Liz's eyes widen in horror when she sees the blood smeared all over Caroline's face.

* * *

I get up off Elena and dust myself off, then I reach over to help Elena to her feet. Caroline and Liz were off to one side, sitting quietly and not looking at each other.

"Are you alright?" I asked her, quietly. Elena looked at me incredulously.

"Me? Are _you_ alright?" She emphasised. I shrugged.

"I think you know that I'm used to life or death situations." I told her, looking meaningfully at her to help jog her memory. Elena nodded, understanding. We both hear two groans, and glanced over to see that Damon and Stefan have woken up.

"Stefan!" Elena rushes over to her boyfriend's side, while Damon immediately seizes one of the unconscious deputies and starts feeding on him. I calmly walk over, and wait until he is finished before crouching beside him.

"Be careful, Grace…" Henrik warns me. I nodded to let him know I understood.

"Feeling better?" I asked Damon, feeling slightly nauseated watching him feast. Damon draws his thumb all around his mouth to wipe away the remaining morsels of blood around his lips.

"I'll live." Damon said, shortly. I winced; he was angry with me and Elena for putting ourselves in harm's way. Well, tough luck. If it hadn't been for Elena, Caroline or myself, he and Stefan would be staked and charbroiled by now. Damon turns and checks on Stefan and Elena, who was sitting beside him. "You need to drink some deputy blood." He told him, firmly.

Stefan shook his head.

"No. I'm gonna be fine. It's just gonna take a little bit longer." He insisted. Caroline waded forward, trying to help.

"Damon's right you know. If there's ever time to break your diet…"

"He said he didn't want it, okay?" Elena snaps at her. I scowled at her tone.

"Hey!" Elena looks at me, fiercely. I wasn't intimidated. "There's no need to be like that. She's only trying to help." I defended Caroline, who smiled at me looking thankful. Damon looks over the two corpses of Liz's deputies.

"This is a most unfortunate situation." He said, his voice was silky smooth. "Two deputies dead and you." Damon looks at Liz, who looks him back in the eyes defiantly. "What am I going to do with you?" He wonders casually, using the same tone of voice, but his ice blue eyes were hard and flinty. Caroline reacts.

"You won't tell anyone, will you?" She asks Liz, who doesn't say anything for a moment. "Mom? Mom? Please." Liz still refuses to respond to Caroline. "Look, I know that we don't get along and that you hate me." Liz flinches at the assumption. "But I'm your daughter and you'll do this for me, right?" Liz remains silent. Caroline's eyes begin to fill up with tears. "Mom, please. He will kill you." Caroline begged her.

Liz looks away.

"Then kill me." She murmurs, quietly.

"No!" Caroline screams, fearful tears forming in her large blue eyes. Liz's eyes fill up with tears too.

"I can't take this. Kill me now." She begs. Damon bends down to look her in the eyes.

"But you were going to drag it out so painfully." Damon replied, unsympathetically. Then he suddenly grabs her, forcing Liz to stand up quickly. Caroline squeals with fear.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no!" She screams. Stefan struggles to his feet with Elena's assistance.

"Damon, don't!" He growls.

"Damon, please!" Elena begs him.

I came over and got into Damon's face. I was furious that he would even THINK of taking away a mother from her child, no matter how old the child was.

"Damon Salvatore, if you even _think_ of following through with this. I swear I will knock you on your arse!" I promised him, seething. Damon raised an eyebrow at my threat.

"Relax guys. No one is killing anybody." He said, calmly. Damon looks at Liz, reassuringly. "You're my friend." He tells her. Then he looks at me with a slightly hurt expression that takes me aback. "You _both_ are." He reminds me, sounding a little vulnerable. I was shocked; Damon had managed to stop himself once again from ruthlessly killing somebody. I couldn't help it; I let out an incredulous laugh, which earned strange looks. Damon releases Liz and turns to look at the deputies. "We've got to clean this up." He announces, and Elena and Stefan looked just as dumbfounded as I did.

"Nice threat, Grace. I look forward to seeing you calling your bluff one day." Henrik told me, smirking from the doorway behind me.

* * *

Once we had disposed of the bodies, Damon and Stefan led the rest of us back to the Salvatore Boarding House to regroup and figure out what to do with Liz. Caroline briefly made a detour home to pick the essentials for her mother.

Elena was getting a little worried. She had been gone for a while now.

"Elena, you need to relax or you're going to make yourself sick." I reminded her. Elena merely scowled at me. I personally didn't really care what she did as long as she sat down and waited like the rest of us. "Caroline probably needed some time to let it sink in that her mum knows she's a vampire now. Wouldn't you?"

Elena paused, before nodding and taking a seat on one of the red couches in the parlour. But even then, she still fidgeted something chronic. I sighed. Well, at least she was sitting down and not pacing like a stressed out animal stuck in a cage. Suddenly there was a knock at the door, and Elena was the first one up to answer it.

I sighed, and got to my feet to follow her.

It was Caroline. She was carrying an overnight suitcase.

"Hey, sorry that took forever." Elena stepped back so that her visibly upset friend could come inside. "I just didn't know how long my mom was gonna be here." Caroline explained. I smiled and came over to comfort her.

"It's the thought that counts, sweetheart." I reminded her. Elena nodded in agreement as she closed the door behind Caroline, and led her to where Damon was standing guard with Liz.

"Damon says it'll take three days tops for the vervain to leave her system. Maybe even sooner." Elena told her.

Caroline nodded solemnly.

Stefan came into the room and joins up, giving Caroline a friendly, supportive smile which she returns. I couldn't help but see a spark of genuine interest in Caroline's eyes when Stefan came in. But just as quickly as it was there, Caroline immediately and firmly buried it deep into her subconscious.

I wasn't sure if I approved of this or not. It was obvious that she liked Stefan a lot, and it's not like the relationship between Elena and Stefan would last, no matter how much Elena fights to keep it alive.

However I shrugged; it wasn't my problem. Now to the situation at hand.

"Hey! You get some bunny in you?" Caroline asks Stefan who smiles, appreciative of her concern.

"Yeah, I'm feeling much better, thank you." He responds, wrapping his arms around Elena who had come over to hug him. I stepped in the direction of the cellar, which was where Damon had taken Liz.

"Shall we see what's going on down there?" I asked. Stefan, Elena and Caroline nodded and we made our way down the stone staircase and into the basement; which I was surprised to see comprised of dungeon-like rooms. Damon was standing in front of one of the open doors, observing Liz who was sitting in the room talking on the phone with somebody. "Hey Damon, you feeling any better?" I asked him, politely.

He glanced up at me but didn't smile.

"I've suffered worse in my time." He reassured me, before turning back to Liz.

I winced; yep, still mad. I walked over to the door and peered inside.

"A stomach bug." Liz was saying. "Yeah, it came on fast. I'll definitely be out tomorrow…" Damon cleared his throat in warning, and Liz looked up at him warily. "Or longer." Liz amended. "I'll text you." She listens to the person on the other line for a few minutes. "Yeah. Good night." She hangs up and hands the phone to Damon who straightened up and takes it. He smiles kindly at Liz, who doesn't return it.

"Thank you. It's not exactly the Ritz, but it's secure. Brought you a good thread count. Once the vervain's worked its way out of your system, I will compel you, you will forget everything and you will be a free woman." Damon explained to her.

Stefan, Caroline and Elena walk into view, but only Caroline stays outside listening in while Stefan and Elena walk into the room. I frowned and approached Caroline, concerned.

"Caroline, are you okay?" I muttered. She shakes her head, her blue eyes were wide and vulnerable. I was about to ask her why, when Liz suddenly spoke up.

"Can you keep Caroline far away from me, please? I don't wanna see her." Liz requests. I see tears develop in the poor girl's eyes and I glanced back into the room. Damon was frowning disapprovingly at Liz.

"She's your daughter, Liz." He reminded her.

Liz instantly hardened her face.

"Not anymore. My daughter's gone." She insisted, turning away.

"You have no idea how wrong you are about that." Damon told her, quietly. He glances over at Caroline who is now crying over her mother's rejection. I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and pull her into my arms, as Elena approaches her.

"Come on." I cajole Caroline. Elena and I lead her back up the stairs, as Caroline clings to me and sobs into my shoulder. I rub her arm in an attempt to soothe her, but halfway up the stairs Elena suddenly turns back. When Caroline and I reach the top of the stairs, I lead her back over to one of the couches and sit her down on it as I take a seat on the coffee table in front of her. "I know it's hard, Caroline. But you and your mother will get through this eventually." I said, attempting to calm her down while Elena was out of the room.

Caroline looks up at me, scowling a little.

"How do you know that?" She demanded, her voice a little bit harsh. "She hates me! My mom hates me!" She yelled, and I immediately get up and sit beside her on the couch. Instinctively, Caroline moves into my arms; seeking comfort.

Surprised, but understanding; I wrap my arm around her, and cup my hand behind her head stroking her hair. Something my mum used to do for me whenever I was really upset.

"Your mum doesn't hate you. She's just really scared and upset at the moment." I explained. "Learning that her only daughter had become a vampire was just the cherry on top of a crappy cake." Caroline sat up and wiped her eyes, as she looked at me. It was clear that she didn't believe me. "Give her time. She'll come around eventually." I reassured her. Elena comes back into the room and comes over to her friend's side. I got to my feet. "I'll leave you two alone." Caroline smiled weakly and I went off in search for Damon to let him know I wanted a lift home.

I needed to face a probably angry as hell ghost wishing he could touch things so he could strangle me.

* * *

In Damon's car on my way back to my apartment, the atmosphere in there was tense. I glanced over at Damon, who was staring straight ahead and stubbornly refusing to look at me and then at Henrik in the backseat.

He had red-rimmed eyes; a sign that he had been crying, and I had no idea that ghosts were capable of crying. But I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. If they could sleep, they could cry. I really must have scared him. I immediately felt guilty; I had scared the hell out of both my best friends by going into that basement and risking my own neck in the process.

I had some serious grovelling to do.

"Listen, Damon. I'd just like to apologise to you for what happened today. I was selfish and didn't think things through before going down there with Elena." I paused, looking out of the window at the scenery rushing by in a multi-coloured blur. I noticed out the corner of my eye, Damon white-knuckling the steering wheel. I stiffened, feeling the guilt grow. Eventually, when Damon pulled up outside the apartment block, he still hadn't spoken a word. "I guess, that's just what I wanted to say. I'll talk to you soon. Bye, Damon." I went to let myself out.

"You're an idiot, you know that?" Damon's harsh voice spoke up. I froze and turned to see him, and was shocked when I saw fresh tears threatening in his angry ice blue eyes. "You could have been killed. Did you realise that?" He stated. I opened my mouth to speak, but he immediately continued before I could. "Can you even imagine how I felt when I woke up and saw you lying across Elena like that? I thought that you had been shot, for fuck's sake!" He yelled at me.

"I was trying to save you, Damon. You and Stefan. Call me crazy, but friends protect friends." I retorted, feeling tears welling up in my eyes too.

"But not at the cost of your own life, Grace!" Damon stated.

"He's right, Grace. You were too reckless today." Henrik supported Damon. I forced myself not to look at him.

"Up until you actually moved and got up from the ground, I was out of my mind with worry. You're the first friend I've ever actually given a shit about. So don't ever do that again, or I'll kill you myself!" He promised me. I was speechless. The big bad Damon Salvatore actually values my friendship. I guess that talk we had that day in the Library really got through to him. The next thing I knew, I was wrapped up in Damon's arms; with his face pressed into my neck. "And if you ever tell anybody that I cried like this in front of you, they will never find your body." He threatened; his warm breath tickling my throat.

I laughed, and held him closer.

"The thought never occurred to me." I whispered back. Eventually, I had to thud hard on Damon's back. "Uh, Damon. Breathing's becoming an issue…" I croaked. Damon released me and I sat back, gulping in lungful's of air. I got out of the car and stretched out my sore limbs.

Damon followed.

"So, uh, I'll call you tomorrow. We'll figure out the 'Mason Lockwood' situation then." He suggested.

I nodded.

"Sounds like a plan." Henrik slouched against the wall behind me. He still looked pissed off, and I knew that it would be his turn to tear through me like a packet of salts.

* * *

"So what did you see?" Henrik asked, the second we were in my apartment, and I was free to talk with him without people believing I had lost my mind completely.

I looked at him strangely. "What?"

Henrik had his back to me, staring out of the window.

"The flashback you had. What did you remember?" He reiterated. I frowned at him.

"That's it? You're not going to confront me about what I did? You've got nothing to say?" I demanded, feeling surprised. Henrik looked confused.

"Did you want me to yell at you?" He asked, puzzled.

I shook my head.

"What person likes being told off? I was just surprised that you didn't have any choice words to tell me regarding how you felt or how stupid I was." I explained.

Henrik frowned.

"I think Damon pretty much summed it up back in the car." Henrik responded. "Besides I'm just a kid; I've never had to tell somebody that they acted foolishly and impulsively before." He admitted. "That was the job of my mother, father, brothers and sister to do." He said.

I smiled.

"You could've just said that I was. That's all you had to do, if you wanted to." I explained. Henrik smiled.

"Then pretend I did, and get on with explaining the flashback you just had." Henrik asked me, a little impatiently. I rolled my eyes at him, fondly.

"If you insist." I responded. "All I remembered was that I was running through the woods at night time. I was being chased by someone or a group of people; as there was more than one voice." I told Henrik. He nodded. "Two of the voices were pleading with someone; I'm assuming the person who was chasing me, to stop. That I was innocent and didn't understand." I said, looking confused. I glanced up at Henrik's face for an explanation and saw shock.

"You were remembering the night mother, father and my brother placed the Hybrid's curse upon Niklaus." Henrik explained. "What you described was Gráinne fleeing from the scene." Henrik frowned.

"That explains why I also remembered Niklaus appearing from out of nowhere and pulling me down into a bush; explaining to me that he was trying to protect me." I added.

Henrik was still frowning.

"What sparked that?" He wondered. I shrugged, just as confused.

"While you were leading me to where Liz had Damon and Stefan hidden, something or someone grabbed me and pulled me into some bushes." I told him. "That's when I suddenly blacked out." I revealed. Then I frowned. "By the way, there was one other thing that the flashback revealed." I confessed. Henrik looked interested.

"What?"

"Who's Mikael?" I asked. The second I asked this question, Henrik went rigid. "What?"

"Mikael is the name of my father." Henrik revealed.

* * *

 **A/N: One step closer. Grace finally knows the name of her ancestor's murderer. The plot thickens.**

 **TTFN 😋**


	14. Moonstone

**A/N: Hey! Welcome back to _A Thousand_ Years! Thank you to those 3 reviewers. You are awesome :)**

 **I update this story every two or so days, so keep up with the reviews guys. They really help me figure out if this story is worth continuing or not.  
Just letting you all know that when we get closer to Grace and Klaus reuniting for the first time in a thousand years, I might call upon you all for ideas on their reactions to seeing each other. Just a little spoiler: Grace won't immediately fall head over heels for him on first sight, it will a gradual romance. I really dislike fics where the main characters immediately fall for each other without building up to the moment.**

 **Please no flames ;)**

 **I don't own _The Vampire Diaries._ All characters (except for Grace) are owned by L.J. Smith.**

 **Enjoy xx**

* * *

 **MOONSTONE**

"… _And if you're ever feeling lonely, just look at the moon. Someone, somewhere, is looking."_ _ **~Unknown Author.**_

* * *

I went to bed that night knowing the name of the man who had ruthlessly and viciously murdered me in front of Niklaus, a thousand years ago.

 _Mikael…_

I don't think any of you can imagine the rage that I had been feeling, now that I knew the name of the bastard who ruined what could've been. The only positive I can take from this was that eventually, Niklaus and I will reunite, and we _will_ be happy again.

"Don't dwell on it, Grace. It's all in the past. I doubt my father is around for you to worry about." Henrik attempted to reassure me, as I got ready to head back to the Salvatore Boarding House.

"I appreciate your concern, Henrik. But you haven't been subjected to dreams that you couldn't understand for the first 20-years of your life." I retorted, not unkindly as I wrapped my purple sheer scarf around my neck and grabbed my keys. Henrik sighed.

"Fine. Be it on your own head, Grace." He said. "What are you doing today at the Salvatore's?" He asked, curiously.

I shrugged.

"The only thing we can do: More research. Since werewolves are known to be rare, due to numerous vampires over the years almost wiping them out of existence, there's not a lot of information out there to go on. The only thing we _have_ to go on is the 'Sun and Moon Curse' text." I explained.

Henrik already looked bored. I smiled at him.

"I'll tell you all about it when I get back." I promised. Henrik grimaced.

"Oooh, can't wait." He drawled, sarcastically.

I giggled.

"See ya later." I blew him a kiss and walked out.

* * *

The drive to the Boarding House was a lot faster this time round because I knew where I was going, and I managed to get there in record time. Despite the fact that I now knew the name of the murderer of my past life; I was in a fairly good mood … which immediately soured when I realized that I had almost forgotten about Caroline and her mother, and I hoped that things weren't too horrible or awkward between mother and daughter at the moment. As I parked my car and strolled up to the front door, I paused for a moment; pondering if I should reveal that the 'Sun and Moon Curse' was actually fake. The front door opened revealing an irritated looking Damon, who immediately relaxed when he saw who it was standing at his front door step.

"Oh, Grace! It's you. I thought it was my loved up brother and his extremely confusing girlfriend again." He said, looking relieved. I frowned.

"What do you mean _again_?" I asked, as Damon stepped aside and allowed me to walk on through. Damon had a pained expression on his face.

"Elena caught Stefan holding a blood bag yesterday after you escorted Caroline upstairs." He explained.

I nodded, confused.

"Uh-huh. And?" I prompted, dumping my purse on one of the red couches.

"And, Elena thought that he had gone off the bandwagon again because of the last time Stefan started sucking down the blood bags like juice boxes." Damon supplied.

I looked at him blankly.

"There are some gaps you still need to fill in, Damon. I have no idea what you're talking about." I pointed out. "Why would Stefan be falling off any 'bandwagon'?" I asked. Damon looked at me in annoyance before he realized who he was talking to and immediately turned sheepish.

"Oh, right. You weren't here when it happened last." He remembered. "Stefan is what is known in the supernatural world a 'ripper'." I nodded.

"That term means nothing to me. But I'm assuming that it's bad thing and quite possibly dangerous?" I guessed.

Damon smirked.

"You're not just a pretty face." Damon said. I grinned.

"Words I always like to hear." I said. "But you still need to continue filling me in." I insisted. Damon nodded as he fetched his usual glass of bourbon, but I made a disgusted face when he mixed in a little bit of blood from a blood bag. "Charming…" I commented. Damon shrugged, not at all put off by my reaction.

"Stefan has a problem with blood; meaning he doesn't know the term moderation when he drinks it, so he just drinks and drinks and drinks. He can't stop." I nodded, getting it.

"Great. All caught up with the 'ripper' thing. Now explain how Elena is involved in this?" I asked curiously, as I flopped down on the couch.

"Well, apparently. Stefan wants to slowly build up a tolerance to human blood, so he doesn't end up in a similar situation as he was in yesterday when he took longer to heal." Damon looked a little smug during this explanation. "Which I could've told him if he had bothered to even fill me in." I nodded.

"Woulda. Coulda. Shoulda." I said, earning yet another weird look from Damon, who just pretended I hadn't said that.

"So Elena volunteered to help him, by donating a little bit of her blood every time he was hungry so that he could gradually build up his tolerance." Damon explained the long and short of it. "Which I can only say, is about time." He added, sighing and leaning against the chair I had taken a seat on.

"How are Caroline and Liz?" I asked, as I uncomfortably changed the subject. Damon frowned, glancing towards the stairs that led down to where he and Stefan were keeping Liz captive until the vervain had been flushed from her system.

"Liz won't talk with Caroline, which is not really helping Caroline's issues with becoming a vampire against her will." Damon explained.

I winced, sympathetically.

"Is there anything we can do to help them get past this?" I asked, hopefully. Damon shook his head.

"I'm not in Liz's good books either, considering I technically lied to her as well. So anything I have to say about this won't sink in." He explained, looking frustrated. I turned to glance at the door that led to the basement.

"So basically, time is what we all need for everything to settle down." I confirmed, rhetorically. "That's not necessarily a bad thing, you know." I attempted to reassure him, but Damon continued looking unconvinced. There was a knock at the front door, and Damon got up to answer it.

"I need to talk to you." Came a very familiar voice. I blinked in astonishment, what the hell was Jeremy doing here? I eagerly pricked up my ears to listen to their conversation.

"And why do I need to talk to you?" Damon asked, evenly. I rolled my eyes. Damon needed to work on his people skills a bit more.

"Tyler Lockwood has to kill someone to activate his curse. He's not a werewolf yet." Jeremy explained, sounding determined. Okay, so Jeremy Gilbert is aware of the existence of werewolves. How interesting.

"Wow, fascinating. Not enough." Damon deadpanned. There was the sound of somebody holding a door open. Damon must have tried to close the door in Jeremy's face.

"But Mason Lockwood is and he's looking for a moonstone, a special rock connected to the werewolf legend. That's why he's here." Jeremy persisted. I immediately perked up. New information! Finally! I got to my feet, racing for the door to help support Jeremy if Damon attempted to shut him out again. Any information was good information.

"A moonstone?" Damon questioned, and I paused halfway to the foyer to listen.

"And I know where it is." Jeremy confirmed.

"And you're bringing me this why?" Damon sounded confused. I rolled my eyes and skidded into the foyer, surprising both Jeremy and Damon in the process.

"Does he need a reason?" I pointed out. Damon scowled at me, while Jeremy eyed me with curiosity.

"What is she doing here?" He demanded, suspiciously. I immediately jerked my head towards him.

" _She_ has a name." I retorted back at him, annoyed.

"And _Grace's_ presence here isn't of any relevance to this discussion, so back on point." Damon added, a little snappish. Jeremy raised an eyebrow before deciding to follow Damon's suggestion and continued to barter entry inside to continue discussing his werewolf findings.

"Look, I just want to help, okay?" Jeremy insisted. I glanced at Damon who looked at me with a highly skeptical expression on his face.

"What's your sister say about this little discovery?" Damon asked him, casually.

Jeremy was silent.

"Wait. Elena doesn't know?" I asked, a bit surprised. Jeremy looked a little sheepish and slightly defensive that Elena had been mentioned. Clearly, there still wasn't a lot of love lost between brother and sister/cousin.

"Well, Elena doesn't want me getting involved in all this." I smiled at him, sympathetically. Jeremy made another attempt to walk inside the house, but Damon pushes him back out again.

"And like a typical Gilbert, you just can't help yourself." Jeremy grimaced at Damon. "Wow. Your search for life's purpose is as obvious as it is tragic." Damon obviously was not in a particularly forgiving mood at present.

"You going to let me in or not?" Jeremy asked, sounding irritated.

Damon debated this for a few seconds, and I rolled my eyes and turned to walk back inside the house. If Damon wanted to be immature, then I wasn't going to stop him. But eventually, I heard the sounds of two pairs of footsteps following me down the corridor to the parlour. I smiled, Damon was just messing with him; he just needed to choose the moment a little more carefully next time.

"Hey Grace." I glanced up automatically and noticed an unusually shy Caroline travelling back down the staircase that led to the bedrooms upstairs. This disposition really didn't suit her; and I was hoping to see the bubblier and outgoing personality Elena had described to me long ago, sometime in the near future. I smiled at her and walked to the base of the stairs.

"Hey Caroline. How are you holding up?" I asked her, politely. Caroline smiled a little.

"Not great. But I'll get there." She admitted. I nodded, accepting the answer. Then Caroline looked a little nervous. I frowned.

"What's up?" I asked, eying Damon and Jeremy immerging from the foyer and discreetly making their way back to the parlour. Damon had obviously noticed Caroline wanted to talk to me privately, and made a point of hastening Jeremy into the other room. I was grateful, this conversation between Caroline need not be more troublesome than it probably was.

"I just wanted to apologize for the way I treated you yesterday. It wasn't called for." Caroline explained. I gestured dismissively.

"It's understandable. We barely know each other, and I was giving you information you probably didn't want to know at the time. It's me and my bad timing." I reassured her.

"Still, I didn't have to be a bitch about it." She insisted. I smiled.

"You weren't being a bitch. You were expressing a genuine concern about your mum and yourself. It's a natural reaction." I told her. "But what I'm sticking to what I said yesterday: your mum doesn't hate you. She just hates what you've unwittingly become." I explained. Caroline nodded, heading for the basement stairs. "If it helps, I'm offering you my friendship. It's up to you, of course." I said, putting it out there. Caroline looked surprised, but smiled warmly.

"I'd like that. Thanks, you've been a lot of help." She told me. I grinned.

"What can I say? I aim to please." I joked, trying to make her laugh. Caroline didn't, but I wasn't expecting her to.

"I'll see you later." She promised before opening the heavy door to the basement and disappearing down it to see her mother. I turned to head back to the parlour. I walked in just as Alaric walked in carrying a box. We both stopped and looked at each other with surprise.

"Hey Alaric." I greeted him, just as Damon looked up at him with surprise as well.

"Ric!" He exclaimed. Alaric opened his mouth to talk to me when he also noticed Jeremy sitting on one of the red couches, looking a little defiant.

"What are you doing here?" Alaric asked Jeremy.

"I'm helping Damon, and apparently Grace." Jeremy looked between Damon and me, obviously questioning what sort of relationship we had together. "I'm the one who found out about the moonstone." Jeremy replied. Alaric looked at both of us, questioningly; earning a shrug from Damon.

"Does Elena know you're here?" Alaric asked.

"Not exactly." Jeremy replied, looking cornered. I waded in to rescue him.

"Where's the harm letting him help research? Elena isn't his keeper. His aunt Jenna is." I reminded him, earning a triumphant grin from Jeremy that I saw out of the corner of my eye, until I mentioned Jenna. Then he glowered at me a little.

"You're not helping." He told me. I grinned, not fazed by Jeremy's annoyance. Damon shrugged and turned back to Alaric and the box he had carried in with him.

"What you got?" Damon asked as he started digging through the box, taking out a book. Alaric takes a seat.

"This is Isobel's research from Duke." He explained. "Her assistant sent it to me." Damon smirked at the memory of the trigger happy assistant.

"Mmm, Vanessa. The hottie." I rolled my eyes, as I reached in and pulled out other familiar items from the box, and Alaric takes the book out of Damon's hands; also grimacing at Damon's reaction to Vanessa.

"Yeah. Now, do you and Grace remember the old Aztec curse she told us about?" Alaric asked, flipping through the book. Damon immediately looked disinterested.

"Sun and the moon, blah blah blah blah blah." He said. Jeremy comes over, taking an immediate interest.

"An Aztec curse? Cool." He grinned. Alaric nodded.

"Yeah, supposedly vampires and werewolves used to roam freely until a shaman put a curse on them to limit their power." Alaric explained. Thankfully all three of them had their backs to me. I hated that I knew the truth and was unable to reveal that to them. "Since then, werewolves can only turn on a full moon and vampires are weakened by the sun." I reached over and tapped Damon's ring.

"Except for those who have these babies."

Damon grinned, wiggling his fingers. Alaric nodded, and read on.

"According to the legend, the werewolf part of the curse is sealed with the moonstone." This part grabbed my attention. This must've been the part relating to Niklaus' curse; how his mother bound his werewolf side. This made me angry. Alaric showed Jeremy the pictures that related to the fake curse. He frowned in confusion.

"What do you mean sealed?" He asked. Damon snorted.

"It's a witch thing. Whatever seals the curse is usually the key to unsealing the curse." He explained, flippantly.

"Maybe Mason Lockwood believes he can use the moonstone to break the curse." Alaric suggested. Both Damon and I looked at him with raised eyebrows.

"I'd rather not be dubbed naïve or idiotic for believing something that may or may not be true." I stated.

"I second that." Damon agreed. "Who has the stone now?" He asked Jeremy.

"Tyler." Jeremy replied promptly.

"Can you get it?"

"Yeah." Jeremy was practically vibrating with excitement. It must've been one hell of a high to be included in something that your sister/cousin had been shielding him from. Damon smirked at him, condescendingly.

"See, now your life has purpose." He informed the teen. Jeremy looked at him, curiously.

"So, you do believe it?" He asked Damon, who made a face.

"It's the same book that says a werewolf bite kills a vampire. Ignoring it would make me an even bigger idiot." He knocks back his drink. "Let's go." Damon replaces his glass on the table beside the decanter of bourbon, as he walks past Alaric and Jeremy. They quickly follow him, while I trailed behind in the rear. I eyed the old book containing the Hybrid's curse in it with trepidation. "You coming, Grace?" Damon's voice rang out, sounding a little impatient.

I huffed and stomped to the front door, making a face at Damon as I walked passed him.

* * *

We all piled into Damon's car and drove towards the Lockwood Mansion to 'retrieve' the moonstone from Tyler. The second we set foot inside, Damon immediately went into 'bodyguard mode' and played 'me and my shadow' with me.

"Not that I don't appreciate the fact that you want me safe, Damon, but I'm a big girl; I have been for nearly 22 years. I can take care of myself." I reminded him. I pretended not to see the curious expression on Jeremy's face as he studied us.

"After what almost happened yesterday, I'm not taking any chances." He told me, his voice indicating that there was no room for arguments. I rolled my eyes.

"I'll make sure I don't do anything stupid." I said, resigned. _But if you keep this up, I'll kick your arse!_ I silently promised him. But I was pleased that he was concerned for me … even if it did get a little annoying after a while. Damon looked at me sternly before nodding. "What are we doing now?" I asked, falling back on him for directions.

"Just keep a look out for Stefan." Damon ordered, brusquely. Jeremy sidled up to me, smirking.

"You're really going to take that from him?" He asked, indicating Damon's overprotective behaviour.

I shrugged.

"I think I've been unceremoniously adopted by Damon. I almost got killed yesterday, and he's decided that I'm a delicate little flower that needs protection." I replied. Jeremy sniggered.

"Sucks to be you." He teased. I made a face at him.

"Pot. Kettle. Black." I reminded him, causing the smirk to drop from Jeremy's face. "Sorry, that was a low blow." I said.

"No, I walked right into that one." He conceded. I giggled. Damon wasn't paying attention to us, but apparently found what he was looking for.

"C'mon, Grace. Little Gilbert." He said (earning a scowl from Jeremy), before walking towards what he had found. It turned out to be Elena sorting through some masks, and looking towards something just beyond her with concern. I glanced up a fraction and noticed Stefan and Bonnie, who were talking in muted, frantic voices.

"Wonder what they're talking about." I commented, grabbing Jeremy's attention.

"I dunno, but I bet it's pissing off Elena not knowing what's going on." He had a triumphant smirk on his face that made me a little worried.

Maybe Elena shouldn't have kept her brother out of the loop. He clearly didn't take too lightly to being left out. But whatever Stefan and Bonnie were talking about, it was obviously something that either Elena wasn't supposed to know about, or both Stefan and Bonnie didn't realise that Elena was looking directly at them. Damon got to Elena first. She glanced up at him in surprise.

"Damon, what are you doing here?" She asked him. Damon barely looked her in the eyes. Guess he was still holding onto that grudge.

"Looking for my baby bro." Then he looked down at her and finally made eye contact. "Speaking of, would you tell yours to stop following me around?" Damon requested. Elena looked shocked at this. As Jeremy and I approached, Damon glanced up at us and looked me in the eye; warning me about my promise.

"What's going on?" Elena wanted to know. Damon jerked his finger at Jeremy and me before walking away.

"Ask eager beaver." Damon yelled over his shoulder. Elena turns to Jeremy for an explanation.

He groaned.

"Jeremy, what is he making you do?" Elena interrogated Jeremy. I stiffened at the same time as Jeremy did.

"He's not making me do anything." Jeremy argued, defensively. "Damon and I…"

"Uh, no. No way. No, no, no, no." Elena immediately interrupted, making Jeremy bristle. "There is no "Damon and you". There's Damon and whoever Damon is using, and those people, they end up dead." This time _I_ bristled. "Whatever is going on Jeremy, I want you to stay out of it." Elena practically ordered him. This time I had to step in. Not only in my defense, but also Damon's and Jeremy's.

"So according to you, Elena, I'm being used by Damon? Just so I am I hearing you correctly?" I inquired, my voice dripping with sarcasm as I stepped up from behind Jeremy. I watch Elena's eyes widen when she realised what she had said, and who exactly had been hanging around Damon lately.

Namely, me.

"No, Grace! I didn't mean…" But I interrupted her mid-sentence.

"No, no, no, no. I know exactly what you mean. I'd just like to thank you for the warning." I said curtly, glaring at Elena with contempt before walking off in the direction Damon took. I was beginning to see what Damon meant by Elena being manipulative. I caught up with Damon who had located Stefan, but I didn't immediately join in on the conversation, which didn't exactly look very harmonious from my viewpoint.

"Katherine's with Mason Lockwood?" Damon sounded shocked and appalled. I scoffed. It figures Katherine would be involved in this somehow.

Stefan looked pained.

"We missed it." He confessed. "He got into town right after she did. It makes perfect sense." Stefan insisted. Damon apparently agreed with what Stefan said, but it didn't make him sound any less disgusted.

"I know, but Mason Lockwood?!" Damon whined. "Werewolf thing aside, the guy is a surfer. She's got to be using him. She has to be." He insisted. I decided to join the conversation.

"Would not be surprised." I muttered, darkly. Damon looked at me with surprise; but I think it was probably because of how angry I sounded.

"What's wrong with you?" Damon wanted to know.

"Don't ask. It doesn't matter." I brushed aside the question. Damon raised an eyebrow and looked over his shoulder towards where Elena and Jeremy were. Except that Jeremy must've walked away between what I had to say and walking over here, because Elena was standing by herself again; looking put out.

"Okay then, back to the topic. Katherine's gotta be using Mason Lockwood." Damon reiterated. Stefan frowned at the suggestion.

"Using him for what?" He asked. I fielded the question.

"Mason Lockwood is looking for a moonstone that apparently can break the full moon werewolf curse." _Niklaus' curse…_ I silently corrected. "I'd bet good money that Katherine wants it too for another reason entirely." I put it out there. _Probably as a bargaining chip against Niklaus…_

"Why?" Stefan asked.

"No idea. That's the beauty of Katherine; she's always up to something." Damon stated, agreeing and looking at me with concern. Stefan nodded.

"So how are we gonna find this moonstone?" Stefan mused. I was suddenly pleased that Damon and I were one step ahead of both Stefan and Elena. This time it was Jeremy's turn to stake his claim in the supernatural world.

"Jeremy is getting it from Tyler." Damon answered. Predictably, Stefan threw Damon a disgusted look.

"Why would you involve Jeremy?" Stefan demanded and slaps Damon on the arm as he walks off.

I saw red.

"Hey! Stefan!" He stops and turns to look at me with surprised eyes. Even Damon seemed taken aback by my furious tone. I ignored him, focusing on Stefan. "Maybe you and perhaps even Elena should get your facts straight before you start accusing people with your controlling, 'holier-than-thou' attitudes." I spat, before turning and storming off.

* * *

Damon caught up with me and gently grabbed me by the arm, stopping me in my tracks.

"Woah, woah. What the fuck's going on?" He demanded, urgently. "Not that I didn't enjoy seeing Stefan get a verbal backlash, but you haven't gotten that angry before." Damon pointed out. I turned and glared at Damon's shoulder, refusing to look him in the eyes.

"Elena had the absolute cheek to forbid Jeremy from getting involved with our werewolf investigation. Claiming that anybody who associates with you … no wait, sorry, gets _used_ by you in your schemes, gets killed." Damon's eyes darkened.

"She said that huh?" His voice was stony. I nodded.

"To which I challenged her by asking if she believed that you were using me?" I added. "She tried to justify what she said. But I had reached my quota for bullshit at that point, and just shut her down and walked away." I clarified. "Stefan chastising you just lit the fuse." I confessed. "I'm sorry about that." I apologized.

"No, no. Don't apologise." Damon insisted, looking thoughtful. He grabbed my hand and pulled me along. "Come on, we're gonna observe Jeremy gathering information from Tyler." I nodded. We walked over to where we could see Tyler and a sweet looking blonde boy who looked like a quarterback, hanging lanterns.

I think Elena once told me his name was Matt.

"I forgot to ask, do you know what they're setting up for?" I asked, remembering the masks Elena had been sorting through, and at all the lanterns that were being put up. Damon was focused on the two boys.

"Don't know, don't really care." He responded, then let out a low whistle and a wince. "Whoa, that's harsh." I looked at him in surprise.

"What?" I asked, curious.

"Lil' Lockwood just called Caroline an insecure, neurotic, bitchy little twit." Damon replied, frowning. "Somebody's gotta teach that punk some manners." He stated, looking serious. I smiled. This was the Damon I enjoyed seeing: the sweet, caring, compassionate and charming (for the right reasons) man. Too bad he had be buried deep inside in public. That bitch Katherine really did a number on him.

I spotted Jeremy making his move.

"Oh, there's Jeremy." I exclaimed. Damon and I watched as Jeremy sauntered over to Tyler and engaged him in conversation. I looked to Damon for the transcript. "What are they saying?" I asked him. Damon focused on them both, listening.

"Jeremy is telling Tyler he did some more research about the moonstone. Tyler had shown the stone to him." Damon translated.

"Why did he have the moonstone?" I wondered. Damon shrugged, then frowned again. "What?" I asked.

"Jeremy told him the connection between the stone and the 'Sun and Moon curse' and asked Tyler if he could have the stone." Damon told me. I frowned, not understanding why Damon would be frowning about that.

"But that's a good thing. What's with the frown?" I questioned him.

"Tyler gave the moonstone to Mason." My face fell. "Son-of-a-bitch!" Damon swore. He was pissed and I didn't blame him. Mason was the worst person to have the moonstone. We'd probably never see it again. I glanced at Damon, and realised he was looking at somebody. I turned and saw that person was Stefan. But instead of looking pissed off like his brother; Stefan merely shrugged. I made a face. Seriously? How could he be so blasé about this? "Come on, Grace." Damon said, leading me away from the scene.

* * *

I followed Damon and Stefan as they continued on their investigation. Apparently, the brothers decided to set aside their differences and work together to get what they wanted. In this case, to track down Bonnie. It was clear that there would be no love lost between Bonnie and I, the second she clapped eyes on me when we found her; which meant that Elena had obviously told Bonnie that I had called her out on her bullshit. Currently, Damon was 'leading' Bonnie to wherever we were going, which was somewhere on the Lockwood ground. I walked behind them, with Stefan trailing along behind us; texting somebody.

Elena most likely.

"Okay. This is as far as I go." Bonnie announced, breaking Damon's hold on her arm. Damon nodded in agreement.

"Okay." He replied. Bonnie folded her arms across her chest.

"What do you want?" Bonnie asked.

"A favor." Damon replied, succinctly. Bonnie instantly shut down.

"Like that's gonna happen." Bonnie said, flatly. Damon groaned.

"So predictable." He muttered underneath his breath. Bonnie turned to walk away, when I stepped into her path. I was getting fed up with petulant teenagers. Bonnie glared at me, and I just gave her a look.

"Can we put aside the drama for the moment? This happens to be a serious problem we are trying to solve." I explained, as calmly as I could. Bonnie remained stubbornly unmoved. Damon sighed before turning and indicating towards Stefan.

"That's why we brought him." Damon told Bonnie, whose glare softens a little. Stefan stepped forward to help.

"I know how you feel about helping us out, but since you're the one that linked Mason with Katherine—" Say what? Damon and I exchanged disbelieving glances with each other, then at Stefan. "—we finally have an opportunity to get an upper hand on both of them. So, just hear us out." Stefan asked, patiently.

"Pretty please?" Damon added, a little mockingly. I threw him an unamused look, which he ignored. Bonnie was silent for a few minutes before sighing and nodding.

"I'm listening." She relented. Just then Stefan's phone began to ring. He sighed impatiently, and looked up apologetically.

"I have to fill Elena in on what's going on." He told us. I rolled my eyes. _Of course you do…_ I thought, dryly. Stefan eyes me warily before he glanced over at Damon. "Can you play nice, please?" He asked. Damon gave an exaggerated sigh.

"I guess." He agreed. Stefan walks aside and answers his phone. Damon gets straight to the point.

"All you have to do is touch Mason Lockwood again to see if he gave Katherine the moonstone." Damon instructed. Bonnie frowned at the request.

"My visions don't work like that. I don't get to ask questions." Bonnie explained.

"That's annoying." I commented. Damon shook his head.

"Try 'inconvenient'." Damon corrected me, but then suddenly looked curious. Something that caused Bonnie to frown suspiciously at him. "But I could like to ask about that witchy juju thing you do with me. You know, the fun one where my brain bursts into flames? What is that?" He demanded.

Bonnie smiles sweetly at him. It makes Damon frown immediately.

"That's me giving you an aneurysm." She replied, simply. "Your blood vessels go pop, but you heal quickly; so I do it over and over again." Bonnie seemed to be taking great delight in describing how she tortured him that time back in the alley, the night of the school carnival.

"And you think that's okay?" I demanded, dubiously. But Damon, much to my dismay, looked intrigued.

"Is it vampire specific?" He asked, and I frowned wondering where he was going with this. Bonnie shook her head.

"It'd work on anyone with a supernatural healing ability." Bonnie confirmed. My face lit up when I understood where Damon was heading with this.

"Good. Good, good." Damon looked pleased. I frowned when I realised his intentions. So did Bonnie.

"Uh, Damon. Not happening. There must be a better method to get Mason to talk without giving him an aneurysm." I protested. Bonnie seemed to agree.

"I'm not gonna help you hurt him." Bonnie stated. Damon fixed me with a 'humour me' look as he explained to Bonnie the 'methods to his madness'.

"Mason Lockwood is a werewolf. Katherine is evil. _They're_ the bad guys." Bonnie scowled at him. "Really? You're gonna play morality police with me right now?" I sighed, knowing that was exactly what Bonnie was intending on doing, and normally I'd hop on the bandwagon with her, but Mason was playing dirty by involving Liz – which could still ruin her relationship with Caroline – and attempting to poison Damon with tainted Lemonade.

Mason's time was up.

"Let us persuade you another way. If you don't help us, they're going to go after Elena and quite possibly kill her." I tried to appeal to her conscience.

"Exactly." Damon agreed. "So you, witch, are gonna get over yourself and help us." Damon stated, firmly. Stefan walked back over to us.

"I believe he meant to phrase that as a question with a 'please' on the end." Stefan told Bonnie, scowling at his brother who gave both him and Bonnie a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Yeah, absolutely." Damon lied.

* * *

Using Elena's pending demise as persuasion turned out to be the little nudge Bonnie needed to help us. She reluctantly agreed to get as much as she could from Mason's head, while Damon attempted to incapacitate him for further interrogation at the Boarding House. Damon, Stefan and I waited in some nearby bushes, waiting for Bonnie to complete her part of 'Operation: Jump Mason'. As predicted, Mason appeared on cue just as Bonnie pretended that she was struggling with a heavy load.

"Hey, can you move your van? I'm blocked in." Mason asked Bonnie. Then he noticed that she was struggling to get a table out of the car. Mason sighed and got out of his car to assist her.

"All the guys bailed." Bonnie said, faking an irritated face. "Something about draft picks. I don't know. I don't speak that language." Mason wondered over to her side.

"Here let me give you a hand." He offered. Bonnie nodded gratefully and took a step aside to let him past. Mason grabs the table and starts to pull it out. Bonnie looks around for anybody watching before focusing on Mason. She uses her aneurysm spell on him, causing Mason to grab his head and yell out in pain.

He falls to his knees.

"Sorry." Bonnie says regretfully, as Damon and Stefan burst from the bush and surround Mason. Damon knees him in the face, and Mason drops to the ground unconscious. I came over to stand next to Bonnie as I watched Damon open the passenger door and signals for me to get in the front and Bonnie into the back.

"That was easy." I mused, as Bonnie and I watched Stefan retrieve Mason's keys from his pockets and tosses them to his brother. They were both like a well-oiled machine. Bonnie rolls her eyes and gets into the back while I hurry into the front seat.

Both Damon and Stefan pick up Mason and stick him the trunk of the jeep, before Damon gets in and drives off with Bonnie and me. A short time later, we arrive back at the Boarding House. Damon bursts into the house, carrying Mason over his shoulder and depositing him into a chair, as Bonnie and I wrestle Mason's heavy duffel bag onto another one.

"What does he carry in here anyway? Bricks?" I commented. Bonnie turned towards Damon.

"Here's his bag. As requested." She said. Damon nodded.

"Alright. Grab that corner." He indicates to the Persian rug. Bonnie frowns but follows his request.

"Why are we doing this?" Both she and Damon flip back the rug out of the way.

"Because I don't want to stain the carpet." Damon replies, like it was obvious. Bonnie shudders with disgust, as I came over to help her.

"I knew you were going to say something like that." She responds.

"Don't judge." I suggested. Damon instructed the both of us to spread out a blanket over the rug as he walked over to inspect Mason's bag. Bonnie glances nervously over at Mason.

"He's not gonna be out much longer." She reminds us, as Damon pulls out some large, heavy looking chains from the bag. My eyes widened. So that was what was making that bag so bloody heavy. Damon seemed to be thinking along the same lines as I was.

"Woah, this guy is used to be tied up." Damon observed.

I smirked.

"If one didn't know better, I'd say he had a kinky fetish." I joked, trying to lighten the mood. Both Bonnie and I suspected that Damon was going to be torturing Mason into spilling the beans about the whereabouts of that stupid moonstone. However, Bonnie decided to cut to the chase. She takes Mason's head into both her hands. Damon stops what he is doing and observes her.

"What are you doing?" He demanded. Bonnie gave him a look.

"You're looking for a moonstone. I'm trying to help you find it." Bonnie replied, closing her eyes and using her premonition powers to search for clues. Damon brightened a little.

"Oh, good, yeah." He agreed. "Find out if he gave it to Katherine, and find out where she is." He requested.

"Could you also find out what they're gonna do once they get it?" I added. I help Damon tie Mason down into the chair as Bonnie closed her eyes and concentrated on the images revolving through her head the second she touched Mason's head.

It was interesting observing Bonnie in action; all her facial expressions and the way she sometimes twitched, flinched or jerked when she reacted to something she saw. But it also made me wonder if these powers of hers could also be a massive burden. Eventually, Bonnie started giving us the information.

"Somewhere small. Dark." A pause. "There's water." Bonnie relayed. Damon and I exchanged glances.

"Like a sewer?" Damon guessed.

"Can you be more specific?" I asked. Bonnie's frown deepened as she concentrated on the images she was sifting through in Mason's head.

"A well? That can't be right." Then the frown disappeared, as Bonnie relaxed; sincere in her findings. "Yeah. It's a well." She confirmed confidently.

"Why would it be in a well?" I asked out loud to nobody in particular. Bonnie opened her eyes and lowered her hands from Mason's skull. She shrugged at my question.

"I told you, I only get what I can see." She reminded us. Mason suddenly grunted and with lightning fast reflexes, grabs Bonnie by the wrist. She jumped out of shock and Damon calmly pulls off Mason's hand, which Bonnie saw as her cue to leave; clearly uncomfortable with this entire situation. "That's it. That's all I got." Bonnie stated, firmly. I didn't entirely blame her for being a little shut off because of all the weirdness currently in our lives. But we needed all the information we could get to solve the werewolf mystery that seemed to be revolving around the Lockwood Family. She was kinda essential, unfortunately.

I followed her to the door.

"Thanks for your help, Bonnie. I know you don't agree with what Damon is doing, but every little bit helps at the moment." I told her, smiling at her gratefully. Bonnie didn't smile back, but at least her eyes weren't hard and unforgiving anymore. I could definitely see disapproval, but it wasn't fully concentrated. Bonnie clearly could be reasoned with if you used the right words.

"Hey, judgey!" Bonnie let out a frustrated sigh and turned towards Damon, who smiled a little at her. "Thank you." He said sincerely. Bonnie nodded once, and walked out; leaving Damon and I with a securely trussed up Mason. I went to walk back over to them, but Damon stopped me. "Uh, uh. You better go too, Grace. This could get dangerous, and not to mention probably a little messy too." He said. I frowned at him and folded my arms across my chest.

"What if I refuse?" I challenged him. Damon straightened up and walked over to me, getting into my face with a no-nonsense glare.

"This isn't a game, Grace. I'm serious, this will get dangerous." He insisted. "I don't want to, but I will knock you out if I have to. Now stop being stubborn and just do what I ask." Damon requested. I wanted to argue, claiming that I needed to be there to help with the interrogation. But at the same time, Damon did have a point: he was a vampire, Mason was a werewolf. I was just a vulnerable human with medium abilities. I would be the equivalent of a squeaky toy for Mason should he somehow escape his confines. So I nodded.

"Okay. But you let me know what you find out." I said, looking at him with warning.

Damon nodded curtly.

* * *

I turned and followed Bonnie, almost bumping into Caroline along the way.

"Hey Grace!" She greeted me, smiling a little more warmly than the last time I saw her. She glanced up, noticing Bonnie. "Hey!" Bonnie pauses mid-step and turns to look at both of us. Caroline jogs out to Bonnie, while I follow her a little more sedately. Bonnie frowned at me, looking a little confused.

"Grace? Aren't you staying here to help Damon interrogate Mason?" I shook my head.

"Nope. Damon sent me home. He says it's too dangerous for me to be there while he's getting the information from Mason." I filled in the blanks.

Bonnie looked surprised.

"Seriously?" She sounded dubious. I nodded, poker-faced.

"I don't tend to lie, unless the situation warrants it." I reassured her. To be honest, it was a little bit insulting for Bonnie to think that Damon – who is quite obviously trying to become a better man – would intentionally put somebody in harm's way, just so he could gather up new information. He's not a complete tool. Bonnie shakes her head and turns towards Caroline.

"How's your mom? Elena filled me in on everything." She told her, ignoring when I bristled slightly at the mention of Elena. Caroline's smile brightened even further.

"I'm gonna take her home tonight." Caroline reported back, excitedly. Bonnie nodded, then hesitated.

"Caroline… uh… never mind. I've got to go." Bonnie turns to leave again. But Caroline intercepts her.

"Did you guys find the moonstone thing?" She asks us both. We shook our heads.

"Not yet." I replied, feeling frustrated as I pulled out my phone to check the time. Bonnie suddenly looked determined. Like she wanted to do something.

"Hey, do you remember that old well where we used to play when we were kids?" Bonnie asked Caroline. The blonde nodded, looking a little confused.

"Yeah?"

"It's in the woods. Do you remember where?" Bonnie asked her, urgently. Caroline nodded.

"It's on the edge of the old Lockwood property. Why?" She asked. Bonnie immediately turned and started to text somebody, leaving me to explain everything to Caroline.

"We think that's where Mason is keeping the moonstone." I told her. Bonnie puts her phone away and starts walking.

"I got to go." I frowned and jogged after her.

"Uh, I'm coming with you. If it's in a well, you're probably going to need some help." I stated, challenging Bonnie to argue. She didn't, surprisingly. Caroline trotted after us.

"Well, I can come with you." Caroline volunteered, looking hopeful. I turned and grinned.

"Sure, the more the merrier." I told her, just as Bonnie went to decline the offer. I elbowed her in the ribs gently and Bonnie sighed.

"Sure." Bonnie replied. Caroline smiles. I headed straight for my car.

"I'll drive. You give directions." I told the girls, who pile into my car, Caroline shotgun.

* * *

 **A/N: Please review xx**


	15. The Hunt Is On

**A/N: Be prepared for a massive search for the missing moonstone. We are also just one chapter away from Grace reuniting with Elijah! Yay!**

 **Please note that this chapter is a lot longer than the previous ones.**

 **Please review, you've all been really generous with those so far; and please no flaming. They will be ignored. :)**

 **I don't own** _ **The Vampire Diaries.**_ **All characters (except for Grace) are owned by author L.J Smith.**

 **Cheers xx**

* * *

 **THE HUNT IS ON**

" _He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life."_ _ **~Muhammad Ali.**_

* * *

Caroline pointed me in the right direction of the woods in search for the well Bonnie predicted the moonstone may have been hidden away in by Mason. I was pleased that she was in a much better mood than the last time I saw her earlier this morning. Every girl needs their mum in their lives; something that I missed on occasion, and often thought about every now and then.

"So how's your mum going at the moment?" I asked Caroline. The blonde smiled happily.

"She's fine. The vervain's almost out of her system. Soon we'll be able to compel her to forget all of this and we can get on with our lives." Caroline replied with a falsely optimistic tone in her normally bubbly and confident voice. Bonnie and I were surprised by her answer.

I looked at her out the corner of my eye.

"Uh-huh. Now why don't I believe you?" I asked her, with concern. Caroline avoided looking at me, which made me feel all the more suspicious and worried. I exchanged a glance with Bonnie in the backseat, looking for a possible explanation. But the witch shrugged, looking just as perplexed as I felt. "Caroline. Talk to me. What's wrong, honey?" I asked her, soothingly.

Caroline bit her bottom lip, fretfully.

"It's nothing." She insisted.

"Doesn't seem like nothing, Care." Bonnie stated, also looking worried about her friend. Caroline hesitated for a few more minutes before eventually she decided to confess her true feelings on the subject.

"It's just, I wish that we didn't have to compel my mom to forget that Stefan, Damon and I are vampires. It would make things so much better, and she'd be able to help us with our problems." Caroline admitted, looking vulnerable.

"If it were up to you, Caroline, I'm pretty sure that your mother would be able to walk free from the Boarding house with the knowledge that her only daughter and two of her friends were in fact the very entities she had been sworn to kill on sight. But we both know that Damon won't have a bar of that." I told her, hating myself for putting that miserable expression on her face, after giving her the cold hard facts.

"Yeah, I know." She sagged with disappointment.

"The right solution will come to you when the time is right." I told her. Bonnie scowled at the back of my head.

"And how would you know that exactly?" She demanded, protectively. I narrowed my eyes at her warningly.

"I don't. But it's better to believe that than give her false hope." I retorted.

The rest of the trip was pretty much silent, except for the music playing on the radio. But eventually we arrived on the old Lockwood property and both Caroline and Bonnie unbuckled their seatbelts. However Caroline froze, craning her head and closing her eyes.

"Care? What's wrong?" Bonnie asked, frowning at the urgent expression on her friend's face.

"Shut up for a sec." Caroline snapped. It looked as though she was listening for something. Then without warning, Caroline immediately blurred off out of sight in a random direction.

"Caroline! What's going on? CAROLINE!" I yelled after her. I growled in irritation before locking my car and running off in the direction Caroline had taken, resentful that I didn't have the vampire speed to be able to catch up with her.

"Grace, wait!" Bonnie hollered at me and I stopped and looked back at her for an explanation. "It will be a lot faster to find Caroline if I lead the way. You don't know where the well is." Bonnie explained, for once sounding a little more rational. I nodded, feeling impatient and stepped aside so that she could take the lead. We eventually came upon a distraught looking Elena straddling the side of a small, stonewalled well while Caroline was trying to stop her, and comfort her at the same time.

"What the hell happened?" I exclaimed. Elena looked up at me with wide eyes as both Bonnie and I came over to her and attempted to help Caroline calm her down as well.

"It's Stefan! He went down into the well to look for the moonstone, but we found out too late that the water has vervain in it." Elena explained, tears starting to well up in her brown doe eyes. I cursed colourfully, and immediately took off my jacket and dumped my purse on the ground beside the old well. I reached for the heavy chain Elena was attempting to secure around her waist. "What are you doing?" Elena demanded, as I hooked the chain around my waist and handed it to Caroline who looked at me quizzically, until she realised what I was about to do and nodded, her face setting in determination.

"Saving Stefan." I replied simply, as I straddled the well. "Ready, Caroline?" I asked the blonde, who braced herself to support my weight.

"Ready." She reported back, looking worried. Elena immediately protested.

"I'm more than capable of doing that myself." She told me, looking stubborn but at the same time, extremely worried for the safety of her boyfriend. To be honest, I was concerned too. Stefan had obviously not looked before he leapt into the well in his attempt to look for the blasted moonstone. I looked at her and gave a hard look, and proceeded to give her the reality of the situation. There was no time for arguments, right now.

"You're not strong enough to help Stefan right now. He's probably an unconscious dead-weight, and you're practically beside yourself with fear." I stated. "I stand a better chance of getting down there and rescuing Stefan quickly. You know that as well as I do." I told her, rationally. Elena didn't hesitate. Probably realised that she would be there to take care of him once Stefan got out of the well.

She quickly nodded.

"I got you, okay?" Caroline reassured me. I nodded.

"Yeah." Bonnie darted forward and helped me lower into the well. Once I was out of reach of either of them, I began abseiling down the slightly slippery walls; absently glad I had the foresight to wear my converse again today, as they helped me get a better grip on the wall. Caroline slowly reels me down, and only once loses grip of the chain, causing me to slip on the wall and bash my knee and elbow against the stone wall.

"OW! Son-of-a-bitch!" I felt my stomach fly up into my throat before jolting when Caroline manages to grab the chain just in time. I sighed with relief. I really did not relish the thought of being stuck down here in a disused well, with Stefan's decomposing body bobbing beside me like a cork.

"Sorry!" Caroline apologised frantically. I tried to calm down my thudding heartbeat, caused by the sudden fall.

"Don't worry about it, just keep going. Come on!" I urged Caroline, who continues to lower me down into the well. Eventually, I splash down in some minging, murky water and wrinkled my nose with disgust.

"Did you find Stefan?" Came Elena's frantic voice. I scowled.

"Not yet, Elena. But I need you to do me a favour and just calm down for me. Take a few slow deep breaths, or you're going to make yourself sick. Alright?" I yell back, as I groped around in the darkness for a hint of where Stefan could be. I eventually come across something hard, lukewarm to the touch and moaning very faintly. Frowning, I feel around and realise that I had found Stefan, who was bobbing face down in the vervain water. With effort, I managed to flip him over so that he was facing upwards, and nearly lost my breakfast. He was red raw, bloodied and blistered. "Oh. Oh my God, Stefan!" I exclaimed sympathetically.

"Grace!?" Elena shouted again.

"Grace, what's going on down there?" Caroline demanded. I quickly unlinked the heavy chain from around my waist and looped it around Stefan's bobbing torso, making sure that it was linked together securely before shouting back up to the top.

"Quickly, guys! I found him. He's in pretty bad shape, so pull him up as quickly as you can!" I instructed.

Caroline didn't waste time, and immediately starts to pull the chain up from the well. Slowly, Stefan's unconscious body was raised up into the air, only swaying slightly and bouncing lightly off the stone walls. While this was happening, I immediately started searching for the moonstone. Stefan's still slightly smoking body eventually reaches the top of the well, and Bonnie unties Stefan and, with the help of both Caroline and Elena, places him on the ground.

"Grace? Ready for you!" Caroline shouted back down at me, flinging the chain back down into the well, where it splashed dangerously close to where I was searching.

"Give me a moment. I'm still looking for the moonstone." I told them. I groped around the cracks in the walls for the stone. When that failed, _very_ reluctantly started sifting through the debris and junk that was down here with me. I shoved aside old toys, rubbish, moss and algae, before stumbling upon what felt like a small wooden box.

"Hurry!" Caroline shrieked. I ignored her, as I picked up the little wooden box.

"Hey! I think I found it!" I announced. I grabbed the box. But just as I lifted it from the water, a large snake inches towards me … and I let out the loudest motherfucking scream I have ever uttered in my life.

"Grace! What's going on!?" Caroline sounded scared for me, and if it wasn't for the fact that I was facing off against a snake, I probably would've been touched. My screams reverberated off the walls just as the pissed off snake attempted to wrap itself around me. However, I manage to throw it off. Another snake crawls up my arm, causing me to back up against the wall out of reach from the snake, and snatched the box out of its hiding spot. I groped around desperately for the heavy chain and secure it around myself.

"I've got it! Come on! Bring me up!" I urge, trying to swallow the bile rising in my throat. Caroline reels me up, and by the time I got to the top, Bonnie was there to help get me out of the well. I immediately started looking for both Elena and Stefan, and spotted them not too far away and leaning against a nearby tree. Stefan's condition had long since improved since the last time I had seen him back down in the well; but he still didn't look good. "Oh, God! Stefan!" I whispered, and went over to his side. Elena was cradling his head underneath her arm as Bonnie, Caroline and I came over to them both. "Jesus…" I muttered, and my eyes widened when I noticed Elena snatch up a sharp rock from nearby and sliced open her hand with it.

"Elena! What are you doing!?" Bonnie protested as Caroline immediately turns away to avoid the stench of Elena's blood camping out in her still slightly vulnerable nose. Elena ignores Bonnie as she places her wrist to Stefan's mouth. Almost immediately, his eyes fluttered open and he starts drinking from her.

"Stefan, it's gonna be okay. Everything's gonna be okay." Elena promised her boyfriend.

I shuddered with disgust, as did Bonnie before getting to my feet and wondering back over to where I had discarded my jacket and purse, and put my jacket back on. I shoved the box into my purse; waiting for the right opportunity to give it to Damon so we could study it further.

* * *

Once Stefan had consumed enough of Elena's blood to be able to stand up unsupported, the four of us escorted him back to my car, whereupon I drove both Bonnie and Elena back to their homes. Damon was bound to be through with torturing Mason by now, so I wasn't worried about stumbling in on something that was bound to gross me out, or scar me for life… I hoped.

No sooner had we arrived at the Boarding House, did Caroline immediately flash inside to see her mother. Both Stefan and I were a little surprised but it was short-lived as we both made to get out of the car.

"You sure you're okay, Stefan? You don't need any help getting out of the car?" I asked him. Stefan looked amused by the question, but shook his head. He offered me an appreciative smile instead.

"No, thank you Grace. But thanks for the offer. Elena's blood did the trick." He reassured me, and proved this by getting out of the car and zipping to my side and opening the car door, before I had the chance to blink. I let out an impressed chuckle before I accepted his offer to help me out of the car instead.

"Show off." I teased, as I closed the door and locked it with my key fob.

Stefan simply shrugged, looking unfazed. But that quickly changed when we walked inside and into the parlour. Damon was in the process of making a human burrito with Mason's bloodied and slightly mangled body in a blanket. He glanced up at us and it became very obvious that Damon was no stranger to torture and the clean up afterwards.

"What are you doing back here so soon?" He questioned me, seemingly ignoring Stefan's presence. I shrugged.

"Retrieving the moonstone … and saving his arse." I replied, a little tiredly. Damon immediately frowned at this.

"What do you mean? What does she mean by that?" Damon demanded to both Stefan and I, as he comes over and starts obsessively checking me over for any obvious injuries. I pushed him away as Stefan sighed.

"Grace is fine, Damon." He reassured him. Damon freezes around near my knees and straightens up, glaring at the both of us.

"Then what the hell happened here?" He asked, pointing at my knees. Both Stefan and I glanced down at them and saw drying blood clotting on my kneecaps.

"Oh, that." I mumbled.

"Explain." Damon demanded. I glowered at him.

"First of all, not even my own mother fussed over me this much, and she could win the gold medal in being pedantic." I told him, evenly. "Secondly, Stefan tracked down the moonstone in an abandoned well on the old Lockwood property. But unfortunately the well also happened to have vervain in it. Do I need to go on?" I asked, indicating that the rest of the story should be fairly obvious.

Damon rolled his eyes.

"Only you Stefan would get yourself into this much trouble." He stated.

"Oi! Be fair, we did find the bloody moonstone after we rescued him, thanks very much." I retorted, a little defensively. I reached into my purse and withdrew the wooden box, holding it up to eye level. All three pairs of eyes watched as I opened the box and raised an eyebrow at what I saw inside. The moonstone itself was small; about the size of a cake of transparent pearly white soap. I held it up. Damon was not impressed or amused.

"All this for that?" He scoffed.

"Yep." Stefan confirmed as I handed over the stone. "I see you've exercised your usual restraint." He observed. Damon shrugged.

"Had to be done." He picks up Mason's phone, which he immediately throws at me. I fumbled around to get a grip on the phone so it didn't take a nosedive to the ground.

"Why are you giving this to me?" I asked, looking at him strangely.

"So you can text Carol." Damon replied, like it should've been obvious. I frowned at him.

"Why can't you do it?" I asked him, as I flipped open the phone and scanned the names until I came across Carol's. Damon finished rolling up Mason in the blanket, and packed away the heavy silver chains into Mason's duffle bag.

"I'm kinda busy right now." He replied, and I sighed before typing the first thing that came to my head. I just hoped that it didn't suck.

"Okay then. _'Carol, big opportunity in Florida, I'm gonna be gone for a long time. Will send for my things once I get settled. Much love, Mason.'_ How's that?" I asked both Damon and Stefan.

Both of them nodded, before turning towards the corpse.

"Let's get rid of the body." Stefan suggested. I was about to flip shut Mason's phone when I noticed something dated back a few hours ago. It was an unknown number.

"Hey. Mason received a phone call from an unknown number a few hours before you brought him here for interrogation." I reported. Frowning, Damon came over and took the phone from me, scanning the last number. Then a calculating smirk spread across his handsome face that made both Stefan and I stiffen with dread.

What was he up to now?

"I wonder who that could _possibly_ be?" Damon wondered before pushing redial. Almost immediately, Stefan dashed forward to snatch the phone from him, but the call was picked up before he could. It wasn't the first time, I resented the fact that I didn't have enhanced vampire hearing. So I turned to the next best thing, who was standing next to me looking panicked.

"Who is it?" I asked Stefan.

"Katherine." Stefan replied back simply, and I cringed with horror.

All I could do was watch Damon's face go from being cocky and triumphant, to stricken and regretful for the duration of the phone call. So that by the time he had hung up the phone; we all knew that Damon had just fucked up big time. About a few minutes later, after Damon and Stefan had appropriately (I assumed) disposed of Mason's body, Stefan had received a phone call from a distraught Elena. I didn't think he needed to listen to what Elena had to say for very long before the cautious expression on his face instantly changed to grief, and tears formed in his eyes.

"Stefan? Oh God, what the hell happened?" I demanded, coming over to his side. Damon walked back into the room, summoned by my horrified outburst. There was a serious expression on his face as he waited for Stefan's explanation.

"It's Jenna. Katherine compelled her to stab herself in the stomach, while pretending she was Elena. Oh, God!" He reported, and I immediately hugged him while looking at Damon with shock. I was even more shocked by the guilty and horrified expression on Damon's face. It didn't take long before Elena walked into the library, and Stefan broke away from where I was attempting to comfort him near the Salvatore's enormous fireplace, towards his girlfriend.

The poor girl's eyes were red-rimmed and puffy; an indication that she had been in tears. Damon had wondered over to the window, probably feeling like a complete arse for provoking Katherine's wrath in the first place. "I'm so sorry." Stefan told Elena, as he attempted to hug her. But she took a step away from him, shaking her head. Damon had turned towards Elena the second she had come into the Library, and he walked over to stand by me; placing a restraining hand on my shoulder when I instinctively went over to comfort her. I looked at him for an explanation, feeling mystified, but Damon seemed adamant that I did not interfere with Stefan or Elena.

"We were stupid. Sneaking around, thinking that we weren't gonna get caught." Elena muttered quietly underneath her breath, and fidgeting with the sleeves of her shirt.

"I know." Stefan agreed, respecting the distance Elena was maintaining between them. Elena looked up at him, looking angry. But I didn't believe that it was directed towards Stefan. If anything, she looked like she blamed herself for what had happened to her Aunt.

"We did this, Stefan." Elena told him, firmly. "Jenna's in the hospital and Jeremy could be next. All because we didn't – we didn't listen to her. Because – because we're together." I heard Damon swear underneath his breath, and Stefan sagged in defeat. What Elena had been saying to Stefan, sounded a lot like she was breaking up with him. "Stefan…" Elena began.

But he interrupted her.

"I know what you're gonna say to me." He stated, sadly. Elena nodded and walked closer to him, regret very plain on her pretty olive face.

"Then let me say it." She urged. "I've been so selfish because I love you so much, and I know how much you love me." Elena tells him. I could sense a 'but' forming on her lips. "But it's over. Stefan, it has to be." She said, firmly. I could see the heartbreak clearly on both their faces.

Katherine had a lot to answer for.

The tears were now streaming down both their faces, and I glanced over at Damon. He looked extremely vulnerable and devastated, despite the fact that it was his brother who was having his heart ripped out by the woman he loved; not him.

"Elena, I…" Stefan attempted to protest, but Elena immediately shuts down.

"Don't, Stefan." She grabs his face in her hands and wipes away the tears in his eyes with her thumbs. "It has to be." Elena insisted, hesitating before she gives Stefan one last kiss goodbye before pulling away. She gives him one final look before walking out of the room. Damon and I hurry after her. In the hallway, both Damon and I see Elena clutching at her stomach, shaking and crying. But just before she could open the front door, Damon stops her. Elena turns and looks at both of us. I was trying to think of something to say to her to convince her not to go, and to think about what she was giving up. But I was drawing a colossal blank.

Thankfully, Damon had plenty to say.

"Elena. I riled Katherine up. I-I wasn't thinking." He pauses then amends what he said. "I didn't _think_."

'A' for effort.

Damon at least attempted to apologise for his less than thoughtful actions that led to an innocent person being compelled to hurt themselves. He was learning; that's the main thing. But it seemed Elena, was not swayed. She turns away from him.

"It doesn't matter, Damon. She won. Katherine won." Elena declared before walking out of the front door and closing it behind her. I sighed with frustration and grief.

"What do we do now?" I wondered, glancing at poor Stefan who was now brooding and staring into the flames in the fireplace. Damon shook his head.

"At the moment, there's nothing we can do. Elena's right; Katherine has won." Damon sounded indifferent, but I knew that he was kicking himself in the arse for this.

"So, we're just gonna fall back and regroup?" I demanded. "For how long exactly?" Damon shrugged.

"As long as it takes." He tells me. I didn't like it, but had no choice but to accept it for now. I walked over to where I had set aside my purse and jacket and made to leave. But first, I went over to Stefan.

"Hey." He glances over to me, trying and failing to erase the evidence that he had been crying. I smiled empathetically. I'd been where he was several times. So I knew that he would get through this. "You and Elena will get past this, Stef. You both are meant to be together. This is just a bump in the road for the both of you. I'm positive that once this situation with Katherine is resolved, you will be together again." I reassured him.

Stefan frowned at my optimism.

"How could you know that?" He asked, sceptically. I grinned.

"I've been where you are. This can only go two ways: you can get together again, and be really happy. Or, you go your separate ways. Only time will tell. But don't lose hope in the meantime." I warned him. Stefan didn't look like he believed me, and neither did Damon; but I knew what I was talking about. I also knew that I had overstayed my welcome, so I gave the distraught vampire a friendly hug and kiss on the cheek before making myself scarce.

"I hope you know what you're talking about, Grace." Damon sighed, before disappearing up the stairs and leaving Stefan to his own devices.

I just smiled and walked out, closing the door behind me.

* * *

The next few days were more than a little awkward, considering that everybody knew by now that Stefan and Elena had broken up, due to Katherine's scheming ways resulting in Jenna stabbing herself in the gut with a kitchen knife. I really didn't want to be involved in this drama more than I already was; so I decided to distract myself by painting larger copies of my sketchings on canvas, and displaying them around my apartment.

My favourite paintings were of the ones depicting my 'family portrait' and the sketch I recreated from memory (minus the face) of Niklaus. It was frustrating that I wasn't allowed to know the faces of my love and his siblings just yet… if at all. Because it made the paintings look incomplete and stick out like a sore thumb. Plus, I always got the same question every time:

 _"Why are their faces blank?"_ and every time, I would reply with the same answer:

 _"Because my memory is fuzzy, and I can't recall their faces for an unspecified reason. So I just accept it, and move on."_

A thoroughly dissatisfying answer, I'm aware; but there's nothing I can do about it. Today, however, was when my life started to change forever. It was a typical day, I was hanging my dried and completed paintings on the wall, with Henrik helping behind me.

"It's tilted a little to the left." Henrik pointed out, and I frowned and stepped down from my step ladder to check it out from his point of view. I was attempting to hang the picture of Henrik I re-painted. I smiled at him appreciatively.

"Thanks, sweetie." I told him and moved to straighten it. As I stepped down from the ladder, my phone buzzed and I snatched it up from the coffee table and saw that Damon had sent me a text.

 _Emergency. Meeting Boarding House. Come quickly! – D._

"What is it?" Henrik asked, looking over my shoulder. He frowned at Damon's message. "Emergency, huh? Sounds interesting. What do you suppose it is?" He wondered as I quickly typed back a response.

 _Be there soon – G._

"If I know Damon, and it's not very well, it can't be anything to jump up and cheer about. Not in this deceiving town." I replied, tossing my phone back down on the table and making a beeline for my bedroom to change out of my paint spattered jeans and T-shirt.

"Well, may I tag along? I'm feeling claustrophobic." Henrik asked, from behind my closed bedroom door. I scoffed.

"You're dead. You can't be 'claustrophobic'. But I don't see why you can't come along, it's not like anybody except for me can see you. Besides, I've been really enjoying strengthening our 'brother and sister' bond lately." I responded, immerging from the bedroom dressed in a simple white sundress that ended just above my knees, with my black leather jacket and black and white slip on canvas shoes. I rearranged my hair into a loose plait which I draped over my shoulder, and smeared clear lip gloss over my lips. "Let's go!" I told Henrik who immediately raced after me and was in the passenger seat of my car before I had the chance to deadlock and close my apartment door. "Damn, you really are desperate to go out." I observed with amusement as I got in.

"Yes, I really am." Henrik agreed as I put my car into gear and headed straight for the Boarding House. He was practically vibrating with excitement, and it made me feel a little bit guilty that I wasn't more social or at least made an effort go out somewhere with him. But I guessed that I could make up for that right now on this current part of our mutual adventure.

It was obvious he wasn't holding it against me; a fact that I was immensely grateful for. I managed not to get us lost and arrived at the Salvatore's about twenty minutes after sending back my text to Damon. I raised an eyebrow when I noticed that Stefan was only just arriving as well.

"Hey Stefan." I greeted my friend cautiously, as I closed and locked my car. He turned to look at me, a little surprised; but thankfully looking a little bit better than he had a few days ago. He smiled as I approached him.

"Nice to see you again, Grace." Stefan greeted me warmly as I hugged him. I pulled away, noticing Henrik standing beside him, looking relieved that he looked seemingly okay as well.

"Have any idea what's going on?" I asked him, as we both walked towards the front door. Stefan looked concerned, but also a little bit indifferent as well as he let us both inside the house.

"Not a clue. But it's Damon we're talking about here. It could be anything." He reminded me and I nodded, agreeing with him. We both walked into the parlour, and the first thing we noticed was Damon handing a shaking Caroline a glass of blood. I immediately went into mothering mode.

"Caroline? Are you alright?" I asked and sat beside her on the couch, placing a hand on her shoulder. Henrik sat in front of her on the coffee table, also looking concerned; and probably mildly frustrated that he was a ghost and physically unable to lend aid. Caroline shook her head, still tense and drinking from her glass. Stefan walked over to Damon, who was looking both pensive and highly annoyed about something.

"What happened?" He asked his brother. Damon didn't respond immediately and turned towards Caroline and me, and looking pointedly at Caroline.

"Go ahead, tell them." He encouraged her, before giving both of us a sardonic sneer. "You're gonna love this." He insisted. Stefan and I immediately tensed up.

"I saw Katherine today." Caroline eventually told us, and took another generous sip from her blood. Both Stefan and I narrowed our eyes. Henrik rolled his eyes and got up from his perch on the table, to go stand next to Damon.

"Where?" Stefan asked, gently, obviously sensing that Caroline was probably skittish as hell, and not coping very well with being cornered by Katherine, for whatever nefarious scheme the bitch needed her for.

"At the Grill." Caroline replied without hesitation. "I just stopped by to gawk and… quasi-stalk Matt." I winced. That probably went down like a lead balloon with Matt. "But he wasn't interested in talking." Caroline confirmed my suspicions. Damon made an annoyed grunt.

"Stop the teen drama, and get to it." He sounded irritated. Caroline nodded and immediately got to the point.

"So anyway, I had to pretend to use the bathroom even though I didn't really have to go because I'm a doofus." Caroline went off track again.

"Caroline… the point?" I reminded her, kindly.

"That's when Katherine cornered me in the bathroom while I was washing my hands." Caroline continued, making a face at the memory. "She wanted me to deliver a message to you all."

"What was the message?" Stefan asked, as Henrik and I listened eagerly to her response.

"Tell Damon and Stefan that I want the moonstone or I will rip this town apart until it rains blood." Caroline quoted Katherine. Damon cleared his throat.

"Tell them the rest of it." He urged.

"Tonight, at the masquerade ball." Caroline finished. Stefan frowned.

"She wants to do it in public." He stated. "Killing Mason threw her off guard."

Damon nodded in agreement. "She's running scared. What she did to Jenna was desperate. She's out of tricks."

I nodded, getting up and moving to stand between them.

"We can't underestimate her. I may not know her very much, if not at all. But I think it's obvious that if we're to take Katherine down once and for all, we have to play this smarter than her." I suggested. Caroline swivelled round on the couch to look at us.

She frowned with confusion.

"Couldn't we just give her the moonstone so she'll leave?" She suggested, obviously trying to be helpful. Almost immediately, the three of us shook our heads vehemently.

"That's not the solution to our problems." I told her, privately remembering that this stone was actually linked to Niklaus and his 'Hybrid Curse'. If Katherine somehow managed to get that back, the moonstone would more than likely be used as a bargaining chip to ensure her survival and freedom from him. Damon agreed with me (minus knowing about the link to the 'Hybrid Curse').

"Exactly. Katherine's not getting dick from us!" He vowed, furiously. "I've had it. I'm gonna go to the masquerade ball and I'm gonna kill her, tonight." He immediately went to go off and prepare for the Katherine smack down, but Stefan immediately stepped into his brother's path. The expression on his 17-year-old face was deceptively calm.

"You're not gonna kill her." He stated. Damon bristled instantly.

"Don't give me that goody-goody crap." He growled, ready to shove past his brother to make his preparations. But once again, Stefan intercepted him. I tensed, hoping that Damon didn't retaliate violently. Instead, he just looked dubious.

"Really?"

"Because I am." Stefan declared, an unnaturally evil smile spreading across his face that made Henrik, Caroline and I cringe away in shock.

* * *

After Stefan and Damon threw down the gauntlet and declared war against Katherine, it was time to rally the troops. Which included both Bonnie – for her grimoire and spell-casting skills – and Alaric – and his arsenal of vampire hunter weapons. However, Jeremy also came along with Alaric; and Damon was about to protest his presence at the Boarding House, before he remembered how much help he had been in gathering information about the moonstone.

I was examining the weapons; eying the medieval style swords with interest as a very fuzzy memory started playing through my thoughts like an old movie projector that was on the fritz. I had no idea what it entailed, but I had been involved somehow along with two other men who were sword fighting in the memory. A very nostalgic smile spread on Henrik's face the second he realised what I was doing. It made me wonder if we were remembering the same memory of two young men in medieval garb sparring playfully, but fiercely with swords.

"Be careful, Grace." Henrik warned me; his eyes widening with deep concern as I hefted the heavy steel sword off the table and experimented with it. There was a knock at the door, and Caroline goes to answer it. A few minutes later, Bonnie appears alongside Caroline, carrying a large heavy looking brown book in her arms. She did not look at all happy that she was there.

"I got Stefan's message." Bonnie announced, drawing everyone's attention towards her. Stefan smiled at Bonnie, coming towards her and looking grateful.

"Hey, you brought the grimoire. Thank you." He tells her, graciously. Bonnie nodded once before spying both Damon and Alaric talking, and then notices me sparing clumsily with the broadsword. Her eyes widen at the amount of weapons on display on the table.

"What's going on?" Bonnie asks, looking both curious and nervous. Jeremy walks into the room, brightening when he sees Bonnie.

"We're gonna kill Katherine." He explained to her. Bonnie frowned as Stefan steps forward, looking sheepish.

"I can explain." He reassured her.

"Please." Bonnie urged.

"We're gonna kill Katherine." He repeated what Jeremy said, causing both Henrik and I to snort in amusement.

"No kidding." I told him, sarcastically. Stefan ignored me, but I could see a very tiny smirk on his lips. Damon and Alaric chose that moment to walk into the room. The amateur Vampire Hunter picks up a strange looking weapon from the table. He holds it up so that all of us could see it. I came back over to the table, and put the sword down just before Alaric started explaining how the weapon worked.

"This works with compressed air." Alaric explained. "The trigger mechanism is up here." He points towards a specific area of the weapon. "I have two of these in a different size. For you I recommend this. It fits nicely under the jacket sleeve. You use the trigger when you're ready." Alaric told us all, but mostly focusing on Damon and Stefan. He then he turns and fake kills a dummy that he had rigged up to pretend to be a vampire. Both Damon and Stefan make a face and turn to look at each other.

"That's badass." I complimented him, earning a slightly bemused smile from Alaric. His response to my comment was to shrug, modestly.

"You wanted me to show you how to kill a vampire." He reminded us. Bonnie sighed tiredly and pulled Stefan aside while the rest of us continued our preparations. Eventually, we all relocated to the Salvatore's living room. There was one more thing that we needed to discuss: who was going to distract Elena, so she didn't accidentally burst in at the wrong moment and ruin our plans of taking down Katherine once and for all. Turns out it was going to be Alaric, while the rest of us got dressed up for the party. I was feeling extremely uncomfortable by the mere thought.

"Hey." I glanced up from where I wondered off to, and saw a concerned looking Damon looking back at me. "Why are you back here?" He asked, gesturing at why I was sitting in the kitchen of all places.

"I don't think I'll be going to the ball with you guys." I told him, feeling a little regretful. It was weird, because I normally love dancing and the whole nine yards; but something was telling me that it would be a bad idea to dress up and go ahead with it.

"Why? Don't you like parties and dancing?" Damon asked, frowning a little. I smirked.

"Oh yeah. Throw in assassination plans, and I'm sold." I teased, earning a sly smirk back from my best friend. I became serious. "But I don't think tonight's my night. I think I'd be better use helping Alaric distract Elena." I told him. Damon seemed disappointed with my choice. He reached down and took my hand in his.

"Well, that sucks. I was going to save the first dance for you." Damon told me. I raised an eyebrow at this.

"In between cornering Katherine and stabbing her in the heart with sharp wooden stakes?" I was surprised.

Damon grinned.

"Damn, you found me out." He teased, but then sobered. "If that's what you want, I won't stop you. Just keep Elena safe, and yourself too." He urged me. I nodded.

"Of course. I'm not that much of an idiot." I said, pretending to be offended by the mere suggestion. He chuckled and brought me into an affectionate hug, before leading me back into the living room. Henrik looked at us strangely, but shook his head and followed us in.

"Are you sure you guys don't want me there tonight?" Damon and I overheard Alaric questioning our decision to Stefan. Stefan shook his head, confirming the decision; that was about to be slightly changed.

"No, I need you to stay with Elena. I don't want her to know about this." He requested, sotto voce. Damon sidled up to them both, with me by his side.

"Correction: You _and_ Grace need to stay with Elena, and keep her distracted." Damon said. Stefan looked at me with astonishment. But Alaric shrugged.

"Okay. Well, we'll make sure that she doesn't leave our sight." Alaric agreed, and I nodded in agreement to the plan. The four of us re-joined the rest of the group.

"Alright. If anybody wants to back out, I'll understand." He announces.

"Yeah. Cold feet speak now. I don't want this going wrong if someone chicken's out." Damon adds, before looking pointedly at Caroline, who scowls in offence.

"I won't." She protests. "Look, she killed me. Fair's fair." Then she paled even further than she already was. "As long as there's no werewolf running around." She added, looking nervous.

"Oh, I took care of Mason." Damon reassured, dismissively.

"As long as Tyler doesn't kill anyone, he won't turn." Jeremy also reassured. Stefan turns his attention towards a quiet looking Bonnie.

"Bonnie? Are you with us?" He asked tentatively. There was a long pause, before Bonnie eventually sighed and nodded.

"But no one gets hurt." She warned. Damon nodded in agreement.

"Except Katherine. Tonight Katherine gets a stake through her heart." Damon declared, darkly. Henrik sidled up to me and whispered ominously into my ear.

"Why do I get a bad feeling about this entire situation?" He asked, frowning deeply. I couldn't deny that I was feeling exactly the same way, which was why I opted out and volunteered myself for 'Elena watching' duty.

* * *

An hour later, Alaric and I made it to the Gilbert House (a large pizza in tow) to implement operation: 'distract Elena' into play. So far, the girl in question was completely ignorant of our plans and was blissfully (if not slightly miserably) focusing all her attention on Jenna. Our excuse for being there? To see how Jenna was holding up after her traumatising experience a few days earlier.

The excuse seemed to have been bought.

Eventually, Alaric and I found ourselves tidying up in the kitchen. Henrik followed, acting like my personal shadow. He kept on casting nervous looks between here in the kitchen and out in the living room. We had 'volunteered' for the job so we could discuss our next course of action to prevent Elena from pulling a fast one. The kitchen door was deliberately left open, and we could both hear the conversation in the living room between Elena and Jenna.

"I feel like an invalid." Jenna complained, and I couldn't help but notice Alaric wince a little. I figured he was probably still beating himself up over the fact that Jenna had been used to hurt herself in the first place. We heard Elena sigh.

"That's because you _are_ an invalid." There was a brief pause, then: "Where's Jeremy? Isn't he hungry?" Elena sounded a little concerned, probably because Jeremy hadn't been around all day. But both Alaric and I knew better; the youngest Gilbert had been helping us making our plans to take down Katherine. But I found it interesting that for the few days that I hadn't seen Elena, that all of her friends had kept her out of the loop with practically everything.

Bad move. They should know by now that Elena was like a curious cat; always sticking her nose into business that wasn't hers, and stopping at nothing until she was satisfied with what she had uncovered.

"He already left for the Lockwood party." Jenna replied, sounding distracted by the TV show.

"He went to that?" Elena sounded surprised.

"Yeah, I'm glad. He needs to have more fun. Lose some of that emo thing." Jenna sounded relieved. Both Alaric and I cursed when Elena didn't say anything for several minutes, and I immediately panicked when Elena suddenly piped up with:

"I'm gonna get some napkins." I nearly jumped out of my skin when Alaric suddenly touched my shoulder, grabbing my attention.

"Relax, Grace. I've got this." He promised. I nodded, not entirely convinced. Elena appeared in the kitchen with a suspicious look on her face. She scowled at the both of us with curiosity.

"What's going on?" Elena demanded. Alaric offered Elena an innocent face.

"What do you mean?" He asked, calmly. Her scowl deepened.

"I haven't heard from anyone all day. It's like everyone's been avoiding me and now Jeremy's supposedly at the party? He hates stuff like that." Elena insisted.

"We don't know what to tell you, Elena." I attempted to placate the already highly suspicious teenager. Alaric's phone chooses that moment to ring and he grabs it and puts it in back pocket before Elena had the chance to snatch it and answer the phone call. Elena narrows her eyes at us, and I nervously watch her like a hawk, before in a blink of an eye, her hardened demeanor became sweet and unassuming. Both Alaric and I were instantly alert and on guard.

"So then you'll be okay if I just head out, try to meet up with everyone?" Elena addressed Alaric, as he was the elder adult in the room, and immediately made a deliberate beeline for the kitchen entrance.

"Wait, wait, wait." Alaric objected as I blocked the doorway, fixing her with a 'let's be serious' frown. Elena turned on us.

"What are you both hiding from me?" She demanded. Both of us sighed, before deciding to come clean; not that we'd be letting her go after confessing of course.

"Stefan asked the both of us to keep an eye on you, just in case Katherine showed up while he was at the party." I explained to her.

Elena looked outraged.

"So Stefan's at the party too?" We nodded solemnly. "He would never go to the party for himself; he did that stuff for me." Elena protested.

"Just let this one go. Okay Elena." Alaric stated firmly, causing Elena to storm off back into the living room.

"She's not going to let this go you know." I told him, walking over and perching myself on the island bench as Alaric turned and continued stacking the dishwasher. He scoffed.

"Not a chance. We'd be foolish to believe that she'd take this lying down." Alaric agreed. I sighed feeling resigned to be babysitting a stubborn teenager for the duration of the night.

"I'll watch her, follow her if I need to. I'll make sure she doesn't do anything stupid." I told him. Alaric seemed to be thinking along the same and nodded reluctantly.

"You be careful too. Damon will rip my heart out if you got hurt." Alaric told me seriously. I raised an eyebrow at this and looked at him incredulously.

"He seriously said that to you?" When he nodded, I massaged my temples, and glanced at Henrik who shook his head, agreeing with me. "I'm going to have a word with him about that." I muttered, before heading down the hallway towards the living room.

* * *

True to form, Alaric and I were indeed correct in our suspicions about Elena making a run for it. I was prepared for this. I would allow Elena to sneak out, and follow her in my car towards the ball… then catch her and drag her back to the Gilbert's kicking and screaming if I had to.

"Hey guys, I'm gonna go to bed. You all good over there?" She asked Alaric and Jenna, who were curled up on the couch watching the TV. Jenna raised a lazy hand into the air and waved.

"Good night." She replied tiredly, and made herself comfortable back in Alaric's arms. Elena turned to where I was sitting on the second couch, with Henrik leaning against my shoulder also watching the TV. She offered me a small smile.

"Good night." She told me before heading for the staircase. But I knew better, I nodded at Henrik; whom got off the couch and followed her. We had agreed an hour before that if Elena made an escape attempt that he'd tag along with her, and I'd follow them. I heard the jangle of her car keys and then the front door opening and closing. I let out a fake yawn and got to my feet.

"I'm beat. I'm gonna head home." I told both Jenna and Alaric, eying him meaningfully. He nodded.

"Thanks for coming by, Grace." Jenna told me. "Have a good night." She bid me. I grinned.

"I sure hope so." I replied before grabbing my purse and keys and heading out also. The second the front door closed behind me; I practically sprinted for my car, dove in and put the car in gear heading for the Lockwood Estate.

To my relief, I wasn't that far behind Elena, and when she got out and slammed her car door shut, I was minutes behind her following. I watched Elena scanning the crowd of glamourous party goers (inwardly glad I had opted out of this) and followed her when she spotted her target: Jeremy. She grabbed her brother's arm and spun him round on the spot.

"What the hell is going on?" She demanded him. I tapped her on the shoulder, causing her to spin round and fix me with both a horrified and guilty expression.

"My thoughts exactly, Elena. What the hell were you thinking?" I demanded. Elena immediately frowned.

"You followed me?!" She yelled.

"Of course. I'm supposed to be protecting you from any potential danger here, not allowing you to go gallivanting off towards it. We need to go now!" I insisted. But Elena shook her head.

"Not until I get some answers." She replied angrily, before turning on her long-suffering brother. "You guys are trying to kill her here?" Jeremy sighed.

"We saw an opportunity and we knew we had to take it." Jeremy explained. Elena looked between the three of us like we were insane.

"Okay, stop with the 'we'. Are you guys crazy? You're gonna get yourselves killed." She insisted.

"And every second you stand here arguing with us, you're risking your own skin as well." I countered. Bonnie nodded, agreeing with me.

"We know what we're doing, Elena." Bonnie told her.

"And how am I supposed to feel if one of you guys gets hurt because of me?" Elena wailed. Jeremy looked frustrated.

"It's not just you anymore, Elena. She's messed with all of us, she has to be stopped." He insisted. Suddenly, Elena screams and blood blossoms thickly and freely over her back, alarming all of us. I cursed, grabbing onto Elena before she could tumble over. Blood suddenly starts trickling down her arm in a steady rivulet.

"What's going on?" Jeremy demanded, as he attempted assist me with Elena. Then Bonnie's eyes widen in realization.

"Jeremy, it's Katherine. She's linked to Katherine, get them to stop! Now!" She urged, and Jeremy takes off running. Elena whimpers in pain in my arms.

"Shush, sweetie. You're okay, I've got you." I murmured soothingly in her ear as Elena shudders from the pain. Suddenly, a cut appears on the palm of Elena's hand, bleeding freely and coating my own hand a vivid red.

"It hurts…" Elena whimpers, sinking to her knees and pulling me down with her.

"I can't break the spell, Elena. I'm sorry but I can try to take some of the pain away. Okay? Okay?" Bonnie promises, before taking her uninjured hand and starts casting a spell. "Ascinda, mulaf, hinto, ascinda…" She chants over and over. Jeremy returns and looks earnestly into his sister's pained face.

"Are you okay?" He demands, not unkindly. Elena looks up at him.

"Are they?" Jeremy nods.

"They're stuck in there with her." He tells us before looking at Bonnie with a furious look. "You were right; Katherine had a witch link Elena to her." He reported back. Bonnie's eyes widen in realization. It seriously made me wonder what the fuck had happened before Elena and I came down here.

"The girl I saw, the one inside!" She announced, triumphantly. "Stay with her, keep pressure on her shoulder!" She tells both Jeremy and I before racing off.

"Where are you going?" Jeremy asked her as he came over and unflinchingly pressed his hand on Elena's wound. Bonnie turned back to us.

"There's another witch here, I'm gonna find her!" She explained before continuing on her way. Jeremy cursed and looked at me helplessly before he noticed a rather gaudy ring on his finger. It looked like the same ring Alaric had been wearing. He immediately removes it and gives it to an alarmed Elena.

She protests.

"No."

"Take it." He insists.

"No, Jeremy…" Elena is stubborn, but Jeremy is persistent.

"Elena listen to me: you need this more than I do." He tells his sister. But Elena shakes her head at him angrily.

"No Jeremy. What I need is for you to be safe." Elena tells him, and Jeremy reluctantly puts the ring back on his finger. A few minutes pass, and Elena gradually stops shaking and straightens up; getting to her feet with some assistance from both Jeremy and me.

"Are you alright now, Elena?" I asked with deep concern. She nods.

"I'm fine, thank you Grace." She replied sincerely. Jeremy left while Elena was preoccupied with me, and soon after an extremely concerned Stefan approaches us, with eyes only for Elena. I immediately awkward.

"I'll just be over there." I told them. They nodded absently and I walked a short distance away and observed them. The conversation between them was a bittersweet one. Eventually, Stefan leaves looking a little upset and Elena walked over to me. "You okay?" I asked her, gently.

"Not really. Could you take me home?" Elena asks, quietly. I nod and wrap my arm around her shoulders, leading her towards my car. Suddenly, Henrik materializes in front of us.

"Grace! You and Elena need to get out of here! Fast!" He urges, and I frown at him questioningly. But before I could say anything something rushes by Elena and me, startling us both.

"What's going on?" Elena stammers, looking scared.

I open my mouth to reply but something hard slams into my head, knocking me for six. The last thing I recall before passing out was Henrik and Elena's frantic calls of my name, and a dark figure approaching Elena from behind and wrapping something across her mouth and nose.

* * *

 **A/N: Next chapter, we finally reunite with Elijah! YAY!**

 **Please review ;)**


	16. Elijah

**A/N: This is the chapter many of you have been looking forward to in your reviews: Grace and Elijah reuniting for the first time in a thousand years! YAY!**

 **Please review with your thoughts, but no flaming please.**

 **I don't own _The Vampire Diaries._ All characters (except for Grace) are owned by author L.J. Smith.**

 **Happy reading xx**

* * *

 **ELIJAH**

" _I will fight for my family until my last breath."_ _ **~Elijah Mikaelson.**_

* * *

The first thing that I remember was the splitting headache caused by a lump the size of an egg on the back of my head. Second, was the fact that wherever I was stowed in was completely pitch black and very cramped. And third, somebody was desperately trying to wake me up.

A very scared somebody I might add.

"Grace! Grace!" I groaned and swatted at the person's hands.

"Stop it, Henrik. Give me another five minutes." I mumbled groggily and tried to go back to sleep.

"Henrik? I'm not Henrik! It's me, Elena!" The voice whispered urgently. My eyes snapped open and I immediately sat up, forgetting where we were and smacked my head on something hard.

"Oh, fuck!" I cussed through gritted teeth.

"Are you alright, Grace?" Elena asked, worriedly.

"No, I am not." I replied, evenly. "Where the hell are we?" I demanded.

"I don't know. All I remember is that somebody grabbed me from behind back at the Lockwood Estate, and pressed something to my face." Elena explained.

"I remember somebody knocking me out." I went to feel around to get an idea of where Elena and I were, when I realised my hands and feet were bound. "Elena, can you move your hands?" I asked, not expecting that she could.

"No, my hands are bound." She replied.

"Thought as much." Suddenly whatever we were trapped in stopped, and I realised immediately we were in the trunk of a car. Even worse, the owners were headed our way. "Quick Elena, pretend that you're asleep." I instructed frantically and snapped my eyes shut just as bright lights flashed in front of my eyelids. Rough hands grab the back of my jacket and yank me out of the trunk. Next thing I know, I'm draped over somebody's really bony shoulder. It was digging into my stomach; and I was very close to vomiting down this person's back.

"Grace? Grace, can you hear me?!" It was Henrik. I nearly cry with relief. I crack open an eyelid and see Henrik racing after this bastard carrying Elena and I. "Oh, thank God!" He sighed with relief, then threw me a serious frown. "Listen, I know these vampires. They work for my brother." My eyes widen in shock; were Elena and I about to meet one of the Originals? I desperately wanted an answer, but I didn't dare open my mouth to ask so I clamped my mouth shut. He seemed to understand. "Don't worry, Grace. Help will be coming for you and Elena, sooner or later. I swear." Henrik promised. I didn't have time to nod, as our captive burst into a room and quickly deposited both Elena and I on a couch.

He immediately removes both our ropes.

"What do you want?" Elena immediately demanded. He scowls at her.

"Ssh!" He says, sternly. I glance at her with worry, the cuts and puncture wounds she had suffered when she was still magically tied to Katherine had started bleeding anew.

"Please, I'm hurt." Elena begged, and I mentally slapped my forehead. You don't alert a strange vampire to your injuries! Do you have a death wish?! As predicted, the vampire eyed her wounds with interest. My eyes narrowed in anger.

"I know. Just a taste." He immediately starts vamping out and leans down to bite on the wound on Elena's arm.

"HEY! Fang boy!" He stops and looks over at me, looking bored. "Don't you dare touch her!" I threatened him. He smirked, as Elena looked at me in horror.

"Why? You offering?" He asked. His smile was deceptively kind. I gave him a sarcastic one back as he approached me, thankfully leaving Elena alone.

"You wouldn't be able to handle me, mate." I retorted, getting to my feet and squaring off with him. He grabbed me by the throat and I struggled to get him to release me. Elena started squealing, which wasn't helping the situation.

"No, please! Stop!" She begged. Just then a female vampire with red pixie hair bursts into the room.

"Trevor! Control yourself." She warned him. Trevor rolls his eyes.

"Buzzkill." He mutters. He releases my throat and sends me sprawling back to the couch to be fussed over by a worried Elena and leaves the room. The female gave me a once over, and just as quickly dismissed me. But when she saw Elena she froze, eyes widening in horror and amazement.

"What do you want from with us?" I demanded, croaking slightly. She ignored my question, focusing on Elena.

"Oh my god, you look like her." She said, and I groaned in frustration. Great! If it's not one thing revolving around Katherine and Elena, it's another. Bloody fantastic. We've been kidnapped by a couple of vampires looking for Katherine.

Then I paused, rewinding back to what she had actually said and realised I had missed a crucial keyword in this vamp's statement. I swore colourfully underneath my breath. This meant that our vampire kidnappers were around when Katherine was still a human. And this also meant two things: 1) These vampires had to be at least, well over 500 years old, and I was stupid enough to provoke one. And 2) our presence here, meant that Elena's status as a Petrova Doppelgänger had been discovered and she was now in very grave danger.

Elena's eyes widened at the mention of Katherine.

"But I'm not. Please, whatever you—"

"Be quiet!" The vamp snapped, looking agitated and nervous. I grabbed her wrist.

"Elena, sweetie, I think she's aware that you're not Katherine." I muttered to her in a low voice, as to not piss off our co-kidnapper. She ignored me.

"But I'm not Katherine. My name is Elena Gilbert; you don't have to do this." Elena protested. I grit my teeth and tugged more insistently on her arm.

"Elena, enough!" I hissed. The vamp agreed.

"I know who you are, I said be quiet." She snapped again as she advanced towards Elena. I started to panic and got to my feet to calm Elena down, she tries to shove me off.

"What do you want?" Elena demanded. The answer she got was a swift, sharp smack in the face. Elena went down like a sack of potatoes on the couch, and was knocked unconscious.

"I want you to be quiet." The vamp replied. I immediately crouched by her side and smoothed back her long brown hair away from her face.

"Damn it, Elena." I cursed at her, and glanced up at our kidnapper warily wondering what she was going to do to me next.

"Don't worry. As long as you co-operate with us, we won't harm you." She reassured me.

I scowled back.

"Forgive me if I don't feel very reassured." I retorted. "Elena is a child. She doesn't even know that she's part of this ritual … yet." I explained, feeling protective. The vamp's eyes widened in shock.

"How the hell do you know about the ritual?" She demanded.

"I read, and I was also told by a good friend of mine." I replied.

"Who told you?" The vamp suddenly looked afraid. I rolled my eyes.

"I think I have an idea of who you're thinking told me about all this; but you'd be wrong, because I haven't met _him_." I reassured her. "I'm a medium. The friend who told me about the ritual is a ghost." Movement caught my eye and I swiveled my eyes to directly behind her to see Henrik, who was glaring at me with accusing eyes. I narrowed mine sternly at him before focusing on the vamp in front of me, who looked a little disbelieving.

"I don't believe you." She turned on her heel and walked from the room. Almost immediately, Henrik confronted me.

"Where do you get off telling her about me?" He yelled angrily. I picked up Elena's limp body and repositioned her more comfortably on the couch before taking a seat beside her on the floor.

"Henrik, you're making it seem worse than it is. Besides, you saw her, she doesn't believe me. The only thing that she knew I was 'telling the truth' about, was the fact that I read about the 'Sun and Moon Curse'." I told him. Henrik seemed to relax a little, but still looked angry. I sighed and reached for my purse, which thankfully I still had with me. Then my eyes widened when I remembered my phone and I quickly sifted through the contents of my purse. I silently cheered when I found it, but then deflated when I realised I had forgotten to charge my phone. So that was useless. I dejectedly dropped it back into my purse, and resumed looking for what I was really going into my purse for.

"Really? You're going to do some sketching right now?" Henrik said, dubiously. I nodded. "Why?" I glanced up and noticed a large mirror right across from where I was sitting, and I could see my reflection in the slightly dusty glass.

I wonder…?

"Well, I have several options: I could sleep, and risk them taking away Elena and ditching me wherever the hell we are now. I could pick the dried blood out from underneath my fingernails." I said casually glancing at my gore-encrusted hand which was still stained from Elena's blood. Henrik made a face at that. "Or I could sketch." I told him. "Now which seems like the better option?" I asked. Henrik was momentarily silenced.

"So what are you going to sketch?" He asked, curiously.

I grinned.

"Glad you asked. Could you do me a favour?" He nodded. "Step in front of that mirror over there." I asked, pointing towards the large mirror in front of me.

"Okay? Why?" Henrik walked over to the mirror and stood in front of it. To my disappointment, Henrik didn't cast a reflection.

"Damn." I muttered, then shrugged. "I'll just wing it." I got myself into a comfortable spot and started sketching. I glanced up to see Henrik staring at me, thoughtfully. I pat the space beside me on the floor. "Come and sit beside me." I asked him. Henrik nodded and came over sitting beside me and leaned his head against my shoulder. I frowned, wishing that he was solid. "So, a member of your family is coming here. You excited to see them again?" I asked him, trying to disguise the nerves and the worry I knew I had in my voice. Plus, the fact that this wouldn't just be a reunion between Henrik and them, it would be a very awkward (for me) and presumably shocking (for them) reunion between me and them.

"A little. Just wish it was under better circumstances." Henrik admitted. I hummed in agreement. "I wonder which one's coming?" He mumbled.

Then he fell asleep.

* * *

A couple hours later, I had finished my sketch and had decided to take a nap after all. It was an improvised picture of Henrik and me just leaning against each other (kind of like we were doing at the moment); which I had intended to draw even if Henrik had cast a reflection in the mirror. I woke up and stretched, glancing around at Elena who was still passed out on the couch behind us. It concerned me a little, and I wondered exactly how hard she had been hit. I turned to her, and checked her pulse. It was there, steadily beating away at the normal pace.

I felt instant relief.

"Grace? What are you doing?" Henrik mumbled groggily, and I glanced over to see him getting to his feet, yawning and stretching.

"Just checking on Elena. She hasn't woken up yet." I told him.

"Is she okay?" He asked. I nodded, smoothing back the girl's hair.

"She's alive. That's all that matters." I told him. Suddenly, I hear voices coming from upstairs.

 _"How are the girls?"_ I heard the female asking Trevor, sternly.

 _"The doppelgänger's still passed out. And last I checked the other girl was asleep."_ Trevor reported back.

 _"You didn't touch them, did you?"_ She asked. Trevor growled underneath his breath just as Elena started to stir.

"What's going on?" Elena mumbled, but I immediately clapped a hand over her mouth to prevent her from making more noise. She glared at me, then froze when she realised why I had silenced her.

 _"Give me some credit."_ Trevor bitched. There was silence for a few minutes before he started talking again. _"Why have we even got that other one? We only needed the doppelgänger."_ He demanded, curiously.

 _"Partly a mistake, and partly so there were no witnesses to leak out what we're doing with her."_ She replied, sounding a bit irritated. I bristled, and Elena laid a hand on my shoulder grabbing my attention. I looked at her and she pointed towards the door. I nodded, and helped her up from the couch.

 _"Right."_ Trevor sounded disbelieving. _"So, you called him?"_ Elena and I looked at each other, mouthing 'him?' simultaneously as we walked as silently as we could towards the stairs leading to the next floor up, with Henrik following; walking at a normal pace.

 _"No, I called one of his contacts. You know how this works."_ The female stated, getting increasingly annoyed with Trevor. I frowned. Were they talking about Niklaus? Trevor made an annoyed grunt.

 _"Did you or did you not get the message to Elijah?"_ He asked, talking to his partner like she was incredibly slow. The name Trevor mentioned rang a clear bell in my head. Why? I glanced over at Henrik for an explanation, but was shocked when I saw him avoiding direct eye contact.

I frowned; that was suspicious.

" _They say he got it."_ She confirmed. Elena and I walked up the staircase, still listening to the conversation.

 _"Wonderful and what?"_ Trevor asked, sarcastically. We got to the top and peered into the room where the voices were coming from. Trevor was lounging casually in an armchair with his legs draped over the armrest, glaring at his partner who was pacing like a tiger trapped in a cage.

"So that's it Trevor. He either got it or he didn't. We just have to wait." She retorted. Trevor swiveled in the chair and got to his feet.

"Look, it's not too late. We can leave it here. We don't have to go through with this." Trevor reminded her. I observed their mannerisms. Despite the both of them being annoyed with each other, they also seemed extremely nervous and paranoid about something.

Possibly this Elijah they mentioned?

"I'm sick of running!" She raged. Trevor immediately got in her face.

"Yeah? Well, running keeps us from dying." He insisted. But she shook her head.

"Elijah's old school. If he accepts our deal, we're free." She promised him. Elena takes a step backwards, and accidentally steps on a squeaky floor board. I tense when the female vamp's head snapped in our direction.

 _Shit…_

"You two! There's nothing around here for miles." She advances towards us, and I immediately push Elena behind me trying to shield her from the angry vampire. "If you think you're getting out of this house, you're tragically mistaken. Understand?" She growled at us. I nodded, maintaining a poker-face.

"Who's Elijah?" Elena asked, trying to get out from behind me. But I stopped her. Our captor fixed her with an unusual expression: pity and resentment.

"He's your worst nightmare." She told her, before she turned and stormed off. Elena and I looked at each other in confusion. We hurried after her and I found her first sulking in another room. I knocked politely.

"What do you want?" She spat, angrily. I stepped into the room, but maintained a distance between us both. She was still a strange vampire. I ignored her question.

"What's your name?" I asked, trying to inspire some calm among us. If we were going to be stuck here, at least we could be civil. She eyed me doubtfully. Elena found the room and blurted out the first question that sprang to her mind.

"Why am I here?" Elena demanded. Both our captor and I glared at her. "What?" She asked.

"Rose." She answered my question, then looked at Elena. "And you keep asking me these questions like I'm gonna answer them." Rose retorted to Elena, who scowled at her. I rolled my eyes.

"Why won't you?" Elena challenged.

"Elena…" I muttered underneath my breath at her. "Enough." I insisted. Rose smirked at Elena.

"That's another one." Elena threw her hands into the air, looking frustrated.

"You've got me, okay? It's not like I can go anywhere. The least you can do is tell us what you want with me." Elena requested, gesturing between us both. Rose paused, before answering Elena's request.

"I personally want nothing; I'm just a delivery service." Rose explained.

"Delivery to who? Elijah?" Elena asked, suspiciously.

"Two points to the eavesdropper." Rose said, dully. I sighed with frustration, and started pacing. That was how I noticed Henrik standing against the wall, watching the commotion emotionlessly.

"Who is he? Is he a vampire?" Elena asked, another question. Rose shook her head, looking mystified.

"He's one of _the_ vampires, the Originals." Rose explained. Elena looked confused.

"What do you mean the Originals?"

"Rose means the first ever vampires in existence. You know what I'm talking about Elena." I intervened, looking at Elena pointedly and making 'drawing' gestures with my hands. Elena's eyes widened in shock. Luckily Rose didn't catch on.

"Good. The Salvatores have been at least teaching you that part of vampire history." Rose observed. Elena looked at me accusingly, but I shook my head indicating for her to just let it go.

"So you know Stefan and Damon?" Elena asked, taking my advice. Rose shook her head.

"I know _of_ them. A hundred years back, a friend of mine tried to set me up with Stefan." I watched Elena's eyes narrow slightly. "She said he was one of the good ones. I'm more of a sucker for the bad boys though but I digress." Rose said, dismissively.

I grinned.

"You and Damon would get on well then." I commented. Rose looked at me curiously.

"Trevor and I have been running for 500 years. We're tired, we want it over." Rose told Elena, who looked scared. "We're using you to negotiate ourselves out of an old mess." Elena looked like her head was about to explode.

"But why _me_?" Elena insisted. _You're the doppelgänger._ I thought just as Rose echoed.

"Because you're a Petrova Doppelgänger. You're the key to breaking the curse." Rose confirmed. The blood drained from Elena's face.

"The curse? The sun and moon curse?" She breathed. Rose nodded. "What do you mean I'm the key? The moonstone is what breaks the curse." Elena protested. Rose shook her head, amused.

"No, the moonstone is what _binds_ the curse. The sacrifice is what breaks it." Rose explained. Oh shit. What a way to learn your connection to a curse.

"The sacrifice?" Elena whispers. Rose nodded.

"The blood of the doppelgänger. You're the doppelgänger. Which means, in order to break the curse you're the one who has to die." Elena didn't say anything for a moment, just stared into space. It's not every day that one learns that you're the key ingredient to something terrible.

"Elena?" I called out to her, concerned. Then her face went completely serious and I knew that nothing good could come of this.

"Tell me more." Elena demanded, taking everybody aback with her tone of voice. Rose gave me a look as if to ask me if Elena was for real. I smirked and nodded, causing Rose to sigh.

"Capacity has made her pushy, eh?" Both Elena and I glared at Trevor, who had just re-entered the room, while Rose rolled her eyes; obviously used to him. "What do you want to know doppelicious?" He asked Elena, flirting with her.

Elena ignored his advances.

"Who were you running from?" Elena asked both Trevor and Rose.

"The Originals." Trevor replied promptly, like it was supposed to be obvious. If it wasn't for the fact that I was best friends with, and was supposed to have become a member of the family of Originals myself a thousand years before; I probably would be just as eager to learn as much as I could. As such, I was hearing old news. But I wasn't going to ruin Elena's chances to learn more about what she was getting herself into.

Or rather _who_ was going to be dragging her into it.

"Yeah, Rose said that." I replied.

"We want to know what does that mean?" Elena asked. Trevor looked amazed by Elena's question.

"The first family, the old world. Rose and I pissed them off." Trevor explained.

"Mm-hmm." Rose nodded in agreement. I walked over to the nearest wall and leaned against it, listening to their conversation. Then suddenly, Henrik came into view.

"Grace. Show them the drawing of our family." Henrik suggested. I looked at him with surprise, as I pulled my sketchbook free. I hesitated. Trevor, Elena and Rose remained oblivious. "It's okay, Grace. It might help you in the long run." Henrik theorized.

"Actually, I pissed them off. Rose had my back, and for over half a millennium, they wanted us dead." Trevor continued. I decided to wait for a good moment.

"What did you do?" I asked, hiding the sketchbook for now.

"He made the same mistake countless others did: he trusted Katerina Petrova." Rose told us, looking at a guilty looking Trevor with disgust.

"Katherine." Elena realised. Rose nodded.

"The one and only, the first Petrova Doppelgänger." I smiled at them sympathetically.

"Don't feel bad. She's been screwing with everyone we know lately. We understand completely." I reassured them.

"Well, I helped her escape her fate and now I've, sorry, _we've_ been marked ever since." Trevor said, bitterly.

"Which is why we're not gonna make the same mistake again." Rose vowed, looking at Elena pointedly. The atmosphere went sour and I decided to play my ace.

"Is this the family you're talking about?" I asked them, drawing their attention towards the 'family portrait' I had created nearly a week ago. Both Rose and Trevor's eyes zeroed in on the picture as Elena gently took the book from me. Her large brown doe eyes widened in realization.

"You're telling me that your fiancé from your past life is a member of this group of Originals that's coming after me?" Elena sounded appalled.

I nodded.

"You're telling me you know them?" Rose sounded shocked.

Again, I nodded. "A thousand years ago I did. Now, I wouldn't know if I were staring at one if they walked passed me on the street."

"Which one is Elijah?" Elena asked the two older vampires. Rose took the sketchbook from her and studied each of the four men in the picture.

"He is." Rose said, pointing.

I came over and looked over her shoulder to see Rose pointing to one of the taller brothers in the back row. Elijah was apparently, the brother wearing the tunic with no sleeves, dark trousers and boots with leather wrist cuffs and a leather belt secured around his waist. His dark hair was long; just coming past his shoulders.

"Why are their faces all blank?" Trevor asked, frowning at the page. I rolled my eyes; this was the same question I have been asked, every time I showed these pictures to someone new. Rose and Elena continued looking at the picture.

"Most of the drawings in this sketchbook have been created from memories or dreams I've had. But every dream or memory I've ever had of these people or vampires have always had their faces blurred out so I can't recognize them." I explained.

"And which one of the Original brothers was your fiancé?" Trevor sounded skeptical. I frowned at him. So did Henrik who came over to see the picture again for himself. Without a word, I pointed to Niklaus. Almost immediately, both Rose and Trevor paled.

"That's not possible." Rose whispered and looked right up at me, almost afraid. "You're Gráinne?!" My eyes widened.

"I was once." I confirmed. "How did you know that?" She ignored my question.

"You're the one he's been searching for all this time?" I was starting to get annoyed. These were facts that I already knew. Before anybody else could say anything else, both Rose and Trevor fled the room, leaving Elena, Henrik and I behind.

Elena and I were bewildered.

"What was that about?" Elena wanted to know. I shrugged.

"I have no idea." I said. But I noticed Henrik had a nasty little smile on his face.

"I can't wait to see Elijah's reaction when he finally gets here." He chirped. I looked at him and rolled my eyes. Only he would find this amusing.

"What's that?" I noticed something white underneath Elena's hand. She looked down and picked up a piece of paper with a handwritten note on it.

"It's a note from Bonnie." Elena said, relieved.

"What does it say?" I asked. Elena unfolded it and eagerly scanned.

""Stefan and Damon are coming for the two of you." – B." Elena read.

I sagged with relief. Oh, thank god. We were getting out of here!

Hopefully, unscathed.

* * *

However, we weren't left alone for very long by either Rose or Trevor. Both of them burst back into the room, with Trevor looking extremely afraid.

"He's here!" He announced. "This was a mistake." He panicked. Rose came over to him and grabbed Trevor by the shoulders.

"No, I told you I would get us out of this. You have to trust me." Rose attempted to calm him down. But Trevor didn't believe her.

"No! He wants me dead, Rose!" Trevor insisted.

"He wants her more." Rose insisted, pointing towards Elena, who immediately paled. I pulled her aside, and made her focus on me.

"It's going to be okay, Elena. I won't let them hurt you." I promised her. She shook her head.

"How can you promise that?" She whispered with a small voice.

"I'm being optimistic." I stated. Trevor continued panicking, and I shook my head at his behavior. Was Elijah really as bad as they're making him out to be?

"I can't do this. You give him to her, he'll have mercy on you but I need to get out of here." Trevor made to run, but Rose intercepted him at the last second.

"Hey! What are we?" Rose asked him. Trevor hesitated before looking Rose in the eye, calming a little.

"We're family, forever." He told her. Rose nodded. There was a knock at the door that made everybody freeze. Except Henrik who immediately raced for the front door to see his older brother for the first time in a thousand years. Rose took a nervous glance towards Elena and me before turning her attention back to Trevor.

"Stay here with them and don't make a sound." Rose warned us before she left to answer the door. I closed my eyes and waited.

 _"Rose-Marie."_ A deep, very cultured European male's voice came from downstairs. My eyes widened in shock. _"Is there somewhere we can talk?"_ I could hear my heartbeat thudding ominously in my ears.

 _"Yes, in here."_ Rose replied, her voice wavering a little. _"You have to forgive the house."_ She apologized. Footsteps begin to climb the staircase.

 _"Oh, no, what's a little dirt? I completely understand."_ Elijah replied, politely. I frowned. He sounded a little too polite; a little too controlled. _"So tell me, what is it that gives you the courage to call me?"_ He inquires. Elena looked at me, panicking. I grabbed her hand and squeezed it in comfort.

"You're okay." I whispered to her. She nodded, but didn't look entirely convinced. Trevor was standing guard to make sure that neither of us attempted to escape, but at the same time he was shaking like a leaf.

 _"I wanted my freedom."_ Rose replied, bravely. _"I'm tired of running. You in a position to grant me that?"_ She requested of him, nervously.

 _"I have complete authority to grant pardon to you and your little pet."_ Elijah reassured Rose. _"What is his name these days? Trevor."_ Trevor flinched. _"If I so see fit."_ Rose delivered her ultimatum to Elijah.

 _"Katerina Petrova."_ She revealed. There was silence for several seconds, at which point the footsteps ceased as well. Elijah finally spoke again. This time his pleasant voice held a hint of darkness in it. Both Elena and I held our breath.

 _"I'm listening."_ He said, coolly. I had to imagine that Rose probably breathed out a sigh of relief when Elijah didn't rip off her head in his anger … or so I assumed, judging by the reactions of both Rose and Trevor before Elijah had even stepped foot into this house.

 _"She didn't burn in the church in 1864."_ Rose reported.

 _"Continue."_

 _"She survived."_ Rose told him. Elijah went silent again, and I squeezed Elena's hand. I dreaded to think what sort of reaction Elijah would have when he saw Elena.

 _"Where is she?"_ Elijah asked. The footsteps resumed their climb. I frowned, and I imagine Rose probably did too.

 _"You don't appear surprised by this."_ Rose observed. Elijah grunted.

 _"Oh, when you called and invited me into this armpit of civilization, which is a mere three hours from the town we know as Mystic Falls, I surmised it had everything to do with Katerina."_ Elijah explained, logically. I shrugged. What he said made perfect sense. _"Do you have her in your possession?"_ Elijah requested, in a no-nonsense tone that told me that if Rose and Trevor hadn't had Elena here, their lives would not be worth living for another 500 years.

 _"No, but I have better. I have her doppelgänger."_ Rose confirmed. Elijah went silent again.

 _"That's impossible, her family line ended with her. I know that for fact."_ Elijah replied.

 _"The facts are wrong."_ Rose argued.

 _"Well, show her to me."_ Elijah ordered Rose, starting to sound a bit impatient. Elena squeezed my hand so tightly that I let out a cry of pain and turned to look at her. She was absolutely terrified.

I offered her a comforting smile.

 _"Elijah, you are a man of honor, you should be trusted but I want to hear you say it again."_ Rose requested. I made a face. Was she serious? How many times did this guy have to reassure her that she wasn't going to die a horrible painful death? Was she that bloody paranoid? It was then that I realized that they were standing outside the door. I could hear the annoyance in Elijah's tone when he replied.

"You have my word that I will pardon you." My eyes widened. I was just seconds away from meeting the older brother of my fiancé. Rose seemed to have gotten the answer she wanted.

"Follow me." She requested. I held my breath as Rose walked back into the room, followed closely by a tall man dressed in a very expensive looking suit.

My mouth fell open.

I know his face.

It was the same face I remembered looking back at me with absolute horror when I witnessed him helping his parents curse Niklaus. It was the face I remembered looking down at me with both guilt and grief as I lay dying in my lover's arms. I couldn't wait to see what face he was going to be giving me when he looked at me right now. Elijah freezes when he sees Elena. His expression revealed genuine surprise and he rushes over to her. Elena doesn't move a muscle as Elijah examines her from head to toe, before smelling her neck.

"Human. It's impossible." He mumbles before pulling back and giving Elena a charming smile. "Hello there." Elijah greets Elena who doesn't respond. He then turns to look at me, and his eyes widen. A look of shock and disbelief comes over him. "Gráinne…" He whispers. He comes over to me and cups my face with one of his hands. "This is impossible, I saw you die." He told me, disbelieving. I was shocked when I saw tears in his eyes; but I wasn't sure if they were tears of grief or tears of joy.

I grabbed his hand and pulled it away from my face.

"You did. A thousand years ago, to be exact." I confirmed. Elijah's eyes widened even further. "My name is Grace. It's a pleasure." I told him, surprised that my voice remained calm. Elijah turned and frowned at both Rose and Trevor who visibly cringed.

"How is it that you've found her, when neither I nor my brother have been able to?" He demanded, coldly. I tapped his shoulder to gain his attention again.

"I'm standing right here. Why don't you ask me that question yourself?" I requested, matter-of-factly. Elijah studied me curiously.

"Forgive me, of course. Please enlighten me as to how you came here while we escort the doppelgänger to my brother." He smiled and grazed his knuckles across my cheek. "He will be most overjoyed to see you again." He told me.

I frowned and took a step back from him.

"Uh, the doppelgänger's name is Elena; and we are not going anywhere with you." I retorted. Elijah didn't drop the smile.

"Oh, my dear. You are as stubborn as you've ever been. But I'm afraid you have no other choice. He is waiting for us, and you know how impatient he can be." Elijah reminded me.

"Vividly. But we're still not going anywhere." I insisted, folding my arms across my chest. "If your brother wants us, he will have to come to us … himself." I challenged him, praying that he wouldn't kill me on the spot for defying him. Both Rose and Trevor shook their heads fearfully, and even Elena looked at me like I was nuts for talking back to an obviously powerful vampire. However, Elijah simply just chuckled.

"You are still most amusing, dear sister." He remarked, fondly. I scowled, not flinching at being called his sister. But I did notice Elena's eyes widen in astonishment when I responded to the term.

"I am not kidding, Elijah." I told him, firmly.

"Nevertheless, we have a long journey ahead of us. We should be going." He told both Elena and me, using a casual tone. I stood there gaping at his back. Did he not hear a word I just said? Henrik came running into the room.

"Grace!" I turned my head in his direction, indicating to him that I was listening. "I see you've reunited with Elijah." He grinned. I nodded, still frowning at Elijah who was now looking at Trevor calculatingly.

"I have and he is still as stubborn as ever." I remarked, quietly.

Henrik's eyes widened.

"Are you regaining your memories?" He breathed, shocked.

"Yes, I am." I confirmed. "But only of him. Everyone else is still blurry to me." I told him.

"Please, don't let him take me." I turned towards Elena who was pleading with Rose. Elijah grabbed everyone's attention.

"One last piece of business and we're done." He announced as he walked towards Trevor. Something told me that it wasn't going to end well.

"Uh, Elijah…" I tried to intervene, but Elijah raised a hand to stop me.

"In a moment, Gráinne." He shut me down immediately. It was like he knew what I was about to do. I barely held back my patience.

"It's Grace, and-"

"I've waited for so long for this day, Elijah. I'm truly, very sorry." Trevor groveled, interrupting me in the process. Elijah smiled at him, pleasantly. I didn't trust it. Now that I have gotten my memories of Elijah back, I now knew how my brother ticked.

"Oh no, your apology's not necessary." Elijah reassured him. Trevor didn't take the hint.

"Yes, yes it is. You trusted me with Katerina and I failed you." He insisted. I winced; didn't Trevor realize that he was just digging his own grave? Elijah nodded condescendingly.

"Oh yes, you are the guilty one and Rose aided you because she was loyal to you and that now I honor." But then the smile disappeared. "Where was your loyalty?" Elijah asked.

Trevor trembled.

"I beg your forgiveness." He pleaded. Elijah nodded his head.

"So granted." He agreed. Trevor relaxes and smiles. But then without warning, Elijah smacks Trevor's head clean off his body. My eyes widened in horror and I gasped. At the same time I clapped a hand over my mouth to stifle the sound. Rose on the other hand screamed bloody murder, while Elena just looked shocked by the vicious move. Henrik's reaction was a little tamer; he just looked sad.

"You!" Rose glared angrily at Elijah who narrowed his eyes at her in return.

"Don't, Rose, now that you are free." He warned her. He turns to look at both me and Elena. "Come along now." He orders us.

"How could you do that, Elijah?" I demanded, angrily. Elijah turns and looked at me sternly.

"He betrayed us, Gráinne, when he helped Katerina escape. That was his punishment." He explained, showing no remorse. I had no words to describe how utterly horrified I felt after witnessing what a vampire was truly capable of. However, it seemed that Elena had plenty to say.

"But what about the moonstone?" She asked, stalling. Elijah looked at her curiously.

"What do you know about the moonstone?" Elijah asked, suspiciously. I begged Elena not to look smug at that moment. Thankfully, she heeded my unheard advice.

"I know that you need it and I know where it is." She told him.

"Yes?" Elijah was listening.

"I can help you get it." Elena promised him.

"Tell me where it is." Elijah insisted. She shook her head.

"It doesn't work that way." Elena replied. Elijah raised an eyebrow.

"Are you negotiating with me?" He glanced at Rose inquiringly, as I quickly went over to Elena's side.

"Please, Elena. Don't push your luck. You already know what he is capable of." I told her, indicating towards Trevor's headless body. Elena looked at me with disbelief, but before she could do anything else, Elijah comes over to her and attempts to compel her. When it doesn't work, he looks at her necklace. I frowned at it too, having never seen it there before. Why did it look familiar?

"What is this vervain doing around your neck?" He accused her, before pulling the necklace off Elena's neck and throwing it away. He grabs her head and compels her. "Tell me where the moonstone is." He compels her.

"In the tomb, underneath the church ruins." Elena replied in monotone. I blinked; so that's where Damon hid the moonstone? Wait a minute, that's where we were going to hide Katherine!

 _Damon, you idiot!_ Elijah frowned at Elena's answer.

"What is it doing there?" He asked.

"It's with Katherine." Elena replied, still in that creepy monotone voice. Elijah smiled a little.

"Interesting." Suddenly, we hear the sound of glass breaking from upstairs. Elijah turns to Rose. "What is that?" He demanded. Rose looked confused.

"I don't know." She replied. Elijah didn't like that answer.

"Who else is in this house?" He demanded. Rose now looked scared.

"I don't know." She replied. Elijah grabs both Elena and me and we move to a different part of the house. Something moves around us with their supernatural speed. Henrik materializes beside me, looking anxious.

"It's Damon and Stefan!" He tells me. I groan; sometimes they have the worst timing. Elijah quickly throws Elena and me to Rose, and waits.

"Rose." Elijah asks with a warning tone in his voice. Rose looks flustered.

"I don't know who it is." She insists. A familiar voice interrupts.

"Up here." It was Stefan. Elena brightens.

"Down here." And there was Damon.

The next thing I know, Elijah has a stake shoved through the palm of his hand, and I'm flying backwards through the air with someone's arm wrapped around my waist. When I regain awareness, I realized I was standing in the shadows and I look up to see Damon's worried eyes looking back into mine. Beside me stands Rose looking bewildered. Rose and I are told to be quiet.

"Excuse me." I glance up at Elijah's voice. "To whom it may concern: you're making a great mistake if you think that you can beat me." Elijah tells both Damon and Stefan, as he walked calmly down the stairs wiping his hand with a white handkerchief. "You can't. Do you hear that?" He promises, before he breaks a wooden coat rack into a stake. My eyes widen. "I repeat, you cannot beat me." He emphasizes. "So I want the girl, and my sister." Damon looks at me with confusion. "I'm gonna count to three or heads will roll. Do we understand each other?"

I rolled my eyes.

Elijah was always so melodramatic.

I went to go and reason with my brother. Unfortunately, Damon had other ideas as he tightened his arm around my waist.

"Where do you think you're going?" He demanded. I struggled to get free.

"To reason with my brother." I replied. Damon's eyes widen.

"That was true?" He muttered. I glowered at him.

"Yes, Damon. It's true, now let me go!" I insist. But Damon just tightens his grip. "Damn it, Damon! I mean it!" He ignores me, just as Elena walks out at the top of the stairs. My eyes widen in dismay.

"I'll come with you, just please don't kill my friends. They just wanted to help me out." Elena pleads with Elijah who super speeds up to her. The stake is still in his hand.

"What game are you playing with me? And where is my sister?!" He demands, all civility gone now that family is being threatened.

Elena doesn't reply except to throw a vervain bomb in his face. It explodes, and I fight harder to get free. But all I can do is watch as Stefan appears to save Elena from being harmed by my brother. He shoots him with one of Alaric's compressed air weapons. It doesn't hurt Elijah so Stefan desperately throws the weapon at him and tackles him, causing them to tumble down the stairs.

Elijah gets to his feet quickly, but Stefan is still lying in a heap as Elijah advances. Suddenly, Damon's arm disappears from around my waist, and I see him reappear in front of Elijah with a giant stake and screamed as I watched as my big brother is staked to the front door.

"ELIJAH!" I screamed in horror, and run towards him; Henrik following too, looking just as horrified. Damon approaches me and places a hand on my shoulder, but I immediately shrug it off and turn on him. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?" I yelled in both fear and anger, before I turn and run out of the door.

* * *

 **A/N: Hope you've enjoyed this chapter. Please review. TTFN xx**


	17. Karma's a Bitch

**A/N: It's time to update, and discover what happened after Grace sees Elijah put out of commission by Damon.**

 **Author is seeking reviews. Must be from happy readers, with long lengthy sentences. Turn offs include: flaming :P  
Would like to meet reviewers with similar views! :P :P **

**I don't own _The Vampire Diaries._ All characters (except for Grace) are owned by author L.J. Smith.**

 **Happy reading ;)**

* * *

 **KARMA'S A BITCH**

" _A little girl seeks revenge. A real woman moves on while karma does her dirty work."_ _ **~Unknown Author.**_

* * *

Tears are streaming down my face as I run as fast as my feet could carry me, away from the sight of my brother's desiccated body pinned to the front door. But that wasn't why I was crying though. I knew that Elijah was only temporarily out of the game, thanks to Henrik forewarning me when we first started our journey to Mystic Falls weeks before. But I couldn't let Damon, Stefan or Elena know that I already knew this; It was bad enough that they probably already had dozens of questions ready to interrogate me with the minute we were miles away from the house, now that they knew that Elijah is my brother.

The real reason why I was crying, was because I had finally found another part of my long-lost family. I _was_ excited that Niklaus and I were just one step closer to reuniting again. But when it became clear that that reality was becoming more real by the minute, I realised I couldn't decide if that was a more terrifying aspect or an eagerly anticipated one. Despite what positive feelings or memories I might have shared with you before about Niklaus in the earlier chapters; whether or not this man _was_ my betrothed in another life, he is still a _complete stranger_ to me.

Seriously.

You can't expect me to just take a single glance at him (even if I did remember his face when I eventually see it, like I did with Elijah) and act like everything was going to be sunshine, daisies and those little blue birds from _Cinderella_ singing to her to get her out of bed in the morning and help her get dressed. OR even that messed up cliche where a couple instantly fall in love again at first sight after being separated for a long time, and end up running into each other's arms in slow motion, while Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Overture is playing in the background.

Ewww! Get real, people.

This is reality!

If I did that for real when I next saw him; Niklaus would probably turn tail and run screaming in the opposite direction!

Real life doesn't work like that. That only happens in cheesy romance novels or in Disney Princess movies where it is **_expected_** that the heroine of the movie would find her prince, they'd automatically find true love and get married, without getting to know one another first. For all I know, Niklaus has probably changed a hell of a lot from the man I once knew. Just like I've probably changed from who Gráinne used to be.

I'm definitely the same person who died all those years ago – I regained all my memories of my past life revolving around Elijah – but I believe that I'm probably a lot more cautious than the girl Henrik described to me. Not to mention, more than capable of defending myself in a fight instead of allowing myself to be chased screaming through the woods by a vengeful man whose pride had just been bruised, and being cut down without so much as swinging a fist.

I'd rather go down fighting off the person before I eventually lost the fight.

Still. Time will tell.

I know I still love him; with all my heart and soul. I always will. But I'd prefer to get to know him first on my own terms, instead of picking up where we left off. This time round, I've got friends; who unfortunately were currently running after me as we speak to make me see reason. This was a conversation I was _not_ looking forward to having in the car on the way back to Mystic Falls. But for now, I just needed to keep up the charade that I was shedding angry, distraught tears that Damon had 'killed' Elijah.

Time to earn that Oscar's statue:

"Grace! Wait a minute, please!" A hand grabs my shoulder, and I violently pull away and face the owner. It was Elena. I couldn't work out the look on her face. She was certainly very confused, but I had been expecting to see a look of betrayal there instead of sympathy.

"Go away, Elena. I don't want to discuss this." I warned her, before turning and striding away again. Suddenly, the wind went rushing by my head again; and I found myself being shoved up against Damon's convertible and held in a restraint. I gasped in surprise, and glared into hurt and suspicious icy blue eyes.

"Damon, what are you doing? Leave her alone!" Elena protested, coming over to pull him away from me. She was ignored.

"Why didn't you tell us before that you knew this guy?" Damon demanded. Here goes nothing. I drew in a deep breath to calm myself before responding.

"Because, if you can remember, I was unable to see the faces of my family from my former life. All I saw were blurry faces!" I yelled back. I groped for my bag and pulled my sketchbook free, flipping to the drawing of the 'family portrait' and thrusting it in Damon's face. "Remember this?" I told him. Damon paused, and released me from his grip and took the book from me. He studied the picture again with a steely gaze.

"What are you talking about?" Stefan demanded, looking over Damon's shoulder at my sketch. Elena pulled him aside.

"Grace is an old soul from a thousand years ago. She was once Elijah's sister-in-law; that's what he meant by 'my sister'." She told her boyfriend, who looked at me with disbelief. I reached over and grabbed the sketchbook back from Damon and stuffed it back into my purse.

"It doesn't matter anyway. You've killed him. End of discussion." I stated, firmly. I opened the car door and got into the backseat without a word. Henrik looked at me confusion.

"But you know that—" I put my hand up to stop him from speaking.

"Yes, I know. But for the time being, it needs to be like this. Just trust me." I insisted. Henrik nodded, still looking confused, as I turned my head to look out the car window to see that Damon and Elena having a verbal spat while Stefan acted as referee.

It occurred to me that Elena probably saw this as a repeat of what happened weeks ago to her. She reluctantly came over to follow me into the car. I immediately turned away and stared out of the window, pasting on a furious expression to hide what I was actually feeling: elation because I had finally gotten another brother back, and dread; because, yet again, Damon had put us firmly in the shit and put a vengeful Original vampire on our arses. _Thank you, very_ _much!_ I thought tiredly, and closed my eyes to feign sleep; but ultimately succumbed to it for real.

* * *

I woke up just as somebody was carrying me in their arms up the staircase of my apartment block. By the scent of bourbon, leather and the barest hint of blood plus a subtle woody masculine scent invading my nostrils, it was Damon. The anger I had been feeling when he had 'killed' Elijah, had only been temporary and had been forgotten on the car trip back to Mystic Falls.

"Have you calmed down yet?" Damon asked me, obviously knowing that I was awake. I groaned and buried my face into his chest, before lifting my head up when he stopped walking and placed me down in front of my apartment door.

"I'm always calm, and I'm not angry any more Damon." I reassured him, as I fished around in my pocket for my keys. "Doesn't mean however, that I agreed with how you handled the situation." I told him, quietly. Damon looked frustrated with my answer, and I wasn't about to amend what I had said just to make him feel better. When you mess with family, you take what you're given. But unfortunately, sometimes that meant death; something that I'm finding a little hard to swallow.

"What was I supposed to do? Let him kill Stefan and me, then run off with you and Elena?" Damon protested.

I gave him a look.

"No, of course not. You could've knocked him out." I told him, then realised how stupid that sounded to my own ears, and by the look Damon threw me. "Or at least tried." I amended, somewhat lamely.

"Yeah, right. Then who would help me pull my arms out of my ass afterwards?" Damon snorted. We stared at each other for several seconds before we dissolved into uncontrollable laughter. Henrik merely rolled his eyes and fazed through the front door into the apartment. It took a few minutes before we could control ourselves. Then Damon had a sober look on his face. Jokes aside, this was a very serious situation that could've resulted in Elena and I being taken to god knew where.

"Grace." Damon walked over the banister of the staircase and leant against it, crossing his arms over his chest. He looked extremely vulnerable. "You're probably the only friend I have in this town. Please, don't mess with that. I would do anything within my power to protect you … even if it means killing." Damon said. I dumped my purse on the floor with my keys and came over to wrap Damon in a tight hug. He had his faults, but I realised that he only had my best interests in mind.

"You're the best, Damon. Thanks so much for saving Elena and me. I just wished that my brother didn't have to suffer the consequences in order to achieve that." I said, sadly. Damon sighed, before pulling away and kissing my forehead.

"I'll let you get some rest now. Talk to you later." He promised before heading down the stairs.

I huffed and retrieved my keys letting myself inside. I found Henrik staring at the picture of our family, smiling wistfully. Then inspiration struck me. Without speaking a word, I grabbed my sketchbook from my purse and one of my sketching pencils and immediately sat down on the couch. I turned to the page I had angrily thrust into Damon's face minutes after he had staked Elijah, and after he and I faced off about me not being upfront about my sibling relationship with an Original vampire.

"What are you doing?" Henrik asked, when he heard the scratching of the lead of my pencil on paper. I didn't respond, trying to picture Elijah's face from this afternoon, and from my renewed memories. It only took a couple of minutes but the finishing result was Elijah's now perfectly clear face looking sombrely back at me from the page. "Why did you do that?" Henrik asked me, frowning a little at the random addition to the picture.

"Because that's what I'm going to do when we reunite with each one of our family members. I'm going to fill in their faces in both my sketchbook and on this painting." I told him, as I got up from the couch and dashed over to the canvas hanging on the wall beside my bedroom door, and pulled it down. I snatched up my art materials and filled in Elijah's face on the canvas. I frowned. "How long does it take for an Original vampire to reanimate, I wonder?" I asked Henrik rhetorically, around the paintbrush I had clenched between my teeth.

My youngest brother shrugged.

"I would not have a clue, Grace. I'm just glad my family is returning, and reuniting at last." He told me, grinning from ear to ear. "And I'm relieved that you are safe." He added.

"So am I. I almost forgot how ferocious Elijah can be when he's angry." I said, cringing at a specific memory that came to mind. Henrik came over and stood beside me while I used a delicate paintbrush to fill in Elijah's aristocratic features on the canvas.

"So you really remember all the memories you used to have of Elijah when you were Gráinne?" He sounded a little wary, and I looked at him; feeling disappointed that he was doubting it.

"It would be a really stupid lie if I didn't, Henrik." I told him, forthrightly, sticking my paintbrush behind my ear and sitting back to allow the canvas to dry. Then I giggled at a particularly fond memory, attracting his attention almost immediately.

"What?"

"Nothing. I was just remembering when he and Niklaus were having that mock swordfight. Remember?" I turned to Henrik, who frowned momentarily.

"You mean that one where you joined in after a while, and Father caught us and started getting aggressive with Niklaus?" Henrik looked a little wary of bringing up our memory, and I bit my bottom lip.

"Yeah, up until when Mikael burst in and ruined our fun." I confirmed. Henrik brightened a little.

"That was great."

"Think we can conjure up that memory in our sleep like that time we saw Niklaus in those creepy woods during the full moon?" I asked him, curiously. Henrik shook his head.

"I think that dream we shared back at the motel room was a fluke. A onetime thing." Henrik told me. I pouted in disappointment. "Sorry, it would've been cool to take a trip down memory lane." He admitted. My phone rang, causing both of us to jump, and I frowned at it like it was a particularly nasty type of bug that needed to be squished quickly. I reached for it and checked caller ID.

"Unknown caller?" I frowned and used my thumb to answer the call. "Hello, who might I ask is calling?" I stated, politely but cautiously.

" _Hi, Grace. It's Stefan_."

"Stefan? What's wrong?" I replied, not bothering to ask how he got my number. Odds are, he probably stole Damon's phone and searched through it till he found my number.

" _Hang on, I'll put you on loud speaker_." He told me.

"Okay?" I waited, listening to Stefan fumbling around with his phone.

" _Just letting you know that Rose is here. She wanted to tell us something important. I figured that you'd probably wanted to know_." Stefan told me. I exchanged glances with Henrik, who looked just as curious.

"What is there that she could possibly have to tell us. Elijah's dead, I'd say case closed." I scoffed, hating myself for lying about Elijah being dead.

" _Probably because this isn't over_." Rose's voice came over the line. I frowned.

" _What do you mean 'it's not over'_?" Stefan asked her.

"What more could there possibly be?" I agreed. Rose sighed, sounding extremely reluctant to answer. Or at least, that's what it _sounded_ like; Stefan had the visual of Rose.

" _It's isn't over. The Originals, they'll come for her. They have to. They're doing it for him._ " Rose told us.

 _"For who?"_ Stefan coaxed her to reveal who my family were intending on taking Elena to. But both Henrik and I already knew.

 _"Klaus."_ Rose replied, succinctly.

Henrik and I looked at each other with a mixture of shock and excitement. Then I also felt some dread. Elena might have been a pain in my arse lately, but I also didn't want her to die. On the other hand, what had happened to Niklaus – or Klaus as he apparently went by now – was unfair and should never have happened in the first place.

I was in between a rock and a hard place, and I didn't like the feeling.

 _"Grace? Are you still there?"_ Stefan sounded urgent. I sighed.

"Yeah, I'm still here. This 'Klaus' guy sounds like bad news." I fudged an answer. Henrik nodded, understanding that I was playing along. "Thanks for telling us this, Rose. It'll help us with protecting Elena better." I thanked her.

" _You're welcome."_ Rose sounded confused, and also a little afraid of me. Why I had no idea. I had no power over her; I was no vampire. I know I'm technically a Mikaelson; but it's not official until I get the rock on my finger.

"I gotta go. It's late, and I'm still tired from what happened today." I said, laying it on thick on purpose so that Rose understood that I was not happy. "Stefan is it alright if I come round tomorrow to help break it to Elena?" I enquired.

"I was actually about to ask. You beat me to it." Stefan replied.

"Awesome. I'll see you then." I rang off, and turned off my phone; setting it to charge. I checked the clock again. Elijah must have reanimated by now.

I smiled; I couldn't wait to see him again.

There was so much we needed to catch up on.

* * *

I got up a little earlier than I planned, and after a quick rinse in the shower, a take away mug full of tea and an untoasted chocolate pop tart later; I drove myself deliberately to the Gilbert's first, catching Elena just in time coming out of the house and heading for her car. Henrik once again opted to stay home, as he wasn't interested learning information he was already well informed of.

I honked my horn at her, and she approached the passenger side door, frowning at me with confusion.

"Grace? What are you doing here?" Elena asked. I gave her a thin smile.

"I got a phone call from Stefan last night. He said to come round to the Boarding House because there was something important he needed to tell us about." I lied. Elena looked surprised.

"Really? He called and said the same thing to me too." Elena stated.

"Hence why I'm here, and not already at the Boarding House." I opened the passenger side door. "Jump in, it'll save petrol if I take you." I suggested. Elena nodded and walked around my car to the passenger side and got in. I noticed her necklace was back around her neck. "Got your necklace back?" I asked, and Elena clapped a hand on it, smiling.

"Yeah, Damon found it and gave it back." She told me. The frown deepened, it was unusually nice of him.

"How surprising." I stated. Elena quickly changed the subject.

"How are you, by the way?"

"Spectacular. Why do you ask?" I asked, a little confused. Elena looked guilty and I immediately realised that she was referring to my reaction to what happened to Elijah yesterday. Since I knew that he was most definitely up and plotting revenge right about now, it had barely crossed my mind.

"Damon killed your brother yesterday." She reminded me, and I faked a grimace.

"Oh, that. The pain comes in waves, but I'm slowly getting over it." I let my voice wobble a little, and sniffed for effect. "Can we change the subject, please?" I asked, inwardly laughing at how pathetic I sounded.

Elena nodded sympathetically.

"I understand." I drove up the Salvatore driveway, and parked my car as Elena hopped out and walked towards the front door. She knocked and Damon answered looking a little surprised to see me, since Stefan had already broken the news to me about Elena's upcoming fate.

"Hello, Elena. Hello, Grace." Damon greets us both before stepping aside to let us passed. I smiled at him, before walking into the parlour. Elena pauses and looks at Damon for an explanation.

"Is Stefan here? He called. He said it was important." She stated. Damon nodded.

"Right this way." Elena follows him further into the house, just as Stefan walks down the stairs and sees both of us standing with Damon. I could tell that Elena was a combination of worried and curious about what the brothers had to say to her. I couldn't help but wonder what her reaction would be when she learns that the strongest, most powerful vampire in the world was looking for her, so he could sacrifice her in a ritual that would restore his werewolf heritage.

"Hey." Stefan greets Elena and me warmly, but he only had eyes for Elena, which made me roll my eyes and move to stand next to Damon so I could give the lovebirds a moment together.

"I know right?" Damon muttered loud enough for both Stefan and I to hear. Stefan glanced up and gave his brother an unamused glare, which Damon returned with an innocent but defiant smirk back. I sighed.

"One of these days, we're going to have to stuff the both of you in a room and let you fight it out." I muttered, before walking over with Elena to take a seat.

"What is this about?" Elena asked, scowling at me for the comment. I ignored the look in favour of focusing on Rose who entered the room looking sheepish. "You." She said, turning the scowl onto the 500 year old vampire who had brown-nosed Elijah yesterday.

Rose grimaced.

"Okay, you have to understand I only know what I've picked up over the years and I don't know what's true and what's not true." She explained to both Elena and myself; although everybody believed that this information was only for Elena's benefit. Only Rose and I knew that this information affected me as well, since I was romantically linked to the man who was out for Elena's blood. "It's the problem with all this vampire crap, but Klaus; I know he's real." She told them.

 _You bet your arse, he's real…_

I smirked at Rose knowingly, causing her to avoid looking in my direction looking uncomfortable. Elena nodded at the information.

"Who is he?" She asked.

"He's Elijah's younger brother; one of the Originals." I jumped in and explained. Everyone except Rose looked at me with astonishment.

"How do you know that?" Damon asked.

"Elijah said so yesterday when he hinted to Elena and me, that _he_ wasn't a very patient person. I put two and two together." I offered them a half-truth. I wasn't prepared to give them the real reason why I knew who Niklaus was. I wasn't afraid of their reactions, it was more I wasn't prepared to listen to their accusations. Rose nodded, backing me up.

"He's a legend."

"From the first generation of vampires." Stefan surmised. Elena frowned with confusion.

"Like Elijah?"

"No. Elijah was the Easter Bunny compared to Klaus. More like a foot soldier. Klaus is the real deal." Rose corrected him, uneasy. I was impressed and a little wary of how Niklaus was described. It seemed that my family had to make a few changes from how they used to be since I died. I wasn't sure I wanted to know what they had to do to get where they were today.

"Klaus is known to be the oldest." Stefan added, making Elena look alarmed by this new information.

"Okay, so you're saying that the eldest vampire in the history of time is coming after me?" Elena stated, while I rolled my eyes at the inaccuracy. Niklaus was definitely the strongest and the most powerful (once he had his curse removed), but he wasn't the eldest. That much I did know even if I still couldn't remember my other siblings except for Elijah and Henrik.

Rose hesitated, making me look at her questioningly.

"Yes and no." She responded and I gave her a warning look, realising what she was attempting to do while Damon, Stefan and Elena were focused upon Rose, so they couldn't see my panicked reaction to her response. But Rose was defiant.

"What do you mean?" Elena wanted to know.

"Yes, Klaus is coming after you. But you're not the only person he is searching for." Rose explained. I started to panic, which made Damon and Stefan turn and look at me with surprise and suspicion.

"Grace? What's wrong?" Stefan asked, concerned.

"Yeah, your heart rate just skyrocketed. What gives?" Damon came over and crouched in front of me, taking one my hands in his and making an attempt to calm me down. But I didn't want a bar of it. I immediately got up, and headed for the fireplace, ignoring the slightly hurt expression on his face.

"Who else is Klaus searching for?" Elena asked, earning an appalled look from Damon when she easily dismissed the fact that I was practically hyperventilating. I immediately turned on her.

"Does it matter?" I snapped. Stefan frowned and moved to defend his girlfriend's seemingly innocent comment.

"It does if we need to go and find this person and protect them from Klaus." He stated. I frowned at him.

"What makes you think that that person would even need protecting? You don't even know why Klaus is searching for them." I protested, trying to move away from the topic. But it was too late. The seed of curiosity had already been planted and it was starting to grow roots. My comment earned me some suspicious looks from Damon, and confused looks from Elena and Stefan. Rose moved in for the kill

"The person that Klaus is searching for, apart from the Petrova Doppelgänger, is someone he lost a thousand years ago." I froze. "Somebody he loves with all his heart." Rose told the three of them, as she turned and looked at me sadly and unapologetically. Elena, Damon and Stefan looked over at me with confusion.

"Why is she staring at you like that, Grace?" Elena asked, looking concerned. "Do you know who that person is?" I scoffed, a little insulted that neither she nor Damon had figured it out yet.

"I'm surprised you haven't put two and two together, Elena. You've seen a picture of him already. Albeit, his face is blanked out." Elena's eyes widened in realisation, as did Damon.

"No…" Elena whispered. Immediately, I made a desperate bid for freedom; unable to be in the room any longer. But I was intercepted by Damon who flashed in front of me. He had a hard accusing expression on his face.

"What's going on?" Stefan asked, frustrated with the lack of information. Damon seized me by the shoulders and spun me on the spot, leading me back over to the couch and sitting me back down.

"Grace is the other person Klaus is searching for. She is the reincarnation of his lover and fiancée from a thousand years ago." Rose explained.

Stefan looked shocked.

"What? How is this possible?" He asked. Damon was still staring at me with concern.

"How are a lot of things possible, Stef? Point is, it's happening and needs to be dealt with." Damon stated matter-of-factly while focusing on me. I threw him a hard look.

"Like you dealt with Elijah, you mean?" I asked him. Damon scowled at me.

"Why didn't you tell us before, Grace?" He demanded. I looked at him in confusion.

"Tell you what?" I asked him.

"Are you afraid of him? Is that why you didn't tell us?" Stefan asked, also coming over, leaving Elena's side momentarily (much to her dismay) to sit beside me on the couch's armrest. Rose remained where she was standing near the fireplace, observing with a serious expression on her face.

"Afraid of him? Why would I be afraid of somebody I've never met before?" I protested. "He's a complete stranger to me. I don't need to be protected from him."

"Yeah, right." Damon snorted. I looked at him, with disbelief.

"Why would someone who loves me with all his heart, and has been searching for me for a thousand years want to harm me?" I reasoned.

"Because Klaus is ruthless and possessive, and will stop at nothing to get what he wants. And he always gets what he wants." Rose explained gravely.

"That doesn't explain why I need protection." I pointed out, frowning. Damon got to his feet and started pacing as Elena stepped forward towards him.

"Why does she need protecting, I'm who's gonna get sacrificed." Elena protested. I threw her a dirty look, as did Damon and Rose while Stefan looked a bit taken aback. Damon got into her face.

"Yeah, but you're also not engaged to a rumoured raging psychopath!" He spat at her.

"And neither am I!" I retorted, still protesting. Damon snorted. "You don't even know him, for God's sake. None of us do." I told him.

"That's a crock of shit, and you know it!" Damon stated. I opened my mouth to argue further, but he spoke over me. "What they're saying, I mean if what she's saying is true…"

"Which it is." Rose confirmed confidently. Damon threw her a withering glare.

"And you're not saying it so I don't kill you." He asked.

"Which I'm not." Rose insisted. Damon snorted, disbelievingly.

"Then we're looking at a solid maybe." He suggested, clearly in denial about all of this.

"Look, Elijah's dead, right? So no one else even knows that Elena exists, or that Grace is even alive." Stefan pointed out, trying to defuse the tense situation.

"Not that you know of." Rose interjected. Damon glared at her again.

"That's not helping." He insisted. Stefan immediately intervened, not wanting Damon to start fighting with the older vampire.

"Look, I've never even met anyone who's laid eyes on him. I mean, we're talking centuries of truth mixed with fiction. We don't even know if he's real." Stefan pointed out. "For all we know he could just be some sort of stupid bed time story." Both Rose and I snorted.

"Oh, he's definitely real. I've got the memories and absurdly vivid dreams to prove that." I promised them. Elena scowled at me in accusation; probably believing that I had somehow deceived her and had another agenda. If that was the case, she needed to grow up and fast.

"And he doesn't give up. Like I told you before, if he wants something, he gets it." Rose insists. "If you're not afraid of Klaus, then you're an idiot." Damon threw her a look.

"Alright, we're shaking. I think you've made your point." He told her, obviously unimpressed and very much irritated with this entire situation.

Elena got to her feet.

"Where are you going?" Stefan asked her. Elena avoided eye contact.

"School. I'm late." She told him. Stefan moved for the stairs.

"Let me grab my stuff, I'll go with you." He offered, but Elena shook her head.

"It's okay. I know where it is." Elena said evenly, before walking out of the Boarding House. I walked over to him.

"You better follow her. She's forgotten that I drove her over here." I told Stefan, who nods at me and flashes upstairs and down in a blink of an eye.

"Thanks." He yells to me as he leaves.

"You're welcome." I mumbled as I closed the door behind him. I headed back to the parlour, in time to hear Damon mutter to Rose as I passed them:

"She's in denial." I flopped down on the couch.

"Shut up, Damon." I mumbled, shutting my eyes. I was regretting waking up early this morning. I unzipped my boots, pulled them off and curled up on the couch. Damon came over and crouched down in front of me.

"You okay?" He asked quietly, smoothing back my hair from my face. I opened my eyes to look at him, and shook my head closing my eyes again.

"Not really. I've got a bit of a headache." I told him.

"Here. Sit up." I felt Damon scoop his hands around my legs and back and pulling me onto his lap. I heard the familiar _crunch_ of fangs cutting through flesh, and smelt the familiar metallic tang of blood in my nose. "Drink some." Damon suggested.

I shook my head.

"No, Damon. I just need to have a nap." I reassured him, and attempted to get off his lap and back on the couch. But Damon just tightened his grip around my waist.

"Humour me." Damon insisted and re-opened the wound on his wrist. I sighed and grabbed his wrist, wrapping my lips around the blood and taking a few sips. "Keep going. I'll tell you when to stop." He told me, sternly. I rolled my eyes and continued drinking. I glanced around the room, and realised that Rose had disappeared. Eventually, Damon pulled his arm away from my mouth, and I started to feel drowsy. Damon stood up, cradling me in his arms and I lay my head on his shoulder, starting to nod off. Next thing I knew, I was lying on the world's most comfortable bed with a familiar scent on the pillow. "Have a nice rest, sweetheart." Damon whispered in my ear, and his lips grazed my temple.

* * *

 **A/N: Next chapter will feature Elijah; back for revenge against Damon, and to catch a glimpse of his long-lost sister.**

 **TTFN xx**


	18. Sweet Revenge

**A/N: Welcome back to** _ **A Thousand Years.**_ **Thanks for keeping up with this story so far. I really appreciate that you're enjoying this.**

 **My apologies for the lateness. I've been a little busy. But I promise to be more prompt in the future :)**

 **You know the drill: please review, and no flaming!**

 **I don't own** _ **The Vampire Diaries.**_ **All characters (except for Grace) belong to author L.J. Smith.**

 **Enjoy ;)**

* * *

 **SWEET REVENGE**

" _And just in time, in the right place. Suddenly I will play my ace…"  
_ _ **~Blue Foundation: 'Eyes on Fire' (Life Of A Ghost [2007])**_

* * *

 _ **~:MEMORY/DREAM:~**_

 _Warmth surrounded me._

 _I relished in the feeling as I slowly opened my eyes and glimpsed a clear blue sky with fluffy white clouds being pushed along by the wind._

What?

 _I sat up and took stock of my surroundings. I was sitting in a beautiful rolling green meadow with wildflowers as far as the eye could see. All beautiful sprays of blues, pinks, purples, yellows and orange. The meadow itself was surrounded by large fragrant pine trees stretching high to the skies. Part of a large sprawling forest. Birds fluttered from tree-branch to tree-branch, calling out to each other with different calls, and the odd wild creature darted here and there in search of food._

 _Feeling mildly incredulous, I got to my feet and decided to do some exploring to find out where I had mysteriously found myself. Something brushes against my ankles and I glanced down to see yards of light brown fabric swirling around me. I realised that I was wearing a very conservative cotton medieval dress with long sleeves and a simple brown leather belt strung about my hips. It had a slight V-neck and covered my shoulders._

I remember this...

 _I smiled, realising that I had stumbled into another dream and stretched out my arms, feeling like Julie Andrews in_ The Sound of Music _spinning around on top of a grassy mountainside. I take a slight step backwards and trip over something, landing with an 'oof' on the grass. Groping around me, I pick up a pair of well-worn, and slightly scuffed brown traveling boots. Acting on a hunch, I pulled my dress up slightly and I saw my bare feet. I sheepishly giggled when I realised that Gráinne must've taken off her boots to walk barefoot through the soft grass._

Typical …

 _I grinned slightly when I realised that I had inherited this particular habit from my ancestor. It was an odd habit that I had, and I proceeded to pull my boots back on before exploring. It would be my luck that I'd somehow step on a snake and get bitten ... then I would be in all sorts of strife._

 _I set off on an easy stroll down the hill and found a nearby babbling brook with the clearest, cleanest water I had ever seen. I reached in and scooped up a handful of water and caught a glimpse of myself for the first time. My eyes widened in astonishment. My normally wavy dark brown hair, which was usually cut just below my shoulders, was now ridiculously long and in one long thick plait over my left shoulder. My bangs had been pinned back and I was wearing a daisy coronet._

 _I looked like a well-groomed hippie._

 _"There you are sister, I've been looking everywhere for you!"_

 _Startled, I turned towards the voice and saw a young blonde girl no older than probably sixteen walking towards me. I got to my feet as she approached, all smiles, and examined her from head to toe. She was very beautiful and about my height, thin and dressed similarly to me in a blue cotton dress with a dark brown leather belt. Her extremely long platinum blonde hair was loosely knotted back into an old-fashioned pony-tail, and she had woven wildflowers through it. I instantly realised that this was Henrik's sister, and therefore mine, because her face was blurred to me… again; otherwise why she would be calling me 'sister'?_

 _I opened my mouth to correct her and ask what the hell her name was; but apparently, my mouth had other ideas._

 _"I'm not your sister yet, Bekah." 'Gráinne' reminded her, using the familiar cultured European accent I've heard so many times by now, but never thought I'd hear coming from my own lips._

Say what?

 _I guess I was just an observer in this dream this time._

 _Good to know!_

 _'Bekah', short for Rebekah I assumed, rolled her eyes and walked closer to me, grabbing my left hand pulling it up to eye-level._

 _"I beg to differ. This tells me otherwise." She insisted, fiddling with a ring I hadn't noticed on a very important finger. I blinked down at it in astonishment. Rebekah pouted playfully as she continued to admire my engagement ring. It was made of pure silver with a heart shaped jewel that I recognised as lapis lazuli, fashioned on top of the band. Decorating the band itself were Viking runes. "I'm almost jealous." Rebekah admitted as I removed the ring to examine it more closely._ _"My brother has excellent taste. I almost wish I could catch someone's eye and receive one of my own." We giggled as I took back my hand, put the ring back on, and linked arms with her._

 _"Good things come to those who wait, my dear. And anyway, I shouldn't expect anything less from your brother ... he does have an affinity for the arts." I reminded her. Rebekah sighed._

 _"I just wish father could see that. He's always so cruel to him." I was silenced by the sadness in her voice, and I bit my lip. I remember this vividly. Rebekah had always kept a straight face, but I knew that she really feared Mikael, and had visited the desire to kill him. There was silence for several minutes before I realised that we had made our way back to what looked like a village. My eyes widened in awe as I took in the village I had long since forgotten in my waking state in 2010._

 _Rebekah and I walked deeper into the village. Destination: unknown, or not remembered. As she and I walked along, I glanced about in wonder. The men in the village were dressed exactly as I had pictured they probably would've looked like in the 11_ _th_ _century: in tunics and loose-fitting trousers, leather here and there, and they were either sleeveless or wore loose cotton shirts underneath their tunic tops. All of them had shoulder-length or longer hair. The villagers went about their business, not paying Rebekah nor me any attention except for the younger men, who eyed us up with interest._

 _I rolled my eyes; some things never change in a thousand years._

 _Eventually, Rebekah and I came across a group of young men and boys practicing their sword fighting. She grinned brightly and immediately tugged me over to them, obviously intending on observing. My eyes widened when I realised Henrik was standing there at a distance, watching the mock sword fighting. Rebekah approached her little brother and I caught his attention, curious to know if this was a 'memory' Henrik, or my 'ghostly companion' Henrik; presumably remembering this along with me. But when I looked into his eyes, I noted that they were very innocent and young. Not a hint of anything ancient in them. This was definitely a memory version of him; nothing more. The swordfight behind us was growing intense. I glanced over at the two competitors._

 _"C'mon. You can do better than that!"_

 _It was Niklaus!_

 _He didn't look older than perhaps twenty-one or twenty-two; and his face was STILL blurred to me. He was taunting his older brother – a dark-haired man in his mid to late twenties – playfully. I grinned happily. It was Elijah! Niklaus gave an overly cocky grin and sliced down abruptly with his sword, managing to slice off Elijah's leather belt. This earned him a look of fond exasperation from Elijah, before he got back into his stance._

 _Then I realised what was going on. This was a memory that I held close to my heart because it had all the people I loved the most in the world in it._

 _"Come on, Henrik, Gráinne; they're about to start fighting again. Let's get a closer look." Rebekah suggested excitedly. Henrik only smiled shyly and nodded, following his sister. I laughed and ran to catch up. Elijah was starting to get a little nervous, and kept glancing around for something or someone._

 _"Careful, Niklaus. You're getting a little too cocky. You don't want to suffer father's wrath." He warned._

 _I casually observed Niklaus with a keen eye, and grinned. He really was handsome guy; tall, lean and muscular, with shoulder-length dirty blonde hair. He was dressed in a dark grey tunic and wore a simple, white cotton shirt with leather wrist cuffs. Elijah was muscular also – due to the hard life we all endured back then - and wore a tan coloured tunic, dark loose trousers and was sleeveless. His long dark brown hair hung freely behind him._

 _I watched Niklaus wave a dismissive hand in the air._

 _"You're just saying that because you know you're gonna lose." He taunted, and got into his stance._

Typical, cocky male. But I love him…

 _Elijah merely sighed and waited for the signal to begin before both of them immediately started whaling on each other with some very impressive swordsmanship skills. Niklaus won. He crowed loudly, acting like a typical young man high on adrenaline and gestured for the accolades while both Rebekah and I rolled our eyes and giggled drawing both of their attention._

 _I blushed. I remembered this._

 _Niklaus instantly brightened and abandoned Elijah, who had an equally warm smile on his face when he saw Rebekah and me, and made his way over to us. I scowled in annoyance at my sister who elbowed me playfully in the ribs as Niklaus finally came to a stop and gave Rebekah a brilliant smile._

" _Hello, Rebekah." He greeted her with a sweet kiss on her cheek. "Did you have a pleasant walk?" He inquired warmly._

 _"Yes, and I found your intended along the way." Rebekah reported, brightly. She draped an arm around Henrik's shoulders. Niklaus fixed me with a loving look that made my cheeks flame out. He speared the sword into the dirt and circled his strong arms around my waist, pulling me towards him. I received a tender kiss on the forehead in greeting as he buried his nose into my hair. I instantly relaxed into his arms, tucking my head underneath his chin._

" _If you are quite finished, Niklaus. I know that your intended is very distracting." We both glanced over at Elijah with different reactions: Niklaus was possessive, and I was amused. "But we are still in the middle of practice." Elijah stated, feigning impatience. He winked at me, and I grinned back causing Niklaus narrowed his eyes warningly at his brother and tightened his grip around my waist, before he eventually gave a much exaggerated sigh and released me from our hug, only holding my hand instead._

 _"If I must." Niklaus teased and kissed my hand before walking back over to Elijah. "Who's next? Who shall challenge me next?" He announced, loudly. His voice echoing like a bullhorn._

 _"I will!" All the men froze, and turned to look at me with shock. Rebekah tugged insistently on my arm._

 _"What are you doing, Gráinne?"_

 _Henrik had paled at the mere idea._

Fucking 11th century rules…

" _You know women aren't allow to wield swords. Besides, you could get hurt!" She whisper-shouted at me. I definitely agree, of course. I was probably likely to accidentally chop off my own leg before I even got started. But still, at the time I didn't see the harm in having a go, even if it was just once. I glanced over at Elijah and Niklaus, and saw their equally concerned expressions on their faces mirroring Rebekah's. I wonder if Gráinne felt as annoyed as I feel right now._

 _"I don't think that's a good idea, love." Niklaus eventually responded. Elijah agreed, nodding and approaching me._

 _"Sword fighting can be very dangerous at the best of times." He insisted. I snorted and walked over to the large pile of swords and picked one up, staggering underneath its weight. Niklaus rushed over to assist me._

 _"You see?" He pointed out, smiling warmly at me. I took a step back from him, adjusting my grip on the sword and smirked at him._

 _"You're just saying that because you don't want to be beaten by a woman." I teased, offering him a flirty smile and Niklaus scowled warningly at me._

 _"Love…"_

 _"Come on, Niklaus. Where's the harm?" I asked, beseechingly. Niklaus glanced over at Elijah, who shrugged, before he sighed and reluctantly got into position. I squealed in excitement and moved to stand opposite him, holding my sword in the defensive position._

 _"Just be careful." Niklaus pleaded, and waited for me to make the first move. Elijah walked over to where Rebekah and Henrik were standing, watching both of us with worry and concern. The fight began, and after a few tense minutes; both Niklaus and I were actually having fun._

 _"See, Niklaus? There's nothing to be worried about." I reassured him, and he grinned happily at me._

 _These were my famous last words._

 _"NIKLAUS!" We all flinched violently and turned towards the loud, angry voice and I felt the anger rise as an intimidating, older blonde-haired man with large muscles advanced towards us._

 _It was Mikael._

Son of a bitch!

 _I obviously couldn't see, because his face was blurred to me like the rest of the siblings, but I could tell that his eyes were flashing menacingly when he saw the sword in my hands. Part of me wished that I could move my arms, so I could run him through with the sword like he did to me; or in this case_ would _do to me. But because I was just observing my memories, this was impossible._

 _"What is the meaning of this, boy!?" Mikael growled, practically spitting in Niklaus' face._

 _"We were just practicing our sword-fighting, Father." Niklaus replied, nervously, trying to shield me from his aggressive father._

" _Is that so? So why is this young woman holding a sword?" He demanded, violently snatching the sword from my hands and causing me to jerk back in fright and stumble backwards onto my arse. Niklaus immediately moved to help me to my feet. Elijah waded in to assist with the explanation._

 _"Please, Father. We were just having a bit of fun." Elijah insisted, trying to placate him. Mikael turned and looked at them all, before levelling his gaze upon Niklaus, who looked back with what I recognised as dread._

Uh oh…

 _My eyes darted back and forth between the two of them. This was the part of my memory that I hated so very much. Even more so that I couldn't change what I was about to relive. It was like watching an American Pitbull taking down a Chihuahua, without remorse, and without the ability to pull them apart._

" _Fun, Niklaus? Is that what you were having?" He asked, surprisingly calm. But I knew better. Mikael wasn't at all calm, there was a cold fury radiating from him and I knew that nothing good could come of it. My suspicions were confirmed when he turned and walked over to stand across from Niklaus and executed some fancy sword-twirling techniques with his hand. "Well, come on, boy. Show me this 'fun' you've been having." He demanded harshly, before charging over to Niklaus and attacking without warning. My fiancé barely had time to shove me out of the way into Rebekah's awaiting arms, to block his father's attack._

 _But it didn't stop there._

 _Oh, no. The attacks continued coming without pause, and they grew increasingly violent with every blow._

" _Tell me, Niklaus. Are we having fun yet!?" Mikael snarled. Rebekah shook from fear and worry for her brother._

" _Father, please!" Niklaus begged, completely terrified. Elijah went to his brother's aid._

" _Stop this, Father!" Elijah yelled, attempting to grab the sword from Mikael, but he was deliberately blocked._

" _Stay out of this, boy!" Mikael roared._

 _Elijah persisted, defying Mikael to help Niklaus, while Rebekah and I watched helplessly from the sidelines. Rebekah was clutching me and Henrik fearfully, while I glared at Mikael with cold fury. I was both surprised and glad that Gráinne apparently felt the same emotion as I am just reliving this. Tears were streaming down Rebekah's flawless face._

" _Stop it, please!" She yelled, desperately. Niklaus was just barely hanging on, already showing signs of fatigue and bleeding a little from where his father had managed to cut him with his blows._

" _Enough, Mikael!"_

 _I turned and saw an older woman with long light brown hair and a slightly careworn face approach. My heart clenched. It was Esther, whose face was all blurred from my sight. She had a stern, 'don't-mess-with-me' expression on her face that caused Mikael to pause, glaring at his wife, who stood her ground glaring back. Then he snarled angrily and tossed away the sword in his hand aside, storming off. Niklaus sighed with relief, and almost collapsed to the ground._

 _Alarmed, both Rebekah and I rushed to his side to assist him._

" _Niklaus, are you alright?" I asked with concern. He didn't respond, except to roughly jerk his arm out of my grip and got to his feet. He then turned and left without a word, presumably off to 'lick his wounds'. Hurt, I turned to Esther and was surprised to see a look of pity in her eyes, directed towards me._

 _She turned towards Rebekah._

" _Come, Rebekah. There's chores to be done." Esther requested, firmly. Rebekah nodded, sadly._

" _Yes, mother." She responded before turning and giving me a quick hug and moving to follow her. I watched as Rebekah and her mother disappeared around a corner before turning to where Niklaus had fled. I went to follow him, but a hand descended onto my shoulder, stopping me from moving and I didn't have to turn to see Elijah standing behind me with sorrow and deep concern on his face, due to the amount of pain, embarrassment and shame we had seen on Niklaus' face as he hastily departed from the scene._

" _Leave him be, Gráinne. I do not think Niklaus would appreciate anyone's company right now. The best thing we can do is to give him the space he needs." Elijah advised me. I nodded sadly, and found myself engulfed in muscular arms. My eyes widened in recognition and I clung to him tightly._

I miss this…

 _Elijah gently pulled away and grazed my cheek with his knuckles like he did when we reunited, before smiling and returning back to the group of boys still sword fighting._

" _Wow…" My eyes widened in shock when I heard that familiar voice, and I spun to face him. "That Mikael guy is a dick."_

" _Damon?" I breathed. He smirked, striding towards me in his usual black attire combo. None of the villagers seemed to notice him. He stood before me and smoothed my hair behind my ear._

" _Hello, cutie."_

* * *

 _ **~:REALITY:~**_

My eyes snapped open and I registered the stillness of the unfamiliar bedroom. Brilliant sunshine filtered in from a nearby open window which was admitting a refreshingly cool breeze from the outside. I moaned softly, and sat up; cupping my face and sweeping away any traces of sleep from my eyes.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, sleeping beauty." I jerked my head towards where Damon was sitting in a nearby armchair, flipping once again through my sketchbook and stopping on the 'family portrait' sketch. I glared at him, a little.

"Damon…" I mumbled and flipped my legs over the side of the bed, getting up from it. He frowned curiously at the picture.

"I must say you were surprisingly fetching a thousand years ago. I can see why this 'Klaus' guy fell for you." Damon observed, tapping at the drawing of Niklaus. I wondered over and took the book from him.

"That was private. You shouldn't have been eavesdropping." I reprimanded him. Damon clicked his tongue thoughtfully.

"I was curious." He confessed, looking at me curiously.

"Well, curiosity killed the cat." I reminded him, heading for the bathroom to wash my slightly sweaty face. Damon got to his feet and followed.

"But satisfaction brought it back." He retorted automatically. Then he became serious. "Do you care to elaborate on what I just saw?" He asked, and I fixed him with a look as I tied back my long hair into a pony tail.

"What do you plan to achieve from what I might tell you?" I questioned as I turned on the cold tap and cupped my hands underneath the spray to collect the water. Damon shrugged, leaning against the door frame.

"Why you chose that specific memory for starters." He elaborated. I paused, thinking over my answer as I reached for a white fluffy face towel to pat dry my face.

"It was one of my fonder memories that contained both Elijah and Niklaus in it. I miss them both." I told him, tossing the used towel into the laundry hamper and pulling my hair out of its ponytail. "Plus, they remind me of two people that I know in the here and now." I added, smiling. Damon frowned.

"Who are those unfortunates?" Damon wanted to know, as he followed me from the bathroom and over to where my boots – which I had removed hours before in the parlour – had been put.

"You and Stefan." I replied simply, causing Damon to stand there looking rigid. I sat down on the armchair he had vacated and slipped on my boots.

"Really? Could you be more specific?" He sounded sceptical.

"If you like. You're very much like Niklaus, and Stefan is very similar to Elijah." I replied, confidently. Damon's eyes widened in horror.

"I'm not a raging psychopath." Damon protested. I just stood there and looked at him. "Oh, wait…"

"The point is Damon, you and Stefan are a lot like Niklaus and Elijah simply by the fact that you are first and foremost brothers who love each other very much. I've observed this." I told him, matter-of-factly.

Damon snorted.

"Then you observed incorrectly. I hate Stefan's guts." He corrected me, looking at me with hard eyes.

"You didn't at first." I reminded him.

"Yeah, well. That's ancient history. I'd rather not rehash that with him or with you to be honest." Damon insisted, dismissively. I sighed. Niklaus would've reacted the exact same way.

"Look. You might have vowed to Stefan's face that day on the quarry, an eternity of misery; but deep, deep, deep, deep down you would do anything to protect your baby brother." I told him. "Believe it or not, both Niklaus and Elijah would absolutely defend each other to the death, even if they were in the middle of a bitter feud with each other, if it meant they could save their lives. Family meant everything back in the 11th century. The same way that love and family means everything to you." I reminded him. "No matter how much of a stubborn arse, you are at times." I muttered. Damon was silent, taking in my words before he headed for the bedroom door.

"You've got a vivid imagination." Damon said, dismissing what I said completely before disappearing out of the room. I sighed with frustration and made to follow him downstairs when I heard the sound of somebody crying. "Alright Rosebud." My eyes widened and I hurried down the staircase. "I need some answers." I came to the bottom and saw Rose standing across from Damon, wiping away some tears from her eyes and scowling at him. Damon rolled his eyes. "Oh please don't tell me you're crying 'cause your buddy Trevor lost his head." He groaned with exasperation.

"Damon! Where's your tact?" I growled. Damon rolled his eyes at me, as I walked passed and approached Rose who looked at me warily.

"Has he always been this sensitive?" She asked me. I smiled a little at her.

"Yeah, this is classic Damon." I told her. He nodded in agreement.

"Full vampire switch for this very reason." Damon said, indicating to Rose's weepy state. "Takes the emotion out of it." Rose rolled her eyes, still wiping at her eyes.

"Yeah, you switch yours, I'll switch mine." She challenged him. I walked towards the kitchen.

"Preferably when I'm not here, in immediate danger. I'm not in the mood to become an unemotional vampire's chew toy." I reminded them. Damon smirked. It was convenient that the Salvatore's kitchen happened to be within earshot of Rose and Damon's conversation. So I listened in.

"Was that a dig?" He questioned.

"It's an observation." Rose corrected him. "Must be difficult being in love with somebody out of reach." Damon immediately shut down.

"I'm not in love with anyone." He tells her, with a serious no-nonsense tone. Rose scoffed, disbelievingly.

"Want to try that again?"

"Don't get on my bad side." He warned, walking towards her angrily.

"Then show me your good side." Rose challenged, getting into his face and rising to her full level; sounding not at all intimidated. Damon paused for a moment, before backing off.

"How do I find Klaus?" He asked her, getting straight to the point. I chose that moment to walk back into the room; confused about why Damon was getting so defensive about being in love with Elena. Damon instantly brightened and relaxed when I re-entered the room. I noticed Rose raise a sceptical eyebrow at this abrupt change in mood; and so did I.

"You don't find Klaus." Rose told him. " _He_ finds you."

"How interesting." I mumbled, sitting on an armrest and smoothing my hair behind my ear. Damon wasn't satisfied with this answer.

"Come on. Somebody's got to know somebody who knows where he is, right?" Damon said exasperatedly, walking over to fix himself a drink. Typical Damon move. Rose shook her head.

"Add another two hundred somebodies to that and you're still not even close." She told us. I was surprised. Was Niklaus really that elusive? Damon took a generous sip of his bourbon.

"Humour me. You got in touch with Elijah, how did you do it?" He insisted. Rose huffed tiredly.

"Through a very low somebody on the totem pole. A guy named Slater in Richmond." She said. Damon immediately knocked back his drink, and placed down his glass next to the collection of crystal decanters half filled with expensive liquor.

"Perfect. I'll drive." Damon declared and grabbed my hand as he went by, tugging me along with him. I was startled by this move and just barely managed to grab my purse and jacket as we went. However, Rose flashed in front of us.

"No." She shut him down immediately. Damon looked annoyed and opened his mouth to protest. "You forget not all of us can do sun." She reminded him. Damon rolled his eyes.

"Then you drive. Come on." Damon indicated for Rose to lead the way. She reluctantly complied.

* * *

That's how I found myself travelling in a car with specially tinted windows to prevent Rose from spontaneously combusting in the sunlight. It was an hour and a half, maybe two hours trip from Mystic Falls to Richmond; and I was dead curious about what we were about to discover from this Slater guy. Rose drove Damon and me to an underground parking lot. It turned out that we were meeting Slater at a very public coffee shop. Something that Damon was amused about.

"Back entrance. How convenient." He drawled sarcastically. Rose ignored the tone, as she stepped out of the car.

"That's the point. We can't all have little daylight rings." She told him, as I rolled my eyes and got out of the car. I was started to become irritated with Damon's deliberate attempts to get a rise out of Rose.

"How do you know this Slater guy is even here?" Damon asked.

"I called him. He's here. He's always here." Rose replied. Damon nodded.

"Good." He approved, and made me jump when he pushes Rose against the wall at top speed. I followed them, feeling slightly panicked.

"Damon! Seriously!" I grumbled at him, earning a warning glare before he turned back to Rose, who was looking at him with boredom.

"Just one thing. If you're setting us up in any way, I will rip your heart out and shove it down your throat." He promised, threateningly. "It's something I'm very good at." He smirked.

"Is that so?" Rose asked casually before she suddenly shoves him away and then turns and grabs me, holding me in a choke hold. I grabbed her arms in attempt to lessen the pressure on my throat, as Damon froze looking slightly concerned. "What's stopping me from doing that to Grace?" My eyes widened in alarm. "I'm older than you and stronger. Don't get on my bad side." Rose warned him, before she released me and I backed away from her in horror, massaging my throat. Damon immediately flashed to my side, examining my throat for bruising.

"Are you okay?" He asked, worriedly. I nodded, still looking at Rose with fear. The older vampire sighed.

"You can trust me." She reassured us, before turning and entering the coffee shop. Damon took a hold of my hand again, planting me firmly by his side. "Stay by me. You'll be safe." He promised, eying Rose with mistrust. We walked in and Damon immediately froze when he sees the sunlight filtering in from the large store window. "Woah. What about the sunlight?" He questioned Rose.

"Double paned and tempered. UV rays can't penetrate." She explained to us both. "You see the appeal now?"

"That and the free Wi-Fi." A guy dressed in very casual street clothes, who didn't look any older than at least his mid-twenties, sidled up to us with a friendly grin on his face. He was carrying a large silver laptop under his arm. This must be Slater. Rose turns to him and embraces him warmly.

"Hey, how are you?" She greets him. Slater shrugged and leads us towards a nearby table.

"Good. I saw you come." We all took a seat. "What are you doing here?" He enquired cheerfully. Damon raised an eyebrow at his perky attitude, while I tried to smother my laughter.

"It's a long story but I want you to meet…"

"Damon Salvatore. Turned 1864 in Mystic Falls by Katherine Pierce aka Katerina Petrova." Slater jumped in and answered before Rose could finish her sentence. My mouth dropped open in surprise. "So I take it I was right, what I told you about the tomb under the church was true?" He directed this question towards Rose.

"Yes, it was right. Thank you for the tip." She said, graciously. Slater nodded before looking over at Damon and me, curiously.

"It's nice to meet you, maybe." Slater said to Damon, but looked at me with interest. "But I don't know who you are." I gave Slater a painfully polite smile.

"Grace Williams." I replied.

"Charmed. What's going on Rose?" Slater asked, before looking around the café. "Where's Trevor?" He asked, sounding hopeful. Immediately both Rose and I went quiet; although for different reasons. Slater's pleasant smile dropped. "I see." He said, understanding what happened from our silence, while Damon looked a combination of confused and impatient. "Who killed him?" He asked, solemnly.

"Elijah, of course." Rose responded, bitterly. Slater looked like he didn't need to know more. I smiled tightly.

"Yeah, my brother always did have a bit of a temper." I supplied casually, as I sat back and looked out of the window; observing the passers-by. Slater blinked in surprise.

"I'm sorry, I don't think I heard you right. Did you say that Elijah Mikaelson is your brother?" He sounded incredulous. I nodded.

"Correction: he _was_ her brother." Damon interjected. I narrowed my eyes at him, still not entirely over the fact that Damon had temporarily put Elijah out of commission. I kicked his shin underneath the table. He jumped in surprise.

"And whose fault was that?" I griped at him. Damon rolled his eyes.

"Seriously? Just let it go, Grace…" He responded tiredly. Slater looked at me disbelieving.

"But you're not an Original vampire." He pointed out. I smirked at the observation.

"Well-spotted." I said, feeling cheeky. Rose rolled her eyes.

"Grace is the reincarnation of his sister-in-law who was killed a thousand years ago." Rose explained. Slater's eyes widened in shock, visibly irritating Damon I noticed out the corner out of my eye.

"You mean she is…"

"Uh-huh." Rose confirmed. Slater looked at me with sympathy and I frowned in confusion.

"And you're sure Elijah's dead?" Slater asked Rose, doubtfully. That got my attention. Damon nodded firmly, obviously wanting to get this over and done with so we could go back to Mystic Falls.

"Beyond dead." Damon confirmed. Slater nodded, looking a little sad.

"Trevor was a good man; he helped me with my dissertation on sexual deviance in the Baroque period. I was schooling for my psych PhD." He must have noticed the confused look on both Damon and my face, because we both really couldn't care less. Should've tried harder to look disinterested.

"Slater's been in college since '74." Rose explained.

"When I was turned. I have 18 degrees, 3 master's and 4 PhDs." He explained to us proudly. Damon and I exchanged bored looks.

"The point?" Damon demanded. Slater nodded.

"Exactly. I mean what is the point? What should I be doing with my eternity? If you have an answer, please enlighten me." Slater agreed.

"Uh, that's not what Damon meant…" I pointed out.

"We need your help. If someone wanted to get in touch with Klaus, how would you hook him up?" Rose asked him, obviously sensing Damon's irritation, noticing how painfully polite I was trying to be, or getting impatient with him herself.

"Craigslist." Slater replied, succinctly. I blinked at him in astonishment.

"Really?" Damon looked and sounded dubious.

"You're having us on." I added.

"Seriously." Slater insisted. "I respond to a personal ad to get sent to somebody who knows somebody who knows Elijah, who's dead and that's where my connection ends." He tells us. Damon and I looked at him blankly.

"You get any of that?" I turned to Damon, who frowned at Slater.

"Not a clue." Damon responded, then he sat forward. "Here's what I don't get: Elijah moved around during the day, which means the originals knew the secret of the day ring." Slater nodded, letting him know he understood and to continue. "Now why would Klaus want to lift the curse of the sun and moon?" Damon wanted to know.

"To keep the werewolves from lifting it. If a vampire breaks the sun curse then the werewolves are stuck with the curse of the moon forever and vice versa." Slater explained.

 _Wrong._

I rolled my eyes at this false information and shook my head sitting back in my chair.

"But werewolves are extinct." Rose argued.

 _Wrong._

Slater hummed underneath his breath. "True. I've never seen one but rumour has it…"

"Not such a rumour." Damon confirmed.

"Mystic Falls? God, I've got to visit this place. It sounds awesome." Slater exclaimed, sounding excited. I snorted.

 _Wrong._

Damon snorted at Slater's misguided enthusiasm for our hometown.

"Awesome doesn't even begin to describe it." He faked excitement before pushing on ahead with his questioning. "Can we stop the curse from being broken at all?" Damon asked, just barely hanging on to a shred of his patience. Slater frowned in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, if we make the moonstone useless, would it stop the curse from being broken at all?" Damon asked. Slater shrugged.

"Well, yeah, probably, but why would you want to do that?" He asked.

"That's not important. Could you just tell him how?" I asked, trying to avoid Damon's temper flaring up. Slater looked afraid.

"You think I'm gonna help you figure out how to do something that will piss off an original? And keep them from walking in the sun?" Damon smirked.

"You want to walk in the sun? I can make that happen if you help us." He promised.

But before Slater could say anything, all the windows in the café imploded causing customers to scream and scatter, and for Damon to dive over me, shielding me protectively from broken glass raining down on us. Rose and Slater's skin started burning from exposure from the dangerous VU rays now flooding the room, and Rose starts to scream; forcing Damon to abandon my side and attend to her. I looked outside and freeze, before a relieved and overjoyed smile spreads across my face.

"Elijah…" I whispered, and I saw him smile back at me a little and raise his hand in greeting. I got to my feet and moved to walk towards him to give him a proper greeting, but Rose's terrified screaming distracted me, and I turned to see Damon quickly shrugging off his jacket and putting it over her face.

Slater had disappeared.

"You're gonna be okay." Damon reassures Rose, who nodded frantically.

"I know." She replied, tears of pain streaming down her cheeks. Damon scoops Rose up into his arms and immediately runs for the back of the coffee shop. I take another glance outside the shattered window to look at Elijah, but he had disappeared. I sagged in disappointment.

"C'mon, Grace!" Damon shouts back to me, and I immediately rush after him. Once we were in the safety of the underground car park, Damon started firing off questions. "Who's behind that?" He demanded.

"I don't know." Rose cried, as the skin on her burnt face started healing up. "Where is Slater?"

"He ran for it. I don't know where he went." I replied feeling worried, and a little afraid. Elijah was obviously behind this, and the ferocity of the damage he had inflicted indicated that he was very angry, and this was his way of sending a warning to Damon and Rose.

"He's not behind this, he's a good guy. He wouldn't betray me." Rose insisted, before either Damon or I had the chance to even accuse Slater. Damon gave her a hard look.

"Then who did it?" He asked, urgently.

"It's Klaus, don't you understand?" Rose insisted, and I frowned at her. "You don't know this man, we're dead, we're all dead." She sobbed, obviously very scared. I bit my lip, feeling helpless and a little resentful that Niklaus was being accused when it was Elijah who was the culprit.

* * *

We drove the two hour drive back to Mystic Falls with Damon at the wheel, as Rose was still weakened from the sun exposure. I kept to myself in the backseat; just staring absently out of the window and reading my novel. All while reflecting on the bittersweet knowledge that Elijah was indeed alive, but also plotting a sophisticated revenge on both Damon and Rose for their apparent betrayal and Damon's misguided attempt to kill him. It was no coincidence that Elijah had been there at the right moment. He had probably been tracking us down, since Damon and Stefan had rescued Elena and me from that abandoned house, and probably overheard everything that we had said in the café. My best guess was, that the next time we saw him – and we would definitely be seeing him again – it would not be a particularly pleasant reunion.

A couple of times, I noticed Damon looking over at Rose with concern when he thought neither Rose nor I were looking. I smiled approvingly. It was rare to see a genuinely concerned Damon looking out for a vulnerable person without having a secret agenda in place that benefited him. I decided that once we got back to Mystic Falls that I would go and find out what Elena and Stefan had gotten up to during our absence to Richmond. It would give Damon the opportunity to get to know Rose a little better, and it was a good opportunity as well to do a little matchmaking, even if the relationship was only temporary. Damon pulled up Rose's car as close to the front door as he could, so Rose could get out and into the house safely. I got out and turned towards Damon.

"I'm gonna head off." I told him. Damon frowned.

"Why?"

"Rose needs someone to talk to about this, and that person is not going to be me." I explained to him, before frowning. "In fact, I think I'm probably the last person she'd want to talk to considering my connection with the person she's spent 500 years avoiding like the plague." I told him.

Damon looked like he'd rather walk into direct sunlight without his ring.

"Why me, though? What the hell would I say?" He complained. I shrugged.

"Wing it. You're a vampire, she's a vampire. Something will come up eventually." I reassured him. "Just use your natural charm." I told him, with a saucy little wink. Damon smirked.

"I'll talk to you later then." He said. I grinned.

"You better." I walked over to my car and immediately got into it and drove away. Had I looked back for any reason, I would've probably caught a glimpse of Damon looking at me with frustration and confusion before turning and following Rose inside.

* * *

 **A/N: Until next time, ladies and germs! :P**

 **TTFN :)**


	19. Of Martyrs and Protectors

**A/N: Here's a new chapter hot off the press! I hope that you enjoy reading it!**

 **Reviews are wildly appreciated, but no flaming please.**

 **I don't own** _ **The Vampire Diaries.**_ **All characters (except for Grace) are owned by author L.J. Smith.**

 **Cheers, guys xx**

* * *

 **OF MARTYRS AND PROTECTORS**

" _If they stand behind you, protect them. If they stand beside you, respect them. If they stand against you, defeat them."_ _ **~Unknown.**_

* * *

Around 10am, I got into my car and travelled to the Gilbert's House with the intention of filling in Elena with what Damon, Rose and I had found out from Slater in Richmond. Only when I got there, I could tell immediately that something wasn't quite right. I knocked politely on the front door, and smiled at Jenna who looked almost relieved to see me.

"Oh, Grace. Thank god." She said, and I raised an eyebrow at the greeting.

"Hey Jenna." I replied, a little uneasily. "Is Elena home, I have something I need to discuss with her." I asked, stepping inside and waving absently at Jeremy who came walking downstairs and down the hallway to the kitchen.

"She's in her room. If you can coax her out long enough to talk." Jenna replied, following me to the staircase. I paused and frowned at her curiously.

"What do you mean?" I asked, concerned. Jenna looked worried.

"She came home last night with Stefan, but he didn't come in and stay like he normally would. She was in tears, and I naturally assumed that she and Stefan had had a fight." Jenna told me. I nodded, and started climbing the stairs.

"I'll go and see if she's okay." I promised, watching Jenna disappear down the hallway and I continued climbing to the second floor of the house. I tentatively approached Elena's bedroom door and knocked politely. "Elena? It's Grace." There was silence, but when I pressed my ear to the wood, I could definitely make out a rustling of bed sheets. I knocked again. "Elena, I can tell that you need to talk to somebody. Please let me in." I wheedled. I listened carefully again, and suddenly heard the sounds of somebody shifting and walking towards the door. I nearly fell forwards when the bedroom door opened and I saw Elena, standing there looking tired and with red-rimmed eyes.

"Hey Grace. Please come in." Elena invited me dully. I nodded and followed her inside, watching Elena wonder back over to her bed and disappearing back underneath her duvet. I frowned and closed the door behind me before walking over to her bed. I perched on the side.

"What's happened, sweetie?" I asked her cautiously. Elena doesn't respond at first, but then slowly she pulled the duvet off her head and looks at me with genuine sorrow in her doe brown eyes.

"I wanted to know the truth about why I'm the doppelgänger, and why Klaus is looking for me… for us." Elena explains, in a voice that is barely a whisper. I nodded, waiting for her to go on. When she doesn't, I deemed it safe to question her on the matter.

"How did you learn this?" I asked, quietly. Elena hesitated.

"From Katherine." She replied almost reluctantly. My eyes widened. "I ditched school to go to the tomb and talk with her with Caroline. I got more than I bargained for." Elena admitted. I swallowed heavily. Part of me was curious about what she had learned, and another larger part of me knew that Elena had taken a great risk in doing what she did.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Elena fell silent. "It might make you feel better if you share it with someone else. I'll even tell you what I learned yesterday when I went to Richmond with Damon and Rose." I told her, trying to sweeten the deal. Elena farrowed her brow.

"What did you find out?" She asked. I smiled.

"How about we make a deal? I tell you what I found and then you tell me what's causing you such great pain that you dissolved into tears, huh?" I suggested. Elena thought for a moment, before sitting up and leaning against the headboard.

"You go first." She told me. I nodded and made myself comfortable on the bed.

"Damon confronted Rose yesterday when she came back to the Boarding House. He asked how we could find Niklaus, but Rose explained to us that it wasn't a matter of finding him, but more of him finding us." I told her. Elena made a face.

"That makes what I learned sound even worse." She told me.

"Well, anyway that lead us to go on a trip to Richmond where Slater, a friend of Rose's could give us information on Niklaus. But when we got there, the guy was about as useful as a headache during a critical exam." I was irritated all over again. Elena looked sympathetic.

"That bad huh?"

"He kept on babbling about his numerous degrees and how boring immortality is when you have nothing to do. The only useful information we got was that he knew all about Katherine, Damon and what we needed to do if we wanted to get in touch with Niklaus." I explained. Elena frowned.

"And how do you get in touch with Klaus?" She asked.

"Apparently Craigslist." I replied.

"Seriously? It's that easy?" Elena sounded sceptical. I nodded, pleased that she found it as stupid as it sounded also.

"That what Damon and I thought as well. But Damon also wanted to know why Niklaus would want to lift the curse, and apparently it was to keep the werewolves from lifting it. If vampires were able to break the sun curse, then werewolves would be stuck with the moon curse forever and vise versa." I relayed. Elena looked pensive.

"Is there a way to stop the curse from being broken at all?" She asked, curiously. I smiled.

"That's the same question we asked." I told her. Elena looked extremely alert.

"Well, is it possible?" I shrugged.

"Dunno. The café we were having this discussion in was attacked before we could suss out anything from him." I explained, feeling irritated. Elena's mouth fell open.

"Oh my God. Are you okay?" She asked, concerned. I smiled.

"I'm good. Damon dived over me and shielded me from the falling glass. The only serious casualty was Rose when the sunlight started cooking her skin." I told her. Elena looked at me curiously.

"Damon really cares about you, doesn't he?" She observed. I nodded.

"Yeah, I guess he does. I'm the first person that he's known who hasn't ridiculed him for being himself. Having said that, he sometimes needs to be reminded that human beings aren't his personal toys." I told her, smiling a little. I didn't bother telling her that in the process of dodging falling glass and getting Rose to the safety of the shade, I saw Elijah again. Elena looked like she was underneath enough stress. My friend let out a shaky breath when she realised that it was her turn to spill the beans about what was upsetting her like this; enough that not even Stefan was able to stay with her and comfort her like a boyfriend would.

"Katherine told me that back in 1492, she was the first known Petrova doppelgänger in over 500 years at that point." Elena eventually began her story. I blinked in astonishment. "She had first met Klaus in England after she had been kicked out of Bulgaria by her father." She told me.

"Why?" I frowned with confusion.

"Apparently, Katherine had a baby out of wedlock. After the baby was born and given away, they disowned her and banished her to England." Elena looked tired. I nodded accepting the explanation.

"That kinda explains why you exist now 500 years later, but not why Katherine couldn't be used now in Niklaus' ritual." I stated. Elena nodded.

"That's what I thought too. But anyway." Elena took a deep breath in before continuing Katherine's tale. However, she paused looking at me with hesitation.

"What?" I asked her, feeling nervous and I had no idea why.

"I keep forgetting that you knew Klaus. This might not be something I should be telling you." Elena told me. I froze, biting my lip before looking back at her with determination.

"It's alright. If we're going to be seeing him eventually, I need to know what I've missed about him." I reassured her. Elena nodded with trepidation.

"Okay." Elena sighed. "Katherine met Klaus not long after arriving in England and adapting there. He apparently courted her, until he revealed what he really was and what he wanted from her." My heart sank like a pebble tossed into a lake the second Elena mentioned that Niklaus had dated somebody else.

"Then she ran for it. And I don't blame her." Elena admitted. Then she frowned. "What the hell is courting anyway?" Elena asked, curiously. I drew in a deep breath, feeling stupid that I would be reacting this way. By the time Katherine had met Niklaus, 500-years had passed. It wouldn't be really fair of me or anybody else to expect that my love would've been celibate for this long. Even I'd go completely insane and be quite frisky too.

"Katherine meant that Niklaus flirted and expressed his intentions to develop a relationship with her." I explained confidently. Elena looked at me strangely.

"How the hell do you know that?" She asked me. I gave her a look, questioning if she had really been paying attention to me when I first explained my history with Niklaus, Elijah and the other Originals.

"I read a lot of literature: The Brontë Sisters, Jane Austen etc. Plus, I was alive a thousand years ago when Niklaus had _courted_ me before eventually proposing. I've had firsthand experience with this." I told her, meaningfully. "What happened next?" I asked her, fidgeting with my fingernails.

"When Katherine ran away, apparently Klaus sent Elijah off to find her. But Trevor had found her and sent him off in the opposite direction." Elena said.

"That creep who kept hitting on you back at that abandoned house, and then lost his head?" I queried. Elena nodded, still looking a little sick when remembering that particular memory. "So that's why he was so panicky." I mumbled.

"Klaus wants the same thing from me that he was unable to get from Katherine." Elena told me.

"Yeah, to break his curse."

"By draining me of all of my blood." Elena went pale just telling me this. I frowned, still confused about something.

"But why specifically the Petrova bloodline? Did Katherine tell you why?" I asked. Elena nodded.

"Petrova blood was used to bind the curse to the moonstone. The doppelgänger was created as a way to undo the spell, and when Katherine reappeared as the first doppelgänger after the curse was cast, it's a sign that the curse could be broken." Yep, that was pretty much what Henrik had told me the night after we came back from Duke, and I had shown him the Curse for the first time.

"So she ran before Niklaus could kill her. Am I right in saying that?" I double checked with her. Elena nodded. "Fantastic." I muttered sarcastically. "So I can assume that because Trevor got involved that Rose was unwittingly dragged in as well?" Elena nodded again. "Sounds selfish. Definitely reeks of Katherine too." I scoffed.

"Katherine told me that Rose was going to immediately return her back to Klaus and beg for forgiveness. But before she could do this she had tricked Rose into feeding her blood and then she hung herself, making herself useless for the ritual." Elena told me. I cringed.

"I bet that didn't go down well with Niklaus." I stated. Elena looked grim and nodded, confirming my suspicions.

"No, he retaliated." Elena confirmed.

I snorted, feeling unimpressed. No wonder the rumours and stories surrounding my Niklaus seemed to strike fear into those who knew him. I'd be pissed too if my freedom was so close I could practically taste it; only for some selfish little cow to go and fuck it all up so that I'd have to wait another 500 years to have another crack at it.

Having said that though, I could see why Katherine ran also. I wouldn't have wanted to die, much less be the essential ingredient to a ritual I had no business being a part of. So why should she? I wonder how Niklaus dealt with his disappointment and anger when he realised Katherine was now useless?

"So basically Katherine threw Rose and Trevor underneath a bus to save her own skin?" I snorted. "I cannot wait to hear what her punishment was." I said, feeling a little bit vindictive at the thought and it wasn't even me who Katherine had screwed over.

"Trust me you can. I didn't even believe that Katherine was telling me the truth about all this. But I think that every word she told me was her warning me about what's to come. And it scared the hell out of me." Elena told me, looking fearful and pale. "She was even willing to tell me how the curse is broken when I asked her if she knew." I was intrigued.

"How is the curse broken?" I asked, feeling morbid but determined to understand. I was there when I saw Niklaus get cursed by his mother, Mikael and Elijah; and I wanted to know what it took to save him.

"In order for Klaus to break his curse, he needs the moonstone…"

"Which Katherine apparently still has with her in the tomb." I guessed, and muttered curses underneath my breath when Elena nodded looking equally as annoyed. "What the hell were Damon and Stefan thinking?" I wanted to know.

"He also needs a werewolf." My eyes widened as I picked Tyler Lockwood very clearly in my head. I didn't even know if the kid had broken his curse yet; but he didn't deserve to die. I felt sick at the thought. "A vampire." We had vampires aplenty in this town, I just hoped that it wouldn't be anybody I knew or called friend: namely Damon, Stefan or Caroline. "And me." Elena finished listing what was required. I shook my head, not sure if I wanted to know much more.

"But then Stefan showed up as I was trying to coax more information out of Katherine. He was angry that I had risked my life to come down to the tomb, and didn't believe that Katherine would actually tell me the truth about what she went through and what I might possibly go through." She told me, looking a little resentful.

"From what I've been told by Damon, Katherine isn't exactly renowned for telling the truth. Or if she by some miracle does, it's usually for her own benefit." I defended Stefan's actions. Elena did tend to be a little too trusting at times.

"So then why would she offer me advice then?" Elena retorted. I frowned at her, slightly confused.

"What do you mean?"

"Katherine told Stefan and me that once she had set herself free from Klaus' ritual she returned home to Bulgaria. Only she discovered that her entire family had been slaughtered." My mouth fell open. I knew that Niklaus had a very bad temper when he got crossed or when somebody disappointed him; but to kill an entire family? I started to doubt his reasoning or his sanity. "Klaus had apparently killed her family to get back at her for running. And I'm scared Grace." Frightened tears started form in her eyes. "If he did that to Katherine when she ran away from him, what is he likely to do to the people I love if I did?" She whispered.

I got up off Elena's bed and wondered over to the window, gazing outside at Elena's backyard. The way I saw it, given the evidence I've been learning all along; both Niklaus and Elena were both the victims in this situation: My beloved desired to free himself from a physically debilitating curse that hid his true self, all because of his prick of a father was smarting over his wounded male pride. And Elena was trying to survive being used to break Niklaus' curse, but at the same time protect her friends and family from being killed.

It all seemed obvious to me.

"I think the answer is simple." I told her, turning back to face her. "Don't run." Elena looked at me in shock.

"What?" She whispered. I maintained a straight face.

"When the time comes, and it will, be brave and face your fears. Accept that you will die; but be smart about it. Find a solution to protect yourself so that everybody wins." I told her. Elena frowned, letting my suggestion sink in.

"You mean find something that could resurrect me when I die?" I shrugged.

"Something like that. I can't give you the solution to your problem, because I don't know what it is." I told her. "This is just advice." Elena still looked doubtful, but I was pleased that she didn't immediately reject the idea. There was a knock at the front door downstairs, and both Elena and I exchanged glances with each other. "Were you expecting anybody today?" I asked, heading for Elena's bedroom door and opening it. Elena frowned.

"Not that I know of. It might be Stefan, he did say he would be coming over today." Elena replied. I looked at her with surprise.

"Yeah, I meant to ask you about that. Why wasn't he here comforting you?" I asked, curiously. Elena looked down at her lap.

"I just wanted some time to myself last night. The news kinda got to me." She admitted. I nodded.

"You get dressed. I'll go down and greet him." I suggested and Elena nodded pulling back her duvet and headed for her closet, pulling free what she wanted to wear today while I jogged downstairs. Jenna was answering the front door just as I reached the bottom. It was Stefan AND Damon (and Henrik) standing on the front porch; and both Salvatores looked surprised to see me standing on the staircase, while Henrik merely strode past them to stand beside me. He looked troubled. He and I had agreed that he'd go and act as my eyes and ears when he followed the brothers to the tomb; since it was obvious that Damon would pitch a hissy fit if I even suggested the idea of going with them. Henrik's current mood sparked a lot of questions that I hoped would be answered in due course.

"Good morning, Jenna. May we come in?" Stefan asked Elena's aunt politely. Jenna frowned a little protectively at him, obviously still believing that her niece and Stefan had had a fight.

"Sure. Elena's upstairs, she'll be down in a minute." Jenna told them as she turned to go back to what she was doing. She locked eyes with me, and brightened hopefully. "Any luck coaxing Elena from her bedroom?" Jenna asked me. I nodded.

"Yeah, she just needed to talk with a friend." I explained. "She'll be down in a sec." I reassured her. Jenna looked relieved.

"You are a lifesaver. Thanks." She told me, flashing me a smile before picking up her purse and leaving the house. Damon and Stefan looked at me curiously.

"What are you doing here, Grace?" Stefan asked, looking a little worried. I came down the rest of the stairs and walked over to them. Henrik remained where we was standing on the bottom step.

"It's lovely to see you too, Stefan. Damon, I trust you are well also." I replied, smiling pointedly. "And to answer your question, I was filling Elena in on what Damon, Rose and I learned yesterday in Richmond. As well as learning what she had gotten up to yesterday with Katherine." I told them. Elena chose that moment to walk down the staircase, fully dressed and surprised to see them as I did.

"Hey. Uh, can we talk? With the both of you, I mean?" Stefan asked.

"Why?" Elena asked, coming to a stop beside me (and Henrik).

"We went to see Katherine." Damon reported succinctly. I suddenly understood why Henrik looked so uncomfortable.

"And judging by the expressions on your faces, it wasn't a pleasant experience?" I queried. Both of them made faces.

"Highlight of my existence." Damon drawled sarcastically as Elena led us all towards the kitchen.

"Why did you do that?" Elena asked, frowning a little and looking a bit apprehensive.

"To get back the moonstone from her." Stefan told her. Noticing the lack of pearly white stone in their possession, told both of us that they were unsuccessful with their excursion.

"What happened?" I asked, taking a seat at one of the stool surrounding the island bench. Damon and Stefan explained to the both of us that they descended down into the pit that contained the tomb and removed the stone door from the entrance, whereupon Katherine immediately greeted them.

"Bitch decided to flirt with us both, lull us into a false sense of security to trick us into coming into the tomb with her." Damon told us. I made a face.

"That sounds desperate even for her." I remarked.

"Well, she did that; but also attempted to persuade us to get Bonnie to lift the barrier so she could get free." Stefan added, leaning on the bench beside Elena.

"Well, clearly she failed. What else did you get out of this trip?" I asked. Damon snorted.

"That it was a colossal waste of time going down there in the first place. She wouldn't give it up unless we freed her first."

"What were her terms?" Elena asked. I looked at with shock.

"You're not seriously considering this are you?" I exclaimed. Elena made a face at me.

"Well getting out of the tomb seems kinda obvious. Katherine's gotta have some other reason why she wants out of the tomb, since she told me that when Klaus ever shows up here in Mystic Falls; it would be to kill us all, except for her because he wouldn't dare go into the tomb and risk being stuck in there himself." Elena explained, logically.

"Katherine promised that if we got her out, we'd get the moonstone and she'd disappear from Mystic Falls forever." Damon told us.

"And continue running from Niklaus for probably another 500 years." I stated sardonically. "Coward." I added, disgustedly. Elena looked at the brothers, worriedly.

"You don't believe her, do you?" She asked.

"No, of course not. We just want the moonstone." Damon confirmed, confidently.

"According to Rose's friend, Slater, there's a way to destroy the spell that Klaus wants to break." Stefan told us, as Henrik laughed scornfully.

"That's bogus. There is no spell to render the moonstone useless." He told me, from where he was leaning against the kitchen doorway. I figured as much. I managed to keep my face blank as I let Henrik's words sink in and hated the fact that the only person who knew everything about this curse, was a ghost, blood related to the entity it directly related to, and only I could communicate with him.

"No spell, no doppelgänger sacrifice. Ergo, you life." Damon stated. Elena glanced at me when he mentioned this. And I was quick to realise that she was remembering the advice I had given her about not running and accepting that she had to die; provided she found a way cover herself when she went to her death. I was pleasantly surprised that Elena seemed to have taken on board my suggestion, and was actually considering it.

"How do you destroy it?" She asked. My face fell a bit.

 _Or not…_

I was beginning to question if Elena really did have a martyr complex and if actually valued her life. Stefan smiled.

"By releasing it from the moonstone." He replied. Elena frowned, as well as me.

"How do you guys even know this is gonna work?" I asked, skeptically.

"Cause we have a crafty witch on our side." Damon responded; looking annoyed with my skepticism. Elena frowned again.

"You discussed it with Bonnie?" Elena asked, sounding a little shocked that Bonnie was actually on board with this.

"She agreed to do anything she could to help us." Stefan confirmed. Both Elena and I shook our heads.

"It's Katherine who has the moonstone." Elena reminded them.

"She's never going to give it to you." I agreed. "Unless she is 'persuaded' otherwise." I suggested. Both Stefan and Damon looked at me questioningly.

"And how do you propose on doing that?" Damon asked. I offered him a smirk.

"By threatening her with the two people who have complete power over her and her self-destructive actions. You forget who has a strong connection to those people." I reminded them of my relationship with Niklaus and Elijah. Damon immediately shut down.

"Not an option." He told me. I frowned at him.

"Explain to me why not?" I demanded. Damon offered me a condescending smirk.

"1) Because Elijah is dead. 2) It would mean bringing you to her as proof, and I'm not willing to risk your safety just to get back a worthless stone, and 3) I get the impression it still probably won't convince her to cough it up." Damon listed the facts. I bristled, something that Stefan noticed and quickly moved to defuse the situation.

"We're gonna get it from her." He promised.

"Well, what he means to say is, we will pry it from her cold, dead hand if we have to." Damon translated. I let out a low dark chuckle that drew all of their attention onto me. "What's with the creepy chuckle?" Damon demanded.

"Grace, don't do anything stupid." Henrik warned me, worriedly. I looked at him, trying to translate to him to just humour me. What I had to stay should hopefully make them re-think their plans.

"If you really think that Elijah is truly dead, then you are sadly mistaken." I told them, causing Elena to blanch. Damon looked suspicious.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"Who do you think shattered the window back at the café yesterday?" I asked him, and Damon's eyes widened in shock. Both Stefan and Elena immediately looked afraid.

"You can't be serious. He's alive?!" I nodded.

"And kicking. Probably patiently plotting his revenge as we speak." Henrik commented, pushing off of the door frame and boosting himself up to sit on the island bench between Damon and myself.

"I saw him. I think Elijah is much more powerful than you both realise." I told them.

"But I staked him with that broken coat rack, and unless it was made of steel and camouflaged to look like wood, wood + heart = dead vampire." Damon protested. I scowled at him.

"I know what I saw. Are you calling me a liar?" I challenged him. Stefan waded in.

"Nobody's calling you that, Grace. But I think we have to believe that Bonnie just needs to find a way to release the seal long enough for u to get in, get the moonstone, and get out in time for her to return it." Stefan explains. Both Damon and I backed off just as Elena chimed in.

"It sounds like you guys already have it all planned out." She observed. Damon puffed up his chest, looking immensely proud of himself.

"Yep. We're awesome." He declared.

 _And modest too…_ I thought.

"Except for one thing. I don't want you to do it." Elena tells them both. Damon and Stefan looked at her with disbelief while my mouth dropped open from shock. You could knock me over with a feather. Elena Gilbert was actually considering my suggestion after all. Wonders would never cease. Damon and Stefan exchange looks between them.

"What are you talking about? Elena, we don't have a choice." Stefan insisted. Elena frowned.

"What about Klaus?" She reminded him.

"We'll find him right after we get the moonstone." Stefan reassured her. I stepped in to help Elena with her objection.

"Before or after Niklaus kills everybody she cares about, including you two." I questioned, folding my arms across my chest and looking at them disapprovingly. Damon frowned at me.

"What about you? Aren't you afraid that Klaus will kill you to prove a point to Elena?" I snorted.

"Hardly. He's been searching for me for a thousand years." I reminded him. Elena frowned at him as well.

"I agree. Grace is his long-lost love, Damon. He's not gonna kill her." Damon looked visibly angry about this fact, and I rolled my eyes. Overprotective Damon Salvatore strikes again.

"Elena, if we can de-spell the moonstone, we can save your life." Stefan explained. Elena sighed in irritation.

"I know. Everybody keeps saying that." She grumbled. I shook my head at how foolish they were being.

"That won't help anybody's cause. You'll be signing your own death certificates if you do that." I protested. "But you're going to ignore me any way and do it, so I might as well be talking to a brick wall." I bitched. "Don't say I didn't warn you." I walked from the room, with both Elena and Henrik following after me. Elena snagged my elbow, pulling me aside. I frowned at the determined expression on her face.

"I need your help. Can you give me a lift, please?" I nodded, frowning at the fact that she had muttered this underneath her breath.

"Uh, sure." Elena sagged in relief and quickly dashed upstairs. I followed, curious about why she needed a lift when she had her own transport.

"What the hell is she up to?" Henrik blurted out, and I shrugged.

"I dunno. Guess we'll find out in due course. But something tells me it's not going to be something the brothers are gonna like; otherwise she would've asked them." I replied to him, as we walked back into Elena's bedroom. "Where am I taking you, Elena?" I asked, picking up my purse and keys from where I had left them. Elena hesitated before replying, which made Henrik and I all the more suspicious.

"The Boarding House." Elena replied, heading back out the door and downstairs. Both Damon and Stefan were still in the kitchen, deep in a heated discussion presumably about de-spelling the moonstone, despite Elena and me rejecting the idea completely.

"What could possibly be at the Boarding House that isn't currently having an argument in your kitchen?" I wondered. Then it hit me who Elena could be thinking of, and I stopped dead in my tracks; kicking myself for not thinking about it sooner. "Oh my God. You can't be serious." I muttered. Elena turned and looked at me, impatiently. "You want to talk to Rose? What the hell for, Elena?" I demanded, not budging an inch until she told me. Elena sighed and came over seizing my wrist and tugging me towards my car.

"I'll tell you on the way." She promised. I glanced at Henrik for advice.

"Wing it?" He suggested and I scowled at him.

"Lovely. I don't remember you being this unhelpful a thousand years ago, brother." I scoffed, stomping my way towards the car and unlocking it so Elena and I could get in.

"Well, we'll never know until we go along with it." Henrik pointed out. I pursed my lips and used the opportunity to smile at him sarcastically when I looked back to see where I was going when I reversed out of the driveway. This cannot end well. Once I put the car in gear and started driving back to the Boarding House, I turned my head to look at Elena for an explanation.

"Any day now, Elena." I told her, and Elena sighed.

"I want to ask Rose to help me pick up where you, Damon and she left off in Richmond with that Slater guy." She explained. I cringed.

"Jesus, Elena. Are you trying to get yourself killed? What you're thinking of is suicidal. May I remind you that Damon and I barely made it out of Richmond unscathed after Elijah blew up the coffee shop?" I reminded her. Elena frowned.

"No, you don't have to. I got it all in spades." She retorted. "So are you going to help me or not?" I exchanged a glance at Henrik in the backseat. He was glaring heatedly at Elena; probably because he knows that I would follow her to stop her from doing something foolish. I sighed.

"Against my better judgement." I reluctantly agreed. Elena instantly relaxed and a small little triumphant smile appeared on her face. The urge to kill her right where she sat was steadily creeping up like magma in an active volcano. But I resisted in favour of reminding Elena of the man Niklaus used to be, before she got any more bright ideas. "You know, you're very judgmental, Elena. Niklaus is just a man trying to get his life back." I told her. Elena looked at me incredulously, and a little offended. I could care less to be honest.

"Are you seriously trying to justify his actions to me? He's a monster who's looking for me so he can kill me!" She protested. Her childish temper tantrums were becoming tiresome.

"Like you're a saint, Elena. Like you wouldn't do the same thing if you were in his shoes?" I replied back, tartly. Elena looked appalled by what I said.

"How would you know that exactly? You barely know him." She said, rather cruelly. I looked at her sharply, causing her to recoil a little.

"I'd watch your tongue, if I were you. I know these things because I grew up with him and his family. _My_ family if I'm being completely honest." My voice was low and quiet. "I would do anything for my family, Elena. But at the same time, I do have a conscience and I will step in if things go too far. That is why I am helping you, giving you advice. But don't underestimate the things that I will do." I warned her. Elena fell silent, obviously taking my words to heart. She looked at me curiously. "Did you lose something over here, Elena?" I asked her.

"It's weird. You sound a lot like Elijah did." Elena observed.

"Not surprising. Since you reunited with Elijah, you're becoming more and more like the Gráinne I used to know every day." Henrik piped up proudly. I smiled warmly at his words.

"My memories are returning. Which means the mannerisms I had been brought up with are returning. And the reason why I sound similar to Elijah is because he was the one who took care of Niklaus and me when we were very young children." I explained. Elena was shocked.

"You mean he babysat you?" She sounded intrigued. I shrugged at her words.

"Not at first. He was only six when I was born, and Niklaus was two." I replied, smiling at the barely remembered memories.

"Elijah is older than Klaus? By four years?" Elena breathed. "Then how come Klaus is supposedly stronger than Elijah?"

"That's a story for another time." I told her, firmly dismissing the question. "But Elijah was, and remains to this day, the older brother that I never had." Elena looked intrigued by the story.

"So, you and Klaus are childhood sweethearts? I'm having a hard time picturing that." She admitted, making a face. I sighed and at the next set of red lights, reached for my purse and pulled free my sketchbook. "Grace, the lights turned green." Elena told me, and I turned my attention back to the road, dumping the book into her lap. "What's this for?" Elena frowned, opening the sketchbook to the first page which was a sketch of a wolf baying at a full moon.

"To show you a picture of what I used to look like a thousand years ago. I've drawn a few different pictures recently." I told her. Elena eagerly flipped through the sketchbook until she came upon a new picture depicting dark-haired little boy of no more than six cradling a newborn baby girl wrapped in a blanket with a sprinkling of brunette hair on her head. Beside the boy sat a chubbier fair-haired little boy of about two trying to see the baby in the older boy's arms, while the torso and legs of an unknown older woman sat behind the six year old, helping him support the head of the baby. All three children were dressed in 11th century garments.

"Is that…?" Elena trailed off.

"Yes, that first picture you're looking at is Elijah and Niklaus when they were six and two holding me; the baby." I confirmed. I could see Elena's wide and unblinking eyes look at the picture in astonishment. "Shall I pull over and explain?" I offered.

"That would be good." Elena agreed. I immediately turned the steering wheel to pull off on the side of the road. I noted that we weren't that far away from the boarding house, so I decided to stall for a while. I noticed Henrik looking at the picture too. I had momentarily forgotten that my youngest brother had not seen these pictures either, and was looking eager to learn more too. "How do you remember this?" Elena asked, with confusion.

"I don't. This is my interpretation of what I believed might've happened." I explained easily. Elena nodded, then pointed towards the unknown woman sitting behind Elijah.

"Who's that?" She asked.

"Their mother, Esther, I expect." I answered. "If you can remember, I believe I told you that both my family and Niklaus' family came to the 'New World' to escape a deadly plague. Our families were very close." I told her, before turning the page revealing a sketch of an older (blank-faced) Niklaus having a moment with a tall brunette beauty who was smiling back up at him with such love and devotion in her dark eyes. The beauty was dressed in a Viking dress with a sweetheart neckline and long sleeves. Her extremely long dark hair was tied back in a simple thick braid.

"Is this you?" Elena asked, surprised. I nodded. "Your hair was so long!" The doppelgänger commented, sounding a little jealous. I chuckled.

"We didn't have hairdressers back then, sweetie. We had to cut it ourselves. And anyway, it was a bitch to clean and maintain. Not to mention because my hair was so thick, I used to get headaches like you wouldn't believe." I explained. Elena turned to the next picture which contained a sketch of two small pictures: one of Elijah, Niklaus and myself standing about and laughing; while Niklaus and Elijah held swords in their hands. The other was of Niklaus and myself lying in a field of wildflowers with a beautiful fair-haired girl cloud watching.

"She's familiar." Elena commented, pointing towards my sister.

"That's because it's Niklaus' sister, Rebekah. She was my best friend a thousand years ago. And I hope she still is even now." My smile fell a little. "Although, she might be angry at me for a while." I confessed.

"Why?" Elena looked up, concerned.

"She was the last person I spoke to before I was murdered." I explained sadly. "I broke a promise to her."

"What promise?" Elena was curious.

"That I would be careful and not get myself killed like Henrik did." I told her.

"Is he here?" Elena asked.

"Right behind you, looking at the picture in your hands." I confirmed.

Elena nods but doesn't say anything else as she studies the pictures once again. It is several minutes before she eventually closes the portfolio and hands it back to me. I put it back into my purse just as Elena finally speaks.

"What was Klaus like growing up?" Elena asks, sounding rather reluctant; like it was taboo to ask a simple question like this. I grinned triumphantly. She was taking the bait, just as I hoped she would the second I started showing her those pictures.

"Like every other boy: thought girls were gross except for his own mother and sister. Cheeky, playful, mischievous, disgusting…" I shuddered at a particularly memorable memory of the time he, Elijah and I were digging around in the dirt, and Niklaus had come across an earthworm; which he had plucked up from the dirt and started chasing me around with it, much to Elijah's amusement and annoyance. "And bloody annoying." I told her. "But he was also shy, charming, a real sweetheart, compassionate, incredibly insecure and paranoid as fuck." I put the car into gear and continued on our journey to the Boarding House.

"Oh, yeah. I nearly forgot about that…" Henrik groaned, reflecting upon some memories of his own. None of them good, judging by the miserable look on his face.

"Paranoid? Insecure?" Elena frowned. Both Henrik and I nodded, even though Elena couldn't see him.

"He had a rather horrible childhood and adolescence." I told her. "For years we couldn't work out why his father was so cruel to him. Niklaus would be constantly on his guard around Mikael, wanting so badly to please him or remain on his good side; just for the sake of peace. But it was all for naught. Whenever he made a mistake, even a minuscule one; Mikael would verbally abuse and physically beat him. Or if he did something to remotely piss him off, it would be like World War III started." I was getting angry, and Elena could sense it.

"That's awful. Do you think that's got anything to do with how he's been described by everyone?" She asked. I paused.

"Partly." I responded. Elena immediately stiffened. But before she could ask any more questions, we had arrived at the Boarding House. After I parked the car, I immediately get out with Henrik, leaving Elena to her thoughts as she followed swiftly and heads for the front door. I locked the car behind me and eye her cautiously, wondering if she had really thought through her plan before making me drive her here.

"We better follow her so she doesn't get into trouble." Henrik suggested and I nodded discreetly and sauntered over to her side as Elena lets herself in. I close the door behind us and we both look around the hallway. Suddenly we both hear Rose coming down the stairs, tying on a silk robe.

"It's not nice to leave a girl naked so early in the morning." Rose breaks off mid-sentence when she sees us. I smirked as both Elena and Henrik go bright red and turn away. "Woah. Sorry, I thought you were…"

"Damon. Easy mistake. Plus you don't have anything I haven't seen in the mirror every morning." I waved away the apology and walked further into the house, followed closely by Henrik who avoids looking in Rose's direction. I smile proudly at him; a true gentleman. Elena clears her throat uncomfortably.

"I, uh, sorry, I…" Elena stammered. I chuckled, earning a scowl from Elena. Rose looked a combination of both annoyed and amused.

"There's no one else here." She points out.

"We know. Damon and Stefan are back at the Gilbert's." I explained.

"Actually, I came to talk to you." Elena interjected. Rose looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

"I think Elena meant to say 'we' came to talk to you." I amended what she said. Elena rolled her eyes impatiently as Rose nodded.

"Then I should probably get dressed." She stated.

"Probably best." I agreed. Rose smiles broadly and walks back up the stairs, returning after a few minutes dressed in real clothing. By then, Elena and I had relocated to the parlour, and Henrik was picking up where he left off perusing Damon and Stefan's book collection.

"So what do you want to talk to me about?" Rose asked, taking a seat next to Elena. The doppelgänger got right to the point.

"I want to continue finding more information about Klaus, leading off from what you, Damon and Grace found out from your friend Slater in Richmond." Elena told her. Rose frowned almost immediately.

"It's a bad idea." Rose stated. I shook my head at her description.

"It's not a _bad_ idea. It's a bloody stupid one." I corrected her. Rose frowned at me.

"Then why didn't you stop her?" She demanded. Elena jumped in before I could answer.

"From what Grace told me, your friend Slater obviously has more information about Klaus. You, Grace and Damon gave up before you got it." Elena pointed out. Both Rose and I frowned at her defensively.

"Because somebody blew up the coffee shop with us in it." Rose stated. Elena nodded.

"I know. Grace told me. But there's more to learn. We just have to find a way to learn it." Elena insisted. Rose offered me a look, as though asking me if Elena was for real. I shrugged.

"Why are you coming to me with this?" Rose asked, suspiciously.

"Because you owe me. One word from me, and Damon and Stefan could have killed you for kidnapping me." Elena pointed out. I scowled.

"You're being very presumptuous. You seriously expect that people are going to just drop everything the second you click your fingers together?" Elena scowled at me, and was about to open her mouth to presumably let fly something catty enough for me to want to rip out her tongue or throat if I would've been a vampire, when Rose unexpectedly backed me up.

"Or maybe it's because you know that they wouldn't want you doing this. And their moonstone caper gives you a chance to sneak away, using Grace as your accomplice." Rose raised an eyebrow at Elena, as though daring her to disagree. Elena flushed an interesting shade of red.

"We're having a disagreement, okay? They're willing to risk everyone that I love and I'm not." Elena attempted to defend her actions.

"And your automatic response is to martyr yourself?" I felt mystified. Rose shook her head disapprovingly.

"They're just trying to protect you." Rose explained to her. Elena immediately shut down.

"And you've proven that you couldn't care less whether I'm protected or not. So, we're back to you taking me to Slater." Elena replied, stubbornly. I groaned and got to my feet, pacing so I didn't do something that would incur Damon or Stefan's wrath; like killing Elena before Niklaus could get his chance.

"Wow, I wish I had some popcorn right now." Henrik spoke up from where he was spectating this latest batch of Elena's antics. I threw him a weird look, which he ignored as Rose sighed heavily and raked a hand through her pixie red hair.

"What exactly do you hope to achieve by this?" She asked Elena.

"How would like to be able to walk during the daylight?" Elena asked, aiming for innocence. I snorted. Both Rose and Elena ignored me.

"I've been a slave to shadows for 500 years. What do you think?" Rose replied, evenly. Elena grinned.

"I think I know a witch who's willing to do whatever it takes to help. If you're willing to make a deal." Elena told her.

I didn't have to turn round to see the tempted look on Rose's face.

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 **A/N: Please review. The next chapter should be out within 2-3 days.**

 **TTFN ;)**


	20. Come Into My Web

**A/N: Ladies and germs, it's time for a new chapter update! YAY!**

 **This chapter update is brought to you by my 27th birthday today! (11/02/2019).**

 **Please review, and not to flame :)**

 **I don't own** _ **The Vampire Diaries.**_ **All characters (except for Grace) are owned by author L.J Smith.**

 **Please enjoy x**

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" **COME INTO MY WEB", SAID THE SPIDER TO THE FLY.**

" _Can you see the "fuck you" in my smile?" –_ _ **Unknown Author.**_

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I was experiencing a nasty case of de-ja-vu as Rose drove Elena, Henrik and I back into Richmond, Virginia, so Elena could risk both our necks getting more information about Niklaus. But the sick thing about this little excursion into certain doom, was that I was excited about what we could uncover about my beloved. Because it meant we were just that little bit closer to reuniting again.

Rose parked her car in yet another convenient underground parking lot below Slater's apartment. The three of us ascend the staircase to the apartment, whereupon Rose hammers her fist on Slater's apartment door while Elena and I hang back. Henrik dawdled in the background looking bored; and I didn't blame him.

"Slater? Slater, it's Rose. Open up!" No response. After a few brief moments, Rose looks over at Elena and shrugged in a 'sorry, not sorry' kind of way. "He's not home. Sorry." Then goes to walk off down the corridor. But Elena was stubborn.

"Mm-mmm. No." She stated, and both Rose and I groaned. "We didn't come all the way out here for nothing." Rose sighs, before going over and pushing on the doors using her vampire strength. They immediately swing open, allowing Elena the opportunity to stick her head in and rubberneck around. Rose gestured into the room.

"After you." She said, tiredly. Elena walks into the apartment with Rose, Henrik and I following behind begrudgingly. Rose wonders further into the apartment than Elena or I do, looking around for Slater. "Slater?" She calls out, searching room after room. I join her, since I'd already met the annoying, yet very informative vampire. I looked through a random doorway and paled.

"Uh, Rose? Elena?" I step further into the room and crouch down beside Slater's dead body. "I don't think he's gonna be much help." I reported, as Rose and Elena rush over to where I was. Elena gasps at the body, and Henrik swore underneath his breath as Rose walks over and drags away Slater's corpse. I look up and notice a cluttered computer desk and stand up, walking over to it. Elena follows me, picking up a bunch of papers. There was only one person who would be this organized to orchestrate this tidy murder.

 _Well played, Elijah…_

"Looks like somebody killed him for his information." Elena theorized. Rose walked up behind us, and watched as Elena shuffles through the papers Slater had strewn over the desk.

"Smart money would be on 'yes'." I quipped.

"Probably to stop him from helping people like us." Rose added. "The guy was like a vampire almanac. Knowing too much information just bit him in the ass." Elena continues to sift through a few more pages on Slater's desk, while I helped her and came across a framed photo. As I examine the photo, Rose approached a set of windows with the curtains drawn.

"Uh, Rose…?" I moved to intercept her, but Rose pulls back the curtains allowing brilliant yellow sunshine to filter through the windows. Both Elena and I half expected her to combust, but then I remembered that we were in a former vampire's apartment. Slater would've been smart enough to take the proper precautions.

"What are you…?" Elena started to say.

"Tempered glass. UV rays can't penetrate." Rose tapped lightly on the tinted windows, before looking out of the window. She had a rather sad look on her face that told me that she was remembering Slater. "I used to just come here and watch the day." She reminisced. I glanced down at the framed photo in my hands, and glanced back up at Rose. Elena came over to examine it over my shoulder. She smiled sympathetically at her.

"I'm sorry about Slater." Elena said sincerely. Rose shrugged before coming over to where she was attempting to turn on Slater's computer.

"Any luck?" She asked her. Elena pressed a few buttons and suddenly looked frustrated.

"It's password protected." I reported.

"I can't get in." Elena added. Rose actually looked relieved.

"That's fine. Let's just go." She suggested. We all jumped when someone starts rattling a doorknob from inside the apartment. Rose looks at the both of us sternly. "Stay here." She warns and goes off to investigate. As Rose approaches a set of doors, I move away from Elena; who was attempting to hack into the computer one more time, and pulled out my phone and accessed the contacts. I found Damon's number and was about to dial it when Rose reappears with a trashy looking emo chick with mascara tears streaming down her face. Rose looked less than pleased that she was here.

"This is Alice. She found Slater a few minutes before we did." Rose explains to both of us. I decided to hold off calling Damon for now, as I studied Alice. There was something off about her.

"How is she?" I asked Rose, offering Alice a polite smile that she didn't return. Rose rolled her eyes as she led Alice over to a nearby couch and pushes her down onto it while Elena disappears into the kitchen to make some tea to calm the hysterical girl down.

"Overreacting. Big time." Rose replied to my question, just as Elena re-entered the room juggling three cups of tea. She frowned at Rose's 'insensitive' answer.

"Her boyfriend just died. There's no such thing as overreacting." Elena insisted, handing me one of the mugs of tea. I thanked her absently, still observing this girl. I would normally agree with Elena's statement; but as I looked into Alice's red-rimmed eyes, I could tell that she wasn't as devastated as she was carrying on. It was more disappointment than anything.

"Those tears are for her." Rose confirmed my suspicions. "She didn't care about Slater." I relaxed, pleased that I wasn't being a heartless cow and that Rose had spotted the difference as well. "She was only dating him long enough to see if he'd turn her."

"That's truly pathetic." I observed, taking a sip of my tea as Elena turns around and looks a little more carefully at Alice. She cautiously approaches her and offers her the cup of tea with a polite smile.

"Thank you." Alice said to Elena graciously, then studies her as Elena sits down beside her. "You look really familiar. Did you know Slater?" Alice asks her curiously. Elena shook her head.

"Not personally. Grace knows him more than me." She said, pointing towards me, and drawing Alice's attention. I flinched, as Alice looked at me with the same curious expression she had given Elena. "I was told that he kept detailed records of all his vampire contacts and I was hoping that he could point me towards Klaus." Elena explained, to the vampire groupie whose eyes were still focused upon me. Alice snorted.

"Doubtful. Klaus doesn't like to be pointed at." She told us.

"Understandably." I agreed, feeling uncomfortable. Alice frowned at me curiously.

"You also look familiar." I cleared my throat, feeling uncomfortable being scrutinized. I nodded condescendingly.

"I must have one of those faces." I replied, flippantly. Elena put the focus back on her. I caught Rose looking at me nervously the second after Alice verbalized recognition, while Henrik looked surprised from where he was standing beside the currently inaccessible computer.

What the actual fuck?

"Do you know Slater's computer password?" Elena asked Alice, hopeful. The girl gawked at Elena, offended.

"Are you seriously asking me that right now? I just saw my boyfriend with a stake through his heart." She whined. I groaned, there could be so many other things I could be doing right now instead of listening to a vampire groupie's bemoaned sob story.

"And our hearts bleed for you. Truly they do, but answer our sodding question." I demanded, sternly. Alice glared at me.

"Who do you think you are?" She demanded, looking away from me and taking a sip from her tea. I ripped the cup away from her. "Hey!?"

"I am Klaus' highly irritated reincarnated fiancée from a thousand years ago." Alice's eyes widened for a split second before she let out an excited laugh.

"I knew you looked familiar!" She chirped excitedly. I jerked in bewilderment.

"How? How exactly am I familiar to you? I've only just met you!" I stated. Elena glances over at Rose, who was looking just as dumbfounded as I did; then Elena's brown eyes lit up with an idea. She glances back at Alice.

"What if I could convince Rose to turn you?" Elena suggested. Both Rose and I looked at her with shock (me) and distain (Rose) as Alice immediately loses interest in me and focuses on Elena. "Will you show us his files then?" Elena inquired casually. Alice didn't hesitate.

"Okay." She jumps off the couch and skips over to Slater's computer, expertly clicking away at the keyboard. Elena smirks at us triumphantly, but both Rose and I barely acknowledge it. Alice manages to successfully log onto Slater's computer, but all the files have been deleted.

"Well that's a letdown…" Henrik remarks, frowning at the computer screen as Alice continues tapping away at the keyboard.

"Someone's been here. The hard drive's completely wiped out." She reported.

"Yeah, probably by whoever killed him." Rose stated, as Elena groaned and runs a hand over her face, turning away. However, Alice smirked.

"Lucky for the three of you, Slater was paranoid. Everything's backed up on a remote server." She tells us gleefully, and Elena (and me) brighten instantly. Rose sidles up to Elena and pulls her aside to whisper into her ear.

"You know that she's not going anywhere near my blood, right?" Rose pointed out, sternly. Elena didn't look worried and nodded.

"I know that. _She_ doesn't." Elena pointed towards Alice, and I couldn't help but snort with dark amusement. This was one of the only times I was glad for Elena's manipulative side. Elena walks past Rose and leans down next to Alice to look at the computer screen. I pulled out my phone, and glanced at a nearby wall clock and then at Rose, before walking over to the vampire with the intention of revealing my plan to betray Elena to Damon. "So these are all leads to vampires?" Elena casually asked Alice who continues scrolling through the files.

"Slater was obsessed. Almost as much as me." Alice confirmed. Rose came over to inspect the list and I hovered behind, ready to contact Damon at a moment's notice. I had lost my trust in Elena ages ago, and I certainly didn't trust that there wasn't a method to her madness.

"What about that one? Cody Webber. They exchanged dozens of emails about Elijah." Rose observed, pointing a collection of emails. Alice shrugged.

"I could call him." Elena hands her the cordless phone and Alice immediately dials this 'Cody'. Henrik came over to me.

"What are you doing?" He asked, looking down at my phone. "You're calling Damon? What for?" Henrik looked confused.

"Tell him that we're trying to send a message to Klaus." Henrik's head snaps up when Elena says this, as does Rose. I frowned dangerously at the little martyr. "The doppelgänger is alive and she's ready to surrender." Henrik's mouth drops open in horror.

"What!?" Rose exclaimed.

"That's why." I told Henrik, before moving over to Rose to finally tell her my intention. Alice looked star struck.

"Oh, my God. I knew I recognized you."

"Just get him the message, please." Elena said, impatiently. Then she walks quickly from the room. I followed her.

"Congratulations. You've officially gone insane." I told her as she places her hands on a table and exhales heavily. Elena pauses and glowers at me.

"I would've thought that you'd be pleased too, Grace. Klaus is looking for you too, or have you forgotten that?" Elena retorted.

"On the contrary. It would mean that I'd be one step closer to being back into his arms where I should be." I noticed Henrik beaming from ear to ear when I declared this, but I chose to ignore it for now, in favor of knocking some sense into Elena's head. "But don't kid yourself; this is definitely the wrong way to go about it." I was angry. Rose entered the room, looking just as pissed.

"What are you doing?" She demanded.

"I'm getting Klaus' attention." Elena replied succinctly, like it should be obvious. Rose got into Elena's face.

"If Klaus knows that you're alive, he'll find you and he'll kill you." Rose reminded her, urgently. Elena looks at both Rose and I, defiant and resolute in her choice. "Which is exactly what you wanted all along." Rose realised.

"It's either me or my family." Elena insisted. I shook my head in disbelief as Rose looked at Elena with pity and contempt.

"So this whole charade is some suicide mission so that you could sacrifice yourself and save everyone else?" Rose guessed.

"This is _exactly_ what it is." I murmured, raising my phone up to eye level and accessing Damon's name. As the call connected, Alice walked into the room grinning from ear to ear.

"Cody is on his way and he _really_ wants to meet you." She tells Elena. I walk from the room, followed by Henrik, catching Rose's eye.

"Elena is crazy." Henrik declared and I looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Well, she is." He said defensively. I almost smiled.

"I never thought I'd hear you worried for her safety. I would've thought that you'd be on Niklaus' side in all this." I whispered to him, so Rose wouldn't get suspicious.

" _Not a good time, Grace."_ I hear Damon's deep voice down the line.

"Well make it a good time. I'm in a serious situation!" I whisper-yelled at him down the line, as I looked back into the room Elena was in, where she was ignoring an extremely chatty Alice. Rose immediately looked up when she overheard Damon's voice, and quietly came over to my side.

" _What?! Where are you?"_ Damon sounded frantic. Rose vamp-sped me to the bathroom before answering Damon's question for me.

"You need to get to Richmond immediately." Rose told him.

" _What the hell are the both of you doing in Richmond!?"_ Damon demanded.

"Both of us were foolishly conned by Elena to martyr herself to somebody who could deliver her to Niklaus!" I replied, frantically. I heard Damon utter an inhuman growl.

" _How could you be so stupid?!"_ Damon snarled.

"Save now! Bitch later!" I retorted, angrily.

"Just get down here!" Rose added, urgently. I hung up, and Rose snatched my phone from me and quickly texted Damon the address to Slater's apartment. "Quick thinking." Rose muttered to me when she returned my phone. I nodded, sliding my phone into my back pocket.

"Yeah well, I want to see my Niklaus again. But not like this." I told her, as we went back to rejoin Elena and Alice, hoping our absence wasn't noticed. As Rose and I walked back into the room, I froze mid-step when I saw an image of Elijah walking towards us in the window Elena was looking into. She gasped, and turned to look behind her. Her eyes widened the second she clapped eyes on me and I immediately turned, thinking Elijah was standing behind me. But there was nobody there.

"You saw it too?" Elena whispered. I looked back at her and nodded.

"Saw what?" Henrik asked me, and I looked at him; a pleased smile spreading across my face.

"Elijah."

* * *

It had been a couple of hours since I had seen Elijah's reflection and since I had made the phone call to Damon; and neither he nor Damon had shown up … yet. It was torture. But just as Elena returns from the kitchen drinking from a glass of water, Damon finally showed up. His ice blue eyes were furious, as they lock onto Elena. She gasps when he sneaks up behind her.

"Oh, it's about time." Henrik bitched from where he was sitting beside me on the couch. I smirked.

"What are you doing here?" Damon demanded Elena. She frowned at him with confusion.

"Me? What are you doing here?" She retorted, just as Rose walks into the room. Elena immediately turns on her.

"You called him?!" She yells, angrily. Rose shook her head and turned to point towards me where I was sitting cool, calm and collected on the couch by the front door, now wide open because of Damon's entrance. I smiled and wiggled my fingers at her, almost mockingly.

"Guilty as charged." I drawled, getting to my feet and sauntering over to the three of them. Elena glared at me.

"You bitch!" Elena cursed me, causing Damon to bristle. I shrugged.

"Sticks and Stones." I replied. Then without warning, and before Damon or Rose could react; Elena stormed over to me and punched me in the jaw, presumably for foiling her plans.

"Grace!" Henrik yelled and came over to me, just as I recovered from the blow and turned back to Elena, now being restrained by Damon. I spat blood from my mouth, glaring at her.

"Overreaction, don't you think?" I spat out a little more blood. Rose shuddered and I turned looking at her questioningly. "What's wrong?" I asked her. Rose was looking at me looking a little afraid.

"Please don't do that again. You looked exactly like Klaus when you did that." She told me. I was surprised.

"Oh." I responded. I glanced over when Alice suddenly walked into the room. She looked completely starstruck seeing Damon.

"Damon Salvatore!" Alice squealed with excitement. Damon didn't bother acknowledging her.

"Get rid of her." He tells Rose, who immediately grabs a protesting Alice's arm and leads her out of the room. Damon focuses on me, with concern. "You okay?" I nodded.

"I'll live." I reassured him and Henrik who wouldn't leave my side. Damon reached into his back pocket and pulled out a white handkerchief, tossing it to me.

"You got a little…" He indicated to the corner of his mouth, and I unfolded the clean handkerchief and dabbed at the corner of my mouth. I was still bleeding.

How hard did Elena punch me?

"Thanks." I mumbled and wondered back over to the couch, perching on the armrest. Once Rose came back from escorting Alice from the room, Damon immediately dropped Elena's arm like a hot potato.

"Come on. We're leaving." Damon announced, and turned walking for the door. I nodded, handing him back his handkerchief, which he immediately pocketed; apparently not at all worried about the scent of my blood on it. Elena stood her ground.

"No." She said, stubbornly. Damon turned and walked back over to her. It looked like his temper was rising.

"I said we're leaving." Damon told her, his voice low, slow and threatening.

"I'm not going with you." Elena insisted, scowling at him. Damon wasn't intimidated.

"You don't get to make decisions anymore." He said. Elena looked at him incredulously and started laying in on him.

"When have I ever made a decision?" She wanted to know. "You and Stefan do that for me. Now this, this is my decision." Elena stated. I spun on her, completely over her excuses.

"For fuck's sake, Elena! This isn't negotiable!" I growled at her, grabbing everyone's attention. "This is serious! You're gambling with your life right now." I told her.

"Who's gonna save your life while you're out making decisions?" Damon added. Elena glared.

"You're not listening to me, Damon. None of you are. I don't want to be saved. Not if it means that Klaus is gonna kill every single person that I love." Elena insisted.

Well, that answers my unspoken question. It's become very clear that everything I told her in the car on our way to the Boarding House went in one ear and out the other. Damon looked like he had reached his breaking point.

"Get your ass out the door before I throw you over my shoulder and carry you out myself." Damon growled, before grabbing her arm tightly. Elena starts to struggle and releases herself from his grip.

"No!" She snarled. My eyes widened when she immediately throws another punch, this time at Damon. However, unlike me, he manages to catch her fist in his hand and moves his face closer to hers.

Elena is shocked.

"Don't ever do that again." He hisses at her before releasing his grip on her fist and walking away. Elena looks horrified and I feel no sympathy for her. I glanced over at Henrik who had a solemn expression on his face. My face softens and I go over and sit beside him.

"You alright?" I asked him quietly. Henrik nodded his head.

"Always. Your fight with Elena just reminded me of the many fights I've witnessed father having with Niklaus. Only theirs was more violent." He explained. I immediately feel guilty.

"I'm sorry, brother. I should've been more observant." I stated.

"No, don't be sorry. You're doing the right thing. Elena is being completely idiotic, and far too reckless. I don't think you or Damon are going too far at all." Henrik told me, and I felt relieved. Suddenly, Damon re-emerged from a set of double doors and exits what I assumed was Slater's bedroom. Elena and Rose look up at him from their seats in the living area, while I stand up from the couch beside the front door with Henrik by my side.

"Time to go." Damon declared firmly, and with no room for arguments. "Alice is soundly sleeping and won't remember a moment of this horribly stupid day." He tells us. But before he can take another step, the front doors burst open and in walk three unfamiliar men. Damon gives them his full attention as Rose and Elena stand up from their chairs and Rose shields Elena protectively. One of the men, obviously this Cody guy Alice had phoned up for Elena, speaks up.

"We're here to meet the doppelgänger." Cody says, looking like a cat that got the cream.

* * *

Elena immediately walks over to them.

"Thank you for coming." She says graciously. Damon pushes her back, before leaning down to whisper harshly into her ear. Elena falters, as Damon looks at Cody. "There's nothing here for you." He insists firmly. But before anybody else could move, one of Cody's buddies suddenly drops to the floor, dead. Elijah stands behind him; with a stony expression on his face.

Both Henrik and I light up like Christmas trees at the sight of our older brother.

"Elijah." We say in unison; momentarily grabbing his attention before he focuses on the other two vampires, who are starring at him looking petrified. Elijah vamp-speeds towards them, looking from one to another. Rose immediately panics and vamp-speeds from the apartment, as Elijah looks over at Elena and Damon, then finally on me (and Henrik).

"You were right." Damon muttered, look at me with surprise. I scowled at him.

"Don't act so surprised." I retorted. But Damon shook his head, clearly in complete denial despite what was clearly in front of him.

"But I killed you. You were dead." He told Elijah, who nods.

"For centuries now." He agreed. Henrik sniggers as Elijah focuses upon Cody. "Who are you?" He demands. Cody trembles.

"Who are you?" He returns the question.

"I'm Elijah." My beloved big brother replies, matter-of-factly. Cody immediately starts groveling when he realizes who is talking to.

"We were gonna bring her to you. For Klaus. She's the doppelgänger. I don't know how she exists, but she does. Klaus will want to see her." Cody sings like a canary, and I knew that he was doomed.

"Does anyone else know that you're here?" Elijah asks, calmly.

"No." Cody replies, relaxing a little. I shook my head.

"Well, then, you have been incredibly helpful." Elijah commends them before plunging his arms into the two vampires' chests, removing their hearts. Both of them fall to the floor, dead like their friend; and Elijah lets the hearts in his hands drop to the ground. Damon readies himself for a fight against Elijah, but instead Elijah merely turns and vamp-speeds out of the apartment.

I cursed.

He wasn't getting away that easy. I immediately race for the door.

"Grace, wait!" Damon shouts, but I ignored him focusing on my current goal; despite the fact that it was probably pointless.

"Elijah!" I race down the corridors, and out into the fading sunlight. "Elijah, come back please!" I call out into thin air. I glanced about for a glimpse of my brother; but there was nothing. I scream with frustration and brutally kick a nearby garbage bin, hurting my foot. I limped over to sink down against the brick wall; succumbing to tears.

"You called, little sister?" I gasped and turned towards the voice, seeing Elijah standing there, smiling fondly at me. I immediately scramble to my feet and practically jump into his arms. Elijah easily catches me and holds me close. "I see. You haven't changed one bit." Elijah whispers into my ear, before putting me back on the ground.

"I missed you so much. I've missed _all_ of you!" I tell him, tears still streaming down my face. Elijah wipes them away like he used to when I was a child.

"I missed you too, Gráinne." Elijah responds automatically, but I immediately shake my head. "What's wrong?" He asks.

"I don't go by that name anymore. Sorry, I may be reincarnated, but I go by a different name now. Please call me 'Grace' from now on, Elijah. I'm still the same person, but I prefer to go by my new name." I tell him. Elijah smiled again.

"As you wish, little sister."

"I'm also just relieved that you're okay." I told him sincerely. He frowns at me, slightly confused.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Elijah asked. Now it was my turn to be confused.

"Because, Damon staked you. I watched you die before my eyes." I told him. Elijah chuckled his deep warm chuckle that I remembered so dearly, before kissing my forehead with affection.

"I cannot be killed, Grace. At least not like that." Elijah reassured me. "And I'm not going to tell you. Your friend is close by." He tells me, pointing to his ear to indicate enhanced vampire hearing. I nodded. Elijah glances at the entrance to Slater's apartment block again and frowns. "I must go now. But I will see you soon." He reassures me before kissing my forehead again and turning to go.

"Wait!" I call out, and Elijah turns and looks at me with a raised eyebrow. "May I have your phone, please?" I asked urgently. Elijah nods and hands it to me.

"Whatever do you need it for, Grace?" He asks, sounding a little impatient. I immediately access his contacts and add my phone number before pranking myself.

"I've added my number to your phone; just in case I really need your help, and because I would like to remain in contact with you. Even if it's not physically in the same room. At least for now." I explained. Elijah looked surprised, but then smiles graciously at me.

"I would like that. Thank you." He says to me. I walk over to him and place his phone back in his hand, and kiss him chastely on his cheek.

"I'll text you tonight." I promised him. "See you later."

Elijah nodded before vamp-speeding away. I picked up my phone from my purse and accessed my phone history. An unknown number sat in the canceled phone calls list and I immediately save the number into my contacts under the name 'Elijah'.

"Grace!" I quickly shove my phone back into my purse, in time to see a frantic Damon appear in my face. I glanced idly over his shoulder to see a sulking and bewildered looking Elena glancing over at us. "What the hell did you think you were doing!?" He demanded, angrily. I smiled at him, unable to feel annoyed with his overprotectiveness, and threw him off a little.

"Just catching up with my brother." I replied simply, before wondering over to where I could see Damon's Camaro waiting nearby.

* * *

I was just so happy that I had seen my brother again, that I almost didn't notice the waves of anger emanating from both Damon and Elena. Neither of them would make eye contact with each other. Not wanting to be involved any more than I already was, I simply stared out of the window. I rested my head against the window and allowed my eyes to drift shut as the rocking motion of the car lulled me to sleep. Until a few hours later when I suddenly heard:

"Grace, wake up. We're back." I opened my eyes sleepily and glanced about for a sign of where exactly we had arrived. It had been Henrik who had whispered those words into my ear, and I smiled at him in gratitude. He also looked like he had been woken up from a sound sleep too, due to the fact that he looked grumpy. Henrik always looked grumpy whenever he woke up before he intended to. It was the one thing that hadn't changed in a thousand years.

It turned out 'back' was directly in front of the Gilbert House. Elena was preparing to get out of the car. I decided to make my waking state known.

"What's going on?" I mumbled, gaining Damon's attention. He smiled and leaned forward from the driver's seat to smooth back a loose piece of my hair that had fallen into my face during my sleep.

"Go back to sleep, Grace. I'll be back in a minute." He promised before getting out of the car and following Elena. I frowned and wound down the passenger window a crack so I could listen in to their conversation. I heard Elena sigh.

"Thank you for bringing me home." She said to Damon, begrudgingly. Damon leaned back against his car, making it wobble a little and causing me to smack my head against the window. I yelped in pain; cussing a little, earning peals of laughter from Henrik, whom I wished I could kick in the shin for being such a little shit.

"Well, your ride left you. I didn't want to leave you and Grace stranded." Damon responded like it was nothing. Then the conversation turned towards Rose and her abrupt exit the second Elijah turned up.

"She was just scared. She didn't mean to run." Elena insisted, coming to Rose's defense. I frowned at Elena's words; nobody was blaming Rose for ditching us. Apparently, Damon disagreed, as they both walked up to the front door.

"Yes, she did. She's been running for 500 years." I sat up and looked out of the slightly fogged up window and saw Elena leaning up against one of the Grecian columns that held up her front porch. She had a troubled frown on her face.

"I can't believe that Elijah is alive. Why do you think he killed those two vampires and just let us go?" Elena questioned Damon who shrugged.

"If I had a dollar for every time some evil vampire surprised me." I bristled when Damon labeled Elijah as evil. Elena glanced over in my direction.

"I also can't get over how blindly Grace ran off after Elijah after he killed those vampires. Doesn't she realise how stupid and dangerous that was?" Elena asked, walking towards the front door, but Damon catches her arm before she could open it and turns her around so she faces him.

"Not as stupid as what you did today." He corrected her, angrily. "And don't even think for one second, that you're getting out of this. Besides, as much as I don't like it; I doubt Elijah would actually harm Grace. I saw the fond look on his face when he looked over at her back at Slater's apartment." Damon told her. Elena made an ugly face that made both Damon and I look at her dubiously as a result.

"Actually, the only thing that was stupid was that I got caught." Elena retorted, seeming to ignore the comment Damon made about the likelihood of Elijah harming me. Damon smirked.

"Which reminds me. I gotta find some way to thank Grace for saving your ass from an unnecessary situation. Considering she was the one who 'caught' you; with some assistance from Rose mind you." Damon thanked her. Elena wriggles her arm out of Damon's grip and he lets her go.

"I don't question why you and Stefan and everyone else tries so hard to save me. You shouldn't question why I would try to save all of you." Elena makes another bid for freedom and Damon lets her, rolling his eyes and he turns on his heel to get back to his car so he could drive me back to the Boarding House where my car was. "Damon…" He pauses and looks back over his shoulder to Elena. "Good night, okay?" But then both of them freeze when they notice Jeremy coming out of the house, looking grim faced.

"What?" Damon asked, as I got out of the car, sensing trouble mounting.

"It's Stefan." Jeremy said, reluctantly.

"What about Stefan?" Elena asked, immediately frantic. Jeremy seemed to be refusing to look his sister in the eyes. But Damon made a point of making sure that the youngest Gilbert didn't look away from his.

"What happened?" Damon demanded. I got of the car and approached them to make sure that Damon didn't accidentally hurt Jeremy in his haste to learn what had happened to his brother.

"I stole some of the powder Bonnie had created to temporarily paralyze Katherine, and went to go get the moonstone myself." Jeremy confessed, looking guilty. Damon's eyes widened, and Elena stormed over to her brother.

"You did what?" Elena shouted. I scowled at her, and came over to Jeremy's side.

"Easy, Elena. Lower the decibels, and get rid of that judgmental tone; I'm sure your brother already feels horribly about what's happened." I chided her, and pulled the teenager to the side. "Continue, Jeremy. What happened next?" I asked him gently.

"Katherine caught me and started draining me of my blood, but I managed to throw the moonstone from the tomb before she got me. She then used me as leverage so that Bonnie would lower the barrier and let her escape." Jeremy continued.

"What's this got to do with Stefan?" Damon demanded, looking like he was just barely holding on his temper. Jeremy managed not to quake underneath the glare.

"Bonnie was losing control, and in order to save both my life and hers, Stefan rushed into the tomb to free me from Katherine." Jeremy told us, and all three of us immediately understood what happened.

"And got himself trapped in the tomb." I guessed. Damon swore and Elena immediately freaks out. Without saying a word, Damon, Elena and I walked straight back to Damon's Camaro and he put the pedal to the medal in an effort to drive us to the tomb.

* * *

Once we got there Elena bolts down the stairs of the tomb.

"Stefan! Stefan!" She hollers, sounding like a tormented soul. I moved to follow her when Damon grabs my arm and turns me to look at him.

"Stay behind me at all times." He warned me and I nodded, not being an idiot. Damon descends the stairs and intercepts Elena before she could enter the cave, and pins her against the wall. "Don't you dare." He warns her. Elena glares at him, and shoves him away from her; but Damon doesn't budge an inch.

"Stefan's in there, Damon! How could you let this happen?" Elena throws accusations at him, and both Damon and I look at her in outrage.

"Don't come down on him about this! This isn't his fault!" I advised her, angrily.

"I _should've_ been here. But I was too busy saving you and Grace from your crazy kamikaze mission." Damon defended his actions.

"You didn't even have to go after the moonstone in the first place!" Elena argued.

"It sounds to me like it was the right call, Elena." I attempted to reason with her. Elena looked like she wanted to launch herself at me. I narrowed my eyes on her, prepared for any ill-conceived attack she was likely to hurl at me.

"The right call? How was any of this the right call!?" Elena screamed as she started hitting Damon's chest with her fists. "Let go of me! Damon, let go of me! Let go of me! Let go of me!" Damon maintains a calm face, restraining her while she continues to repeatedly beat her fists into his chest. Eventually Elena becomes tired and looks up at him, desperately. "Please…" She begs. Damon raises an eyebrow at her behavior.

"Are you done?" He asks her, mildly. Elena is breathing heavily as he releases her from his grip and backs away a little. However, Elena uses this to her advantage and looks into the cave, then makes another desperate attempt to move towards it. But Damon had obviously anticipated this, and holds his hand up to block her way. "Don't." He tells her, his voice bristling a little. I sighed heavily, this could potentially go on all night; but thankfully, Elena merely snarls at Damon and stomps out of the tomb in a childish rage. Stefan appears at the entrance, looking solemn. Damon glowers at him.

"How you holding up, Stefan?" I asked him, smiling sympathetically. Stefan shrugged, but doesn't respond to my question.

"Of all the idiot plans, Stefan." Damon stated, frustrated.

"Yeah." Stefan nodded, agreeing with his brother. Damon sighed.

"I'll find a way to get you out." He promises his brother. Stefan looks appreciative, but waves his hand dismissively at the idea.

"Ah, it's all right. I'll handle myself." He reassures Damon. "Bonnie has the moonstone. Work with her, try to figure out how to de-spell it." Stefan advises. Damon reacts like he got the shitty end of the situation.

"You martyr yourself in a tomb and I get partnered with a semi-competent witch. Wonderful." He retorts sarcastically. Stefan rolls his eyes, before getting serious.

"Keep Elena away from here." He requests.

"Easier said than done, Stefan." I replied, and Damon nods in agreement.

"Promise me. No matter what happens. You'll protect her." Stefan insists. I smirked.

"Hey, there's no need to break out the violins just yet. We'll find a way to get you out of there. Just hang ten." I told him. Stefan smiles. Damon and I were about to walk out of the tomb when Katherine suddenly makes her appearance.

"That right there was the biggest mistake you've ever made." She tells Stefan. I froze gawking at her with shock.

"No way. This is too freaky. You look exactly like her." I blurted out, earning a sarcastic smirk from Katherine.

"I know that I look like poor little Elena. This is old news." Katherine taunts me. Stefan defends me.

"Leave her alone, Katherine." He growls, but I hold up a hand to him.

"No let her go, Stefan. She'll be eating crow in a moment." I reassured him. "I also wasn't referring to Elena, my dear." I told Katherine, letting my 'Elijah' voice seep through and causing the bitchy doppelgänger to freeze. "I meant Tatia Petrova, the first doppelgänger." I walked towards the entrance with slow calculated steps, relishing in the fear on Katherine's face, and the shocked and intrigued looks on both Damon and Stefan's faces.

"How do you know Tatia?" Katherine demanded. I looked at her with boredom.

"I think the correct question should've been _what do you know of Tatia_? And the answer to that would be too much, unfortunately." I responded. "She was such a trashy little thing too. Always needed men to validate her pathetic little existence." The expression on Katherine's face got very dark just then, and both Damon and Stefan instantly got nervous.

"Uh, Grace. Maybe you should stop." Stefan urged me. I smiled at him.

"It's okay, Stefan. She can't do anything to me. After what I'm about to reveal to her, she won't dare." I promised him.

"What do you mean?" Stefan was confused, but Damon seemed to understand.

"Oh, that's gold. I like you." Damon sounded positively gleeful. I focused on Katherine again.

"You see, like you Katerina, Tatia liked to pit two brothers against each other to see who could gain her attention the most." I glanced at both Salvatore Brothers, apologetically. "No offense, by the way boys." I said. Damon shrugged dismissively, while Stefan still looked confused. "Take a wild guess as to the names of those brothers. I've been told that you know both of them quite well." Katherine's eyes widened in horror.

"But that's impossible. You're not even a vampire!" Katherine whispered.

"No, I'm not. But I've been reincarnated. I am the younger sister of Elijah Mikaelson, and the lover and fiancée of Niklaus Mikaelson." I confirmed Katherine's worst fears. "And I promise you sweetie, you will get what's coming to you." I straightened up and moved to leave the tomb with a smirking Damon following close behind. "Elijah sends his best." I told her.

* * *

Despite the show I put on back at the tomb unnerving Katherine; I wasn't an idiot. I was actually scared shitless of whatever retaliation Katherine was probably cooking up for me right now. It would be naïve of me to think that I would always have Elijah or even Niklaus on hand to protect me should she eventually come back at me. But it sure felt good, making Katherine squirm.

"You do realise that you've just marked yourself against Katherine, right?" Damon felt the need to remind me as he drove me back to the Boarding House so I could pick up my car. Henrik had materialized himself back to my apartment before we went to the tomb, so I wasn't worried about scaring him about the possibility of retribution. I just looked at him.

"Of course I do. But I'm also comforted by the knowledge that should she do anything to harm me, and Niklaus found out about it, she would _need_ to continue running for another 500 years." I told him, huddling against my seat and watching the world turn into a multi-coloured blur outside the passenger window. Damon snorted.

"You seriously have that much faith in a guy who is trying to kill one of your friends?" Damon sounded skeptical. I frowned.

"Elena stopped being my friend the second she learned that she was in danger of dying and started manipulating people to get her own way." I told him. "Plus, I love Niklaus, with all my heart and soul; not even death or the limited memories I have of him, is able to extinguish that." I confessed. Damon scoffed the second I mentioned love. I frowned. "Haven't you ever been in love?" I asked him, concerned by how bitter he sounded.

"Yes, I have. But not anymore. Love is painful, pointless and overrated." Damon insisted, and I couldn't help but feel sorry for him.

"Love doesn't always have to strictly be romantic, Damon. It can also be family and friendship as well." I reminded him, turning to face him. "So I'll ask again: have you ever been in love?" Damon was quiet for a moment, before he eventually offered a very small smile.

"Yes, I am." He reached over and picked up my hand and kissed the back of it; pouring all the affection he had into it. I smiled.

Eventually, we got back to the Boarding House and I was able to retrieve my car after hugging Damon tightly and headed home. There was just one thing I needed to do before I went to bed tonight. After I quickly showered and changed into my pajamas, eying Henrik who was deep in slumber, I quickly used my phone to take a picture of the three children sketch and the one of Elijah, Niklaus and me laughing and holding swords, and immediately sent them to Elijah.

Along with the pictures, I also asked one question; an important one.

 _Does_ he _miss me? – G._

Almost instantaneously, I received a message back.

 _Every day. – E._

My eyes immediately welled up with tears of joy and happiness. I nearly dropped my phone when Elijah sent me an additional text.

 _Thank you for the beautifully drawn pictures. – E._

* * *

 **A/N: Hope you enjoyed this update. Until next time xx.**


	21. Bite Me!

**A/N: Welcome to the latest update! I hope you enjoyed the second reunion between Grace and Elijah as much as I did! :)**

 **Show your appreciation by leaving a review, but like always no flaming.**

 **I don't own** _ **The Vampire Diaries.**_ **All characters (except for Grace) are owned by author L.J. Smith.**

 **Enjoy xx**

* * *

 **BITE ME!**

" _I may not be there yet, but I'm closer than I was yesterday."_ _ **~Unknown Author.**_

* * *

Inspired by the knowledge that Niklaus was indeed missing me as much as I missed him, prompted an impromptu late morning walk through the town and then the surrounding woods. I was feeling restless; like I needed to do something important, but I couldn't put my finger on exactly what that was. So I let my feet do the navigating, since I didn't have a specific destination in mind. I turned down a random street and broke out of my musings when I realized that I had quite literally walked directly towards the more expensive part of town.

 _Woah… I really need to stop zoning out during my walks…_ I thought sheepishly, and decided to turn back before I got myself hopelessly lost, and had to endure Damon's less than merciful teasing when I called him to come pick me up. I walked until I recognized my surroundings so I could go home, despite still having that nagging feeling and found myself standing in front of what probably would've been a rather impressive, and very expensive looking Southern style mansion in its heyday, and paused to look at it awestruck.

It was a beige sandstone two story, with two wings, a balcony above the front door, and what looked like a decent sized attic. There were loads of large French windows and an unattractive, overgrown front garden framing a long and wide white brick driveway. Across the elegant gothic-style black iron security gate I was holding onto, was a huge foreclosure sign, which indicated that it had been closed down not too long ago.

Shame.

If it wasn't for the general grubbiness of the place, it probably would've been a very pleasant house to look at, let alone live in. But I knew that whoever eventually bought this place – whether or not it was for an investment or to actually live in – would certainly have a lot of maintenance and renovation to do. I stepped away from the gate and continued walking down the street heading in the general direction of town, when something beside the property caught my attention. It was a large private rolling green meadow that stretched out as far as the eye could see at the back of the dilapidated mansion. It instantly reminded me of a recent memory not long ago involving my family and I walked as close as I could get to it without fear of trespassing on private property. It was then I was overcome by a familiar and yet not familiar dizzy spell, and I instantly glimpsed a vision:

 _I was looking down on myself walking calm and carefree along a grassy meadow; similar to the one I had been looking at moments before, dressed a lot smarter than I usually did, and carefully carrying something small in my arms, wrapped in a pure white blanket._

A baby?

 _I was approaching something, unhurried, and had a smile that was bigger than my face could handle. I suddenly reach where I was headed and gasped when I recognized the group of people standing or sitting around some wicker chairs and picnic tables. It was my entire family; all dressed up in 21st century clothes. It looked like they were in the middle of throwing a party due to the colourful and delicate Japanese paper lanterns and colourful decorative bottles that dangled or hung from the trees behind them. At the very front of the group I recognized Niklaus – faceless as usual – and I could tell that he was beaming at the child I was immediately and carefully handing him. I saw myself hugging him around his waist and Niklaus leaning into it, as I looked over his shoulder and beamed at the child too._

I suddenly came back to reality and gasped in shock.

What the hell was that?

Was that a premonition of what was to come? Or a pipe dream? It certainly would be cruel if it turned out to be the latter. But I wasn't taking any chances; I looked around and spotted a slightly moss covered concrete bench and darted over to it, taking a seat and pulling out my sketchbook and pencils. I immediately drew the image permanently seared into my brain: a sketch of Niklaus and me gazing lovingly at a baby; _our child…?_

"Hey Grace!" I snapped my head up and saw a bemused looking Damon striding towards me. "This is a weird place to find you sketching." I quickly closed the sketchbook and replaced it and my pencils back into my purse, with every intention of finishing and perfecting the picture. Because if it turned out to be the real McCoy, I was going to preserve it and hold onto the wish with every fiber of my being. I smiled awkwardly at him.

"I was suddenly inspired." I told him, not necessarily lying. Damon raised an eyebrow and looked at what he probably assumed I was sketching. He shrugged, looking at me strangely.

"Whatever. It's your picture, not mine." He said before reaching out and yanking me to my feet. "Come on." I frowned.

"Where are we going?" I asked, a little wary.

"To have a little chat with Elena." Damon replied. I made a face at him.

"You're just a glutton for punishment, aren't you?" I questioned him.

"I'm ignoring that." He retorted, wryly. I giggled, and got into the car; taking one last look at the mansion curiously before Damon drove off, heading for the Gilbert Residence. When we got there, Damon just breezed on in like he owned the place and I paused at the threshold and sighed heavily at the rude gesture before following him. "You should really lock your door." I turned round the door frame to see Elena giving Damon a dirty look. "Oh, come on, pouty. At least give me two points for ingenuity." Damon cajoled.

"Do you both think this is funny?" Elena demanded us. I struggled not to smirk.

 _Yes._

"Yes, Elena. I find hilarity in the lengths that I have to go to repeatedly save your life." Damon deadpanned. I sank down onto the couch, and crossed my legs; absently wishing that I had a bowl of popcorn to snack on while watching these two in their verbal spat.

"What does Stefan say about this?" Elena sniped. I looked at Damon curiously, wondering what he had been up to before he had found me sketching beside that foreclosure. He shrugged.

"We had a good laugh." Damon replied, and I immediately realised that Damon had taken another visit to see Stefan. I had to speak up.

"And how is Miss Katerina this morning?" I asked casually. Damon grinned.

"Seething, actually. What you said to her last night really shook her up." Damon reported back, brightly. He was obviously delighted that somebody had actually managed to get underneath Katherine's skin, and lived to tell the tale. Elena looked shocked.

"You actually spoke to Katherine? Are you insane?" Elena wanted to know.

"Completely sound. Just wanted to relay a message to her from Elijah." I told her, smiling serenely. "Actually, now that I think about it; it was more like a warning." I amended, cheerfully. Elena looked horrified.

"And you call me suicidal…" She muttered before addressing Damon again. "Speaking of Elijah; what did Stefan say about Elijah still being alive?" She asked him. Damon sits down next to her on the couch, putting his arm behind her head.

"Yeah, that … I didn't tell him." He responded. Elena frowned at him.

"Why not?"

"Well A) he can't do anything about it; and B)… what I just said." Damon replied.

"Plus, he already has enough on his plate fending off your petulant doppelgänger." I added, picking at the dirt underneath my fingernails. We all look up when Jeremy walks into the room and takes a seat beside me on the couch opposite Elena and Damon. He offers me a smile, and a nod to Damon who sits forward, frowning a little.

"Where's Bonnie?" Damon wanted to know. Jeremy frowned with confusion.

"I thought she was meeting you?" Damon shook his head.

"No, she's on moonstone duty and I am on Elena patrol." Jeremy looked at me.

"So what's Grace doing here then?" He asked.

"To keep me company." Damon replied simply. Both Gilbert siblings and I just looked at him in annoyance. Was that seriously why I was here? To keep him company? I could be home right now painting my latest sketch on canvas. I huffed and immediately pulled out my sketchbook, continuing with my sketch. This immediately caught Jeremy's interest.

"Hey, you sketch too?" He sounded excited. I nodded and handed him the sketchbook, while Elena and Damon observed us from the other couch. Jeremy eagerly flipped through the pages. "Wow. These are great!"

"Thanks." I told him, before looking at Damon to clarify something. "So Bonnie's doing some more research on the moonstone, and you're keeping an eye on Elena so she doesn't give us the slip again?" I asked. Damon nodded. "And I'm just here to keep you sane?" Another nod. "That's gonna be hard work." I teased, poking my tongue out at him. Damon makes a face at me and throws a cushion at my head which I dodge.

"Cute. Very cute." He retorts, copping the cushion in the face when I threw it back at him. Jeremy is the only one who laughs with us.

"And who's on Tyler Lockwood and the full moon?" Jeremy asked.

"Vampire Barbie asked me if she could handle it, and I said, why not?" Damon confirmed. "Figured if she screwed up, he'll bite her and then I'll be rid of two of my problems." I threw Jeremy's pillow at Damon and it hit him square in the face. He glared at me.

"You're lucky that's all I threw at you, Damon." I stated sternly before returning back to my 'premonition' sketch. Elena looked extremely alert.

"Hold on a second. Tonight's the full moon?" Damon nodded and reached for his phone when it started ringing.

"Yep. But you were too absorbed with all your suicidal tendencies to notice." He tells her before rising to his feet and answering the phone. "What?" He barked to the unlucky caller. He listened for a few minutes before his eyes widened. "What? Why? Hang on. I'm gonna put you on loud speaker." Damon pulls the phone away from his ear and stabs at the loud speaker. "Alright, say it again, Rick." Damon instructed. I sat up straighter when Alaric was mentioned. Because he would only be calling if some muscle was required to take down vampires and the like. Something that I wasn't eagerly anticipating right now.

" _Sheriff Forbes has officially declared Mason Lockwood a missing person._ " Alaric's voice drifted up from Damon's phone. My eyes narrowed.

"I agree with Damon: what? Why?" I echoed.

" _Some girl from Florida showed up on the Lockwood's door step looking for Mason."_ Alaric replied, sounding tired and irritated.

"What girl?" Damon asked, as everybody listening in to this conversation exchanged pained looks with each other. This was not going to be an easy conversation to have with this girl. Who knew if she was a werewolf like Mason was, or if she was just a worried girlfriend of his?

 _"I don't know, but she sure got everyone in a tizzy."_ Alaric told us.

"That's so not good." Elena piped up.

"Where are you?" I asked, eying Damon worriedly.

 _"I'm at the Grill."_ Alaric replied, reluctantly, obviously realizing that it wasn't Damon who had asked that question but one of the others who was listening in on the conversation.

"I'm on my way." Damon stated, terminating the call and shoving his phone into the back pocket of his jeans. I stuffed my sketchbook into my purse and got to my feet also.

"I'm going with you." I declared, and pulled him aside when he opened his mouth to protest. "You're NOT leaving me here with Elena. Let Jeremy guard her." I stated firmly. Damon eyed the siblings and thought better of his protest. He nodded.

"Change of plans. You babysit." Damon tells Jeremy who grins and immediately lays down on the couch, resting his head on Elena's lap. She scowls down at him.

"Oh, Grace!" I walk over and peer down at Jeremy with a raised eyebrow. "Can you show me some more of your sketches later on?" He asked me, hopefully. I nodded.

"Sure. Raincheck." I agreed. Damon and I headed for the front door before Damon turned and walked back, obviously remembering a last minute word.

"Hey you know…" Elena scowls up at him. "You should get out, enjoy the sun. Oh wait, you can't." He grins at her craftily and dodges when Elena throws a cushion at him. Jeremy laughs at her, before Elena pushes him off her lap and dumps him on the floor. I rolled my eyes and followed Damon out of the door, towards the light blue Camaro.

"Was that really necessary?" I asked him, disapproving a little. Damon shrugged.

"Probably. But it's payback for attempting to punch me and for _actually_ punching you." Damon insisted. "How is your jaw by the way?" He asked.

"Fine. I don't bruise easily. I'm built for roughing it." I told him. "Besides, if she had gone too far, I do have a few self-defense techniques up my sleeve." Damon and I got into his car, and he looked at me with interest.

"Such as?"

"When I was a kid, I studied Karate; earned a black belt. Then when I was a little older, I studied the art of sword fighting; kendo, stick fighting and sword techniques used in the 11th century." I replied.

"You've been a busy little beaver, haven't you?" Damon sounded both impressed and nervous.

"If you like. But ever since I've been studying sword fighting, I've become pretty proficient at it. I think the term in the old world is 'shieldmaiden'. And I always keep this…" I withdrew a medium sized dagger from my hidden holster and showed to him. "On my person at all times." Damon's eyes widened at the blade.

"Where were you hiding that?" He whispered.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" I replied, fliratiously. Damon looked amused, then frowned when it looked like something occurred to him.

"Wait, if Elena went too far, were you going to stab her?" Damon sounded protective. Good.

"I would think that I have a bit more sense than that, Damon. I know when to use these skills, and when not to." I said defensively. "Plus, I had always wondered why I had taken up sword-fighting. But now that my memories are slowly returning to me; I realised that my desire to learn was a subconscious one, because I had been slaughtered like a pig and had been completely defenseless when it occurred." I explained. "I never want to feel that way again." I absently rubbed where my birthmark was; and shuddered when my newly revived memories allowed me to remember the icy sting of Mikael's broadsword sliding into me as easily as a knife through melted butter.

"Is it weird that I find that attractive?" Damon randomly asked, and I looked at him strangely.

"Very." I replied.

* * *

We didn't say much for the rest of the trip towards the Grill. Damon's comment kinda ruined it for all of us. "So what are we doing when we get to the Grill, or should I make myself scarce?" I asked him, as he pulled up outside my apartment block.

"I dunno. I'm making this up as I go along." Damon muttered absently as we ran across the road towards the Grill. It didn't take long to spot Alaric sitting in his usual spot at the bar. He seemed to be the middle of grading papers. Damon immediately walked over to him, and I was about to follow when Henrik materialized beside me.

"What's going on?" He asked, glancing about curiously. I looked at him in surprise.

"Where the hell did you go? I haven't seen you for nearly two days." I scolded him.

"Where Elijah was." Henrik responded, matter-of-factly. I smiled immediately at his words. Of course he would've been; If I were in his position I'd do everything within my power to stick around with the person I missed the most for as long as I could.

"Well, Damon and I are meeting Alaric here to discuss this chick who knows Mason. She's been asking around town about him." I replied, changing subject.

Henrik paled.

"You don't think she's a werewolf like Mason was, do you?" He asked, worriedly.

"That's what we're here to find out." I replied; then remembered what was happening tonight then swore. "Oh, shit! The full moon!" I walked briskly over to where Damon and Alaric were sitting and stood between them; aiming to grab their attention so I could address the whole 'full moon' situation. I jumped when someone's hand wrapped around my waist and I turned to look at Damon sharply. "What are you doing?" I demanded. Damon frowned at me with confusion before realizing what he was doing and immediately withdrew his hand.

"Sorry…" He mumbled; but I had the feeling he didn't mean it. I looked at Henrik with confusion, and was shocked at the territorial glare on his young face directed towards Damon.

 _If looks could kill…_

Just then the main door opened and in walked a tall, statuesque woman with long blonde hair, blue jeans and a purply-grey tank top. She had a gold arm cuff on her left bicep. Matt, who I didn't realize worked here, walked by clearing away tables and wiping them down. The woman flagged him down and started speaking to him. "Mmm, Mason's mystery woman." I blinked at Damon's words and looked at him.

"Her?" He nodded and I took a better look at the woman.

"Where is Mason anyway?" Alaric asked, also observing her.

"Decomposing in his truck." Damon replied bluntly, and I made a face. So much for respect for the dead, no matter how much of a rotter he had been. I chose to ignore it, not wanting to deal with the drama that would definitely arise from the discussion. Alaric took a swig from his bourbon.

"So you think she is a werewolf?" Alaric asked us both, and I shrugged.

"She could be." I reasoned, logically. Damon snorted.

"Well, I hope not. It's a full moon tonight, Ric, but we should definitely find out."

"How do we do that, exactly?" I frowned. Damon digs around in his pocket and pulls out what looked like wood chips. Alaric and I stared at them with confusion.

"What's that?" Alaric asks.

"Wolfsbane." Damon replied quietly. I reached forward and picked one up, examining it curiously. Henrik peered down into my hand at the little piece of wolfsbane while Damon puts the rest back into his pocket. I took a sniff of the piece and wrinkled my nose. It had the sharp, pungent scent of what wet bark smells like after a rainstorm.

"So this does to werewolves, what vervain does to vampires?" I asked, handing it back to Damon who deposited it back into his pocket with the rest.

"Yep." Damon replied, reaching for his drink.

"So how are you going to get suspected she-wolf over there to eat the wolfsbane without getting suspicious or ripping off your head?" I asked him, skeptically. The waiter comes over with a glass of water for me. I thanked him as Damon replies to my question by popping a piece of wolfsbane into my glass. "Hey!" I growled. But Damon encouraged Alaric and me to watch the glass and before our eyes, the clear liquid changed to a dull gold colour as the wolfsbane dissolved like an alka seltzer tablet or a Berocca tablet. That made my lip curl with disgust.

"That's how." Damon replied smugly. I rolled my eyes.

"Good plan. But next time, use your own drink." I muttered, before looking for the waiter to get another drink; but then paused, wondering if drinking wolfsbane would have the same protection benefits as drinking vervain did. "On second thoughts." I grabbed the glass and immediately gulped down the wolfsbane laced liquid. I made a face. "God, that tastes like arse…" I grimaced. Damon sniggered as Alaric rolled his eyes and Henrik turned a nasty shade of green.

"If you're done, how are we going to broach the subject of _her?"_ Alaric gestures towards the woman who takes a seat at the bar and orders something from the waiter. She appears oblivious to her small audience.

" _The Drunk and the Rescuer."_ I suggested. Alaric, Damon and Henrik all looked at me with confusion.

"What the hell is that?" Damon wanted to know. I grinned.

"Simple: I walk over and pretend that I've had a crappy day, and hopefully it will grab her attention and we'll strike up a conversation." I explained. "Then one of you will pretend to be drunk of their arse and hit on her, at which point the other gent will 'intervene' and strike up a conversation with us – or rather her – and then either 'drunkard' or me will spike her drink, make an excuse and leave." I said.

"You want us to roofie her?" Damon stated, sounding a little surprised that this suggestion had come from me. I smirked.

"It's a little bit subtler than simply go up to her and shoving a handful of wolfsbane in her mouth, innit?" I reminded them. Alaric shrugged; a plan was a plan. "So who wants to be whom?" I asked casually, leaning against the bar top.

"I'll be the drunk." Alaric volunteered.

"Which means I'm the Good Samaritan." Damon stated, a little dryly and displeased. I offered him an unsympathetic grin.

"Well, I would; but it would look dodgy if a woman half Alaric's size attempted to tell him to shove off. He could be an aggressive drunk." I pointed out. "Not saying that you are, of course." I told Alaric, who shrugged.

"Don't worry about it." He suggested, before taking another swig of his drink and ordering another. When it arrived, Alaric stood up from his stool. "Shall we get on with it?" He stated. I nodded and moved for the bathroom. Henrik followed me, looking concerned.

"Are you sure that this is a good idea?" He asked me, worriedly. I chuckled softly.

"Henrik, I used to do this all the time with some of my former friends to avoid being hit on by losers." I told him. "Don't you remember?" I asked him, and he thought back and nodded, smiling a little.

"Oh yeah." He and I grinned and I put on my 'pissed off' face and stomped over to the bar, taking a seat beside the girl, groaning with irritation. She looked over at me with mild concern.

"You okay?" She asked, pausing mid-chew. I buried my hand into my hair and huffed.

"It's just been one of those days. I had plans to catch up with my older brother—" I noticed Damon cringe at the mention of Elijah. I subtly smirked. "And he had to cancel at the last minute. Business thing." I improvised. Although, I had the strangest feeling that I probably wasn't that far from the truth. The girl hummed with sympathy.

"That's sucks." She commented.

"Like you wouldn't believe." I agreed, blowing a strand of my hair from my face. "I'm Grace." I introduced myself to her.

"Jules." She replied, politely, taking my hand and squeezing it once. I winced at the grip, but managed not to show it on my face.

"So have you just moved here?" I asked, curiously. Jules shook her head, swallowing her mouthful.

"Nah, I'm just visiting. Searching for a friend of mine." She replied, then studied me curiously. "You wouldn't happen to know where he is. His name is Tyler Lockwood?" I pretended to give the name some thought.

"Doesn't ring a bell. Sorry." I lied. Jules shrugged.

"Don't worry about it." I glanced up at Alaric, who nodded and made his way over; laying on the 'drunkard' angle heavily. I raised an eyebrow.

"Well hello." Alaric greets both Jules and I, slurring a little. He turns to the bartender who approaches looking a little disapproving. "Can I have a scotch, and whatever this beautiful woman is drinking?" He asks. Jules laughs lightly.

"No, one is my limit." She tells him. Alaric presses on with his part of the plan.

"Oh come on, it's not like I'm a freak. I'm just being friendly to somebody who's new to town." Alaric attempts to redeem himself. I waved a hand to grab his attention.

"And ignore chopped liver over here." I added, dryly. He glances up at me and looks 'sheepish'.

"Did you want to be my friend?" Alaric asks me, and I winked at him before replying.

"No, but that's beside the point. We were in the middle of a conversation." I attempted to sound annoyed, and nearly failed and started laughing instead. Jules decides to step in before things got out of hand.

"Okay, if you insist." Both Alaric and I smirk triumphantly. The 'bitch' took the bait. "How do you know I'm new?" Jules questioned him. Alaric takes a generous sip from his drink.

"Because I've never seen you here before and I am here every night." He improvises expertly. Damon makes his move.

"Excuse me, is this guy bothering you?" He asks Jules looking and acting like the perfect 'Good Samaritan'. Alaric pretends to take offence.

"I'm not bothering anybody." He protests. Damon offers him a nasty smile.

"Perfect. Well … do it elsewhere." Damon turns and 'takes notice of me' and brightens. As Alaric looks at all three of us. "Gracie! I'm sorry I'm late." I froze on my stool.

 _Gracie!?_

"Is this your brother?" Jules inquired, looking between us both doubtfully. Damon walks over and kisses my cheek, wrapping an arm around my shoulders.

"Yeah. Hard to believe isn't it?" Damon drawled, grinding his knuckles into my scalp. I resisted the urge to elbow him in the balls as I plastered a patient smile on my face.

"Isn't he a scream?" I commented, wrapping my hand around his arm which was still wrapped around my shoulders. "Did your business plans fall through, brother dear?" I asked Damon, digging my nails into his arm. Damon winced a little, then increased the pressure around my shoulders.

"Yeah, unfortunately. But it means I get to spend more time with my adorable little sister." Damon didn't miss a beat.

"I'm gonna order a drink." I announced and flagged down the bartender. I noticed Henrik standing behind a completely sober Alaric, trying to stuff his knuckles into his mouth to stop himself from laughing. I ignored him.

"Don't worry about that guy, he's harmless. He's sort of the town drunk. And you know, when we get tired of him we just put him in a cab and send him back to wherever he came from." Damon reassured Jules. While Damon was talking, and keeping Jules' attention on him, Alaric quickly puts wolfsbane into Jules' glass and picks it up.

"Please don't talk about me like I'm not here." Alaric sounded wounded, before he gives the glass to Jules and nods to both Damon and I.

"Why are you here?" Damon retorted. Jules accepts the drink from Alaric.

"Thank you for the drink." She tells him. Alaric smiles and raises his glass to his lips to take a sip and leaves. Jules puts her drink on the counter without drinking it. That rang alarm bells.

"There's a B&B down the road and there's a motel on I-90 but you know, if you ask me, it's kind of a mistake." Damon suggested. But Jules smiled at him politely.

"No, it's fine. I was just telling your sister that I was just here for a visit. Long story, but I'm looking for my friend." She explained to him. Damon's returning smile was painfully polite.

"Who?"

"Mason Lockwood." Jules replied. I frowned, pretending to be confused.

"Mason Lockwood? But I thought your friend was called Tyler?" I questioned her. Jules nodded.

"Yeah, I'm looking for them both." Damon 'brightened'.

"I know Mason!" He announced.

"You do?"

"Yeah. He's a great guy." Damon lied through his teeth. Jules looked a little suspicious.

"He's missing." She declared and Damon and I adopted a 'horrified' look between us.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Like… I mean, _missing_ missing?" Damon asked. Jules' suspicion deepened.

"How do you know Mason?" She demanded. Damon shrugged, aiming for nonchalance.

"Friends of friends." He replied. Jules nodded, but still didn't touch her drink. Damon, Alaric and I glanced at each other with frustration. Henrik was looking nervous; the full moon was steadily creeping closer and we were nowhere near closer to knowing if Jules was a werewolf like we suspected. "But you know, listen, I'm really tight with the sheriff. If there's anything I can do, or Grace here, can do to help locate Mason, we will." Damon told her. I nodded, smiling a little.

"He's a great guy." I agreed.

"After his brother's funeral, he stuck around and helped Tyler and…?"

"Tyler?" Jules looked surprised.

"Yep. Mason was with him the whole time. Helped him through all his grief." Damon told her. We eyed Jules' untouched drink and finally Damon decided he needed to say something. "You haven't touched your drink." He observed. Jules shrugged.

"You know what, I'm not much of a drinker. I really should get going." She decided, and got up from her stool. All four of us started to panic.

"Oh, come on. Look, one drink." Damon insisted, and Jules sighed glancing towards her drink. She reluctantly grabbed the glass.

"I guess it'll help me sleep." She agreed. Damon grabbed his bourbon, and raised it in a salute.

"To sleep." He declared, and took a sip of his drink; while the rest of us waited with baited breath for Jules to reveal whether or not she was a werewolf. However, the second she took a whiff of the drink she immediately slammed it down on the counter and glared angrily at us.

"You fools." I cursed underneath my breath. "You both think you're so clever, don't you?" Jules spat. Damon didn't blink.

"What do you want with Mason Lockwood?" He was all business.

"He's my friend." Jules replied promptly.

"Sorry to inform you, honey. You won't be able to find him." I informed her darkly. Jules narrowed her eyes dangerously at me.

"And why not?" She demanded. I fingered my dagger, ready for a retaliation. Damon placed a calming hand on my shoulder.

"You should leave town." Damon sternly suggested. Jules looked scandalized.

"You're threatening me? On a full moon? How stupid are you?" She asked the both of us. I smirked, standing up from my stool.

"I like to live dangerously." I responded. Alaric walked back over to us to defuse the situation, while Henrik stood protectively in front of me, as though trying to protect me from potentially getting mauled like he did.

Brave, but useless; considering that he was already dead.

"Damon, how about that second round?" Alaric slurred. But Damon shook his head.

"I think we're done, Rick." Damon announced, and Alaric immediately dropped the drunk act. "You think that I'm afraid of you?" Damon sneered. Jules smirked.

"No, I don't. That's your vampire arrogance." Jules agreed with him. "You should be. I sniffed you out the moment you entered this bar, along with your pathetic wolfsbane. I've been at this a long time, and any other night of the month, the situation would be reversed, but tonight is not the night to pick a fight with me." Jules declared. She gets up from her stool and gathers up her things. "You've been marked." She declares to both Damon and me. She turns and leaves. I follow her outside.

"You're generous with the threats, Cujo." I told her once we were outside. "But let's hope you can deal with the consequences for such claims." Jules froze mid-step.

"What did you call me?" She snarled. I ignored her and got up face to face with her.

"I've faced a bigger and badder threat than you could ever possibly be. But I vow to you, right here and now; that if you even _dare_ to come near my friends, I will gut you and slit you from navel to nose." I whispered into her ear. Jules growled.

"You're bluffing." I unsheathed my dagger and spun it in my hands, before holding it close to her face. The silvery blade glittered wickedly in the florescent lighting. Jules paled a little.

"It's a bona fide promise." I told her. "Hope you have a pleasant romp through the woods tonight." I said, re-sheathing my dagger and walking back into the Grill but stopping when Damon, Alaric and a very, very scared Henrik immerged instead. Henrik immediately ran to me and threw his arms around my waist even though I couldn't feel them around me.

"What were you thinking, Grace!" Both Damon and Henrik shouted at me.

"Countering her threat." I replied, not remorseful at all; but with a vendetta. Damon glanced about for a glimpse of Jules but it seemed she was just as fast as a vampire, as there was no sign of her.

"Where is she?" Damon snarled. Alaric sighed, defeated.

"Just let it go, Damon. Don't be stupid." Damon turned on him, his icy blue eyes flashing angrily.

"So what? Just let her get away? "You've been marked." What the hell kind of wolf throw-down crap is that anyway?" He wanted to know. Alaric was at his wit's end.

"Damon, look up! Just look up." He pointed to the cloudless, star-filled sky and we all saw the full moon. "If this werewolf stuff is true, one bite and you're dead. One bite! Alright? Don't risk it. Just go home, lock your doors and we'll deal with it in the morning." Alaric suggested. Damon and I exchanged doubtful looks. Both of us were in the shit, and we decided not to press our luck; despite my warning to her.

"Yeah." Damon nodded, before snagging my hand and tugging me along to his car. I didn't protest. There was safety in pairs. Henrik was practically valcroed to my side. The poor kid was probably having kittens that I was going to end up like him.

Fat fucking chance.

* * *

Damon, Henrik and I burst through the doors of the Boarding House. Damon practically throws me in the direction of the Library, before he turns and locks the doors. I walked into the Library to wait for Damon when I noticed Rose sitting at one of the black leather couches.

"Rose?" I questioned with confusion. Last time I saw her, she was fleeing the minute Elijah showed up at Slater's apartment and she saw him kill one of the three vampires that had come to 'escort' Elena to Niklaus. The redhead looked at me with surprise.

"Grace? What are you doing here?" Rose asked, equally as surprised. I was about to reply when Damon walks in behind me and sees Rose.

"You just can't stay away, can you?" Damon stated to Rose, obviously still holding a grudge towards her for agreeing to take both Elena and I to Richmond.

"You don't answer your phone." Rose shrugged. Damon moved past me, to the fireplace to make sure that it was still functioning properly.

"What do you want?" He asked, annoyed. Rose sighed.

"I wanted to apologise." She tells him, and I retreated towards the corridor; with the intention of heading for the kitchen to get a drink. But Damon flashed into my path, warning me with his eyes not to move another step. I scowled at him, but obeyed; folding my arms across my chest.

"Just admit it, you don't have anywhere else to go." Damon sounded almost amused by this. Rose frowned at him.

"I'm sorry about Elena. I wasn't thinking straight. I didn't know that she had a death wish. I'm sorry, Damon." She insisted, then bit her bottom lip; seeming reluctant to speak. "And I have nowhere else to go." She eventually admitted. Damon did not look sympathetic.

"There's nothing here for you, Rose." He told her, firmly. I was shocked at his behavior, and I opened my mouth to tell him so. But Rose spoke up first.

"Well, then…" Something smashes in another part of the house. Damon, Rose and I react to it, and being the closest to the door; I race towards the room the sound came from to investigate.

"Grace, wait!" I heard Damon growl from behind me.

"Come back, Grace!" Henrik yells, frantically. I stop, and Damon and Rose come up and shove me firmly behind them. I watched as both of them walk into the living room and I follow a little warily. Almost immediately, we notice a smashed window and without warning, a huge snarling wolf jumps me and I immediately throw it off, readying myself for another attack. I snatch a nearby sword off the wall and hold it defensively against the wolf, whom I assume is Jules.

Jules glances at the sword cautiously, but then dodges me with inhuman speeds; throwing me off guard and then jumps me again clamping her powerful jaws down on my shoulder.

I scream in agony, alerting both Damon and Rose.

"GRACE, NO!" Both Henrik and Damon screamed in horror.

Rose tackles Jules, but the crafty wolf manages to buck her off and chomps on Rose's shoulder as well. Damon grabs a second sword off the wall and swings it out. I stagger to my feet, grabbing the sword and approached Jules who was still savaging Rose's shoulder and stabbed down viciously into Jules' back causing the wolf to whimper in pain and struggle. But it succeeded in releasing Rose who scrambles away with Damon's help. I planted a foot on her back and pressed down on the sword.

"You should've heeded my warning, Jules. Now you've wounded a member of the Mikaelson's, and your days are numbered." I sharply withdrew the sword, earning another whimper from the wolf. "Get out of my sight." I snarled, then watched as the wolf flees the way it came. I let out a shaky breath, as Henrik rushes towards me; eying my heavily bleeding shoulder with horror.

"Are you alright, Grace? Say something!" He pleads. I glanced up at Damon who was trying to decide who was the worst injured. I solved his problem for him when I give in to the excruciating pain and begin to collapse. I thud into something warm, then feel myself being picked up and the wind rushing by me before being gently deposited on a plushy bed. Damon immediately inspects my wound and goes to bite into his wrist, but I stop him.

"No, go to Rose. She was bitten too. Remember werewolf bites are poisonous. She might have seconds!" I told him. Damon nodded, hesitating before vamp-speeding into the bathroom and pressing a towel onto my wound. I gasp in pain.

"I'll be back. Keep the pressure on!" Damon urges me, kissing my forehead and vamp-speeding from the room. I immediately grope for my phone which was in one of my front pockets and access my speed-dial.

"Who are you calling!?" Henrik demands, sitting beside me looking extremely stressed out.

"Elijah…" I mumbled the answer to my brother before I find the number I'm looking for and quickly dial it. Henrik immediately brightens just as I put it to my ear, and wait impatiently for him to pick up. I don't have to wait for very long.

" _Hello, Grace. What a pleasant surprise to hear from you, sister."_ Elijah greets me, sounding a little surprised. I yell out in pain before I could respond to him. _"Grace?! What the world has happened?"_ Elijah demands, sounding extremely urgent.

"Elijah … help me, please!" I whimpered. I hear shifting in the background, which indicated that Elijah was moving fast wherever he was.

" _Of course. Where are you?"_ Elijah didn't hesitate. I muttered the address to the Boarding House to him and whimpered again. " _I'm coming, just hold on."_ He promises and disconnects the call. I let the phone fall on the pillow beside my head and turned my head towards Henrik. He was crying.

"I'll be alright, Henrik. Please don't cry for me." I urged. He nodded, and curled up beside me. I groaned inwardly, realizing that he probably thought I was dying. The next thing I know, I hear Henrik's relieved but frantic voice muttering in my ear.

"He's here, Grace. Elijah's here!" I must've blacked out from the blood loss. I absently wondered where Damon had disappeared to, as I sluggishly got up off the bed – nearly collapsing twice - and walked towards the window where I could see a hugely concerned Elijah staring at me with horror. I unlock the window with trembling hands and fall into Elijah's arms as he scoops me up and carries me back to the bed, laying me down on it.

"Who did this?" Elijah demanded, his long elegant, but calloused fingers inspecting Jules' grisly bite mark on my shoulder. I glanced up at him. His expression was livid, and I was glad it was not directed towards me. "This was obviously the work of a werewolf; who did this to you?" Elijah's voice was low and apoplectic, I could not refuse him the answer.

"Her name is Jules. That's all I know about her, apart from the fact that she was looking for a friend of hers." I told him, weakly. Elijah nodded, before shrugging off his suit jacket and rolling up his sleeve. I watched him bite down into his wrist with that familiar _crunch_ and he sat behind me, allowing me to lean against him as he offered me his wrist.

"Drink deeply, Grace." He requested, and I obliged. "Where is your friend? Why isn't he healing you himself?" Elijah was furious. I pulled away from his wrist, ignoring how his blood smeared around my lips to answer his question.

"Rose was bitten too. We don't know how long it takes for werewolf venom to kill vampires, so Rose was the bigger priority." I told him. Elijah apparently didn't like that answer.

"He chose poorly then. You are a human; you are more fragile than a vampire. You should've taken first preference." Elijah insisted. He got up and shrugged on his jacket, heading for the bedroom door. I immediately snagged on his jacket sleeve.

"Don't, Elijah. I made him go to her." I told my brother who looked at me angrily.

"That was positively idiotic, Grace. Rose is going to die anyway, you were the one in immediate danger." Elijah scolded me. I hung my head in shame. "You're just lucky Niklaus wasn't here. He's not as lenient as I am when it comes to family being threatened." He told me.

"I know. I'm sorry, Elijah. Forgive my poor judgement." I asked him, quietly. Elijah sighed and wrapped me up into his arms.

"Don't ever scare me like that again. I lost you once due to my ignorance, and as a result lost Niklaus' trust. I'm not about to lose you again." He vowed. Tears sprang to my eyes and I breathed out shakily before pulling away and wiping them.

"Could you take me home, please?" I requested, getting to my feet. Henrik stood across the room, nodding approvingly at my request.

"I'll meet you there, Grace." Henrik promised before materializing out of sight. Elijah nodded.

"It would be my pleasure to escort you home." Elijah agreed. I put my hands about his neck, as Elijah picked me up bridal-style and vamp-sped us both from the Boarding House.

* * *

 **A/N: Hoped this didn't suck. I wanted to write some more about Grace and Elijah interacting together. Please review xx**


	22. Foreshadowing

**A/N: Elijah gets to see where Grace lives in this chapter. He will be the first Original to set foot in the apartment, but not the last.**

 **Reviews are welcomed, flaming is not appreciated.**

 **I don't own** _ **The Vampire Diaries.**_ **All characters (except for Grace) are owned by author L.J. Smith.**

 **Enjoy xx**

* * *

 **FORESHADOWING**

" _Perhaps I will see you in another life."_ _ **~Lewis Carroll (Alice in Wonderland)**_

* * *

Tonight would've to the ignorant, been romantic. What with the cloudless, night sky with an endless carpet of glittering stars and a large beautiful glowing white full moon. The perfect atmosphere for first dates, proposals, romantic trysts underneath the moonlight or an artist's dream masterpiece just waiting to be permanently captured on a blank canvas for all time.

But for those in the know; it wasn't.

It _really_ wasn't.

The full moon in the supernatural world was a direct indication to get indoors, lock yourself down and brace yourself for the worst. Danger lurked behind every corner on a full moon; in the form of an unpredictable, snarling wolf or pack of wolves. But not just any kind of wolf. The lycanthrope, or known more commonly referred to as the werewolf; the number one enemy and immediate threat towards vampires, since the moment a young fifteen year old Viking boy was mauled to death by one, a thousand years ago.

His family has not been the same since.

And neither had I.

"So this is where you live now?" Elijah observed as we finally made it back to my apartment block, making perfect time in the process. He set me down onto my feet, and made sure I was steady before releasing me. I smiled.

"Yep. This is home." I confirmed, giggling when I saw Elijah farrowing his brow and showing genuine disapproval.

"I must say I expected better." He commented, shoving his hands into the pockets of his suit jacket and following me upstairs to the residential area.

"Oh, be fair, Elijah. I do the best I can considering I live on a college student's wage." I retorted, turning left at the top of the staircase; warily eying Alaric's apartment a few doors down, and praying he didn't open up to witness the fact that I was willingly allowing a vampire to enter my apartment. Never mind that he was my brother.

"You're studying?" Elijah sounded surprised. I nodded, proudly.

"By correspondence. I'm studying to become a writer, with minors in fine art." I replied. Elijah looked slightly confused.

"I'm not familiar with the term." He confessed. I reached my apartment and took out my keys.

"I study off-campus and send my work to my professors and lecturers online through e-mail." I explained, finally unlocking my door and walking in.

"Took you long enough, Grace!" Henrik blurted out the second I stepped past the threshold. I rolled my eyes, ignoring him in favour of talking to our older brother who was standing patiently at the door, unable to come in.

"Please come in, Elijah." I called out, setting my keys and my purse down on the counter in my kitchen. Elijah took a deliberate step forward over the threshold and closed the door behind him. "Make yourself at home. I'll be right back." I told him before disappearing into my bedroom to change into my pajamas.

"This is a vast improvement to what I saw outside on the street, Grace." Elijah complimented me as he walked around the studio apartment inspecting my belongings.

"I can't take all the credit for the décor, unfortunately." I responded. "This place was almost fully furnished when I first rented it." I told him. I came out of the bedroom tying back my hair into a loose ponytail. Elijah raised an eyebrow.

"Unusual."

I winced, "Yeah, well. The realtor told me that the previous owner had been attacked and mauled to death by a wild animal." I reluctantly answered. Elijah politely ignored my awkward explanation in favor of focusing on my canvas painting of our entire family, minus Henrik.

"What inspired you to create this?" He asked gently, pointing towards the painting. I bit my bottom lip.

"Memories. I've been getting them ever since I was born." I explained. "And when I was old enough to hold a pencil and then later on a brush, I became determined to document them every time I got one, into my sketchbook." I walked over to my purse and withdrew my sketchbook, just as Elijah spoke up again.

"Why is my face the only one completed here?" He looked confused.

"Because your face is the only one I can remember clearly." I replied simply. "My theory is when I see every member of our family face-to-face again, not only will their faces become clearer to me; but the memories associated with them will come back too." I confessed. Elijah looked genuinely touched. I handed him the sketchbook. "Here's some more of these memories, and visions I had that I decided to document." I told him. Elijah takes the book from me and immediately flips through it. I look over his shoulder, and held my breath when he stopped at the sketch of Henrik asleep in unsuspecting slumber.

"Henrik." Elijah whispered in awe. I glanced over at our brother who was perched at the island bench, watching his brother solemnly. "Is this your memory of him?" Elijah asked softly. I shook my head.

"No, I drew that quite recently." I explained. "Just like this picture." I turned the pages of the sketchbook to the sketch of Henrik and I huddled together in front of a couch. "This was drawn the day Elena and I were kidnapped by Rose and Trevor with the intention of delivering Elena to you."

"I don't understand." Elijah looked bewildered. I sighed, trying to find the best way of revealing to him that I could see our dearly departed brother.

"I'm a Medium, Elijah." He tore his eyes away from the sketch and looked at me with shock. "I can see Henrik's ghost; have been able to since I was a baby." I revealed. He nearly dropped the sketchbook. "I don't know how and I have absolutely no idea why. But I can. I think he's my guardian angel." I concluded.

"Couldn't you have chosen a better description, Grace?" Henrik complained. I couldn't help it, I jerked my head in his direction and fixed him a look. Unfortunately, Elijah noticed.

"He's here, right now?" I nodded. Elijah immediately looked angry. "If you're trying to deceive me, Grace. This would be a very foolish decision." Elijah warned me, and I backed away feeling the danger mounting. Henrik immediately hopped off his stool and came over to me, realizing that I was in dire need of assistance to prove that he was really here.

"Tell him about the time I got into Niklaus' paints and painted Rebekah's hair blue." I looked at him with shock.

"Wait, that was you!?" I exclaimed. Henrik nodded hastily and pointed at Elijah, who was looking at me like I was a loon. "You want proof that I'm not deceiving you, brother. Well here it is: Henrik apparently pranked Rebekah by turning her hair blue when he got into Niklaus' paints. When she realised what had happened, she chased him around the village swearing to get even when he came across you…" I relayed. Elijah's eyes widened in surprise.

"Yes, of course. I remember that day. Henrik begged me to hide him, and I reluctantly gave him asylum and turned Rebekah away when she came over to me demanding to know where he was." Tears started forming in his eyes.

I sighed with relief.

He believed me. Then I turned and scowled at Henrik who looked at me sheepishly.

"Thanks for that by the way. Rebekah wouldn't shut up for weeks after your little adventure. We tried for ages to get it out, but it only turned her hair purple." I paused remembering that. "Mind you, she eventually starting liking the colour; but I digress." Elijah came over and refocused my attention back on him.

"Is he okay? Not suffering any long term trauma?" He asked me urgently. I turned to look at Henrik who shook his head, smirking at my misfortune.

"None. He's made peace with what happened to him. Doesn't even blame Niklaus for what happened." I replied.

"I came back as a ghost a second after I died that day Niklaus brought me back after I was attacked." Henrik spoke up.

"Henrik said that he came back as a ghost a second after he had died that day in his mother's arms." I translated to Elijah who paled.

"He was still alive?! Henrik was practically shredded when Niklaus brought him back to the village. He must've been in so much pain." Elijah looked positively horrified. Henrik immediately looked guilty. Good, and so he should; making me relay his point of view of our painful personal past to him. So completely insensitive.

"Yeah, don't remind me…" Henrik mumbled. He walked over to the couch and flopped down on top of it, looking miserable.

"According to what Henrik told me all these years passed, he's been with all of you every step of the way since you left the village to explore the world all those years ago." I paused, remembering one significant event. "He was even there when Mikael murdered me." I saw Elijah wince at the memory, even more so when he saw the angry glare on my face. Now seemed as good a time as any to give him a piece of my mind about that night.

"Grace. You must know that if I had known Mikael's intentions that night, I would've done everything within my power to stop him. I am so sorry." Elijah groveled. I sighed.

"I forgave you a long time ago, Elijah. It was partially my fault what happened, happened. I was always too curious, and it was always going to be my downfall." I reassured him. "But I'm not the only person you need to apologise and make it up to." I reminded him.

"I intend to, Grace. Bringing you back to him is the first step." Elijah insisted. I took a step back from him.

"See this is where I have to stop you. I'm not a package to be delivered by a postman, Elijah. I'm a grown woman. If Niklaus wants me as badly as you say he does, he can come to me. I'll be waiting for him with arms wide open." I told him. "But I confess, I feel that I need to thank you for what happened that night also." I told him, soberly.

"Thank me? For what exactly?" Elijah sounded appalled by the suggestion.

"Being killed that night opened up new avenues for me: first and foremost, I was reincarnated so I could start over and learn from my mistakes, and so I could be with Niklaus in a better world; at least I'm hoping it will be. Secondly, I've acquired two new skills: art and…" I paused and picked up my duffel bag, dumping it on the floor and unzipping it, pulling free a leather wallet which when unfurled revealed my collection of daggers and swords. "Sword-fighting skills."

"Impressive." Elijah commented, reaching towards a large machete and examining it. "Why learn such skills, sister?" He asked curiously.

"It was sparked when I discovered _this_ as a child." I lifted up my T-shirt and revealed my birthmark to Elijah who blinked at it. "I asked my mother where I had gotten this, and she didn't know. So I did some research. Turns out in some cultures; birthmarks can be seen as the trauma spot for where a person was harmed in a former life." I told him. Elijah's eyes widened.

"That's where Mikael stabbed you…" He muttered, horrified. I nodded curtly.

"So after learning this, I started getting nightmares about that night almost every night. I never wanted to feel that amount of pain and fear again; so when I was old enough, I 'expressed' an interest to study sword fighting to my parents. The rest is history. Now, I am an expert in sword fighting." Elijah looked impressed.

" _ **S**_ _ **kjoldmø…**_ " _(Shieldmaiden)_ He muttered underneath his breath in Old Norse. I smirked, and sifted through my arsenal for the more discreet weapons.

 _ **"Hvorfor, Elia. Du vet hvordan du smigrer en jente så!**_ " _(Why, Elijah. You know how to flatter a girl so!)_ I responded back in the same language. Elijah looked at me with shock.

"You know the old language?" I nodded.

"Only recently. Since we reunited, my memories have been returning, including how to speak the old language. When I reunite with each member of our family, all my memories should return." I told him. Elijah looked at what I was doing with confusion.

"What are you doing with those daggers, Grace?" Elijah asked, mildly.

"Tomorrow, I'm executing my own personal brand of punishment upon the bitch who wounded me, and is the reason why Rose is now dying a rumoured painful death." I replied, firmly. If Elijah protested to my plan, he didn't say.

"Well in that case, I recommend this blade." Elijah leaned forward and selected a dagger from the pile and flipped it over in his hand so that he presented the hilt to me instead of the blade. I smiled graciously, taking it from him.

"Thank you, Elijah."

"You're welcome." Elijah replied, smiling a little. "I must say, you've changed drastically from who you used to be." He observed, looking a little mystified.

"For the better, or the worst?" I replied, worriedly.

"Oh, definitely the better. Niklaus chose the right person to be his bride. You are his match in every way. I will be proud when you officially become a member of this family." Elijah confirmed. I wrapped up the wallet and placed down my chosen weapons before getting to my feet and hugging him. I giggled when Henrik hugged the both of us as well.

Elijah raised an eyebrow.

"What on earth is so funny?" He asked.

"Oh, nothing brother. Henrik is just giving us a hug." I replied gleefully. Elijah disentangled himself from me and cleared his throat uncomfortably.

"I must be going." He declared before turning for the door. "I have business I must attend to."

"Speaking of, what were you up to before I called you, Elijah?" I asked curiously.

"I paid a visit to Miss Gilbert to have a discussion with her, before I liberated the youngest Salvatore from the tomb upon her request." Elijah replied casually.

"You saved Stefan?" I was surprised.

"Yes. I also had the oddest confrontation with Katerina. Apparently, she was still frightened by a message I do not recall telling her. May you shed some light upon this?" Elijah looked at me enquiringly. I felt sheepish.

"Katerina was giving me cheek. So I may have put her back into her box by revealing my relationship with you and Niklaus." I revealed. Elijah looked amused.

"I see. Well, next time a little warning would be best." Elijah advised me, winking.

"Consider it done." I agreed.

" _ **Godnatt,**_ **Grace**." _(Goodnight, Grace)_ Elijah left, and I couldn't help but ponder when I would see him next.

* * *

I woke up the next morning sporting a rather unflattering new fashion accessory on my shoulder curtesy of Jules, the soon-to-be neutered bitch with the arrogant cheek to believe that she would have the last laugh. Apparently, this was Elijah's way of telling me that he was not impressed with what had happened last night and was punishing me by leaving me a rather painful and memorable reminder.

I shrugged. My first war wound; I'll wear it with pride.

I decided that today I would take a feather out of Damon's cap and wear all black. It matched my feelings right at this moment. I chose a pair of black skinny jeans that I could move in like a second skin, black boots, a black and purple spaghetti strap top – which showed off the werewolf bite deliberately - and a black hoodie with an oversized hood. I put on my vervain bracelet, which I also coated in a layer of liquid wolfsbane as well, my cheap plastic wolf necklace that I had won on a whim at the High School Carnival, outlined my eyes with black kohl and put my hair up into a severe high ponytail.

I meant business.

"Wow. I'm glad I'm not that wolf…" Henrik commented, looking at me with wide eyes. I must've had a pissed off expression on my face. But frankly I really couldn't care less as I strapped on my two daggers to my inner thighs. My first stop was to the Boarding House, so I could let Damon know that I hadn't disappeared off the face of the earth, and so I could check on Rose. I went to sleep last night feeling worried about her condition. Having been the recipient of a werewolf bite, I sort of understood how much it hurt. I turned and smiled slightly at Henrik.

"If you wanna see me put Jules back into her place, meet me at the Grill when you hear me pull up later on." I told him. Henrik's shocked face, shifted into one of glee and he nodded; obviously eager to observe the smack down of the wolf who had hurt his sister. I left the apartment, now feeling in a good mood.

I decided to take my car the long way to the Boarding House, since it was a lovely day after the full moon; and I was feeling guilty that I was feeling great - if not slightly sore still from where Jules had clamped down her jaw on my collarbone - and Rose was probably suffering. It was also rather obvious to blind Freddy that Damon was fond of Rose, especially when she had strutted down the stairs tying together a silk bathrobe to hide what little she had been wearing.

Plus, I was suspecting that Damon would also probably be out for my blood too since I went AWOL from the bedroom he had placed me in, bleeding out from my injury.

Well, sorry not sorry. I needed help, and Elijah was the first vampire I could think of who could help me. It was just a coincidence that he was also my brother. If last night happened to be my last night on this earth; I wanted it to be with family, which for the time being included just Henrik and Elijah.

As I was a regular visitor to the Boarding House due to Damon's paranoia and tendency to overreact a little; I simply let myself into the house and strode towards where I could hear voices, shrugging off my hoodie when I was hit with a warm blast of heat that was blanketing the entire household. I soon found myself standing just outside Stefan's room, and I smiled; feeling relief that Stefan was in fact okay. Elena was in the room with him.

Surprise, surprise.

"How can Elijah compel another vampire?" I heard Elena asking her boyfriend curiously. I heard more than saw Stefan shrug.

"He's an original. I don't really know what that means. I don't think anybody really knows what that means." He paused for several seconds. "Well, except maybe Isobel. Maybe we should ask her." Stefan suggested. I knocked lightly on the doorframe, drawing their attention.

"Or you could ask me?" I said. Stefan looked surprised to see me, but just as quickly relaxed and smiled, while Elena's face remained blank. "Good to see you out of that tomb, Stef." I greeted him.

"Thanks, Grace. How are you?" Stefan gave me his undivided attention. I grimaced, not enjoying the memories of last night's fiasco.

"Recovering nicely, thank you." I responded. Both Elena and Stefan frowned.

"Recovering from what?" Elena asked. I stepped away from the doorframe, revealing the hideous werewolf bite forever on my shoulder. Elena immediately got to her feet and rushed over to me. "Oh God! What is that?" She gingerly touched the scar and I flinched a little.

"Careful, still tender." I grimaced. Stefan frowned grimly and came over to inspect it for himself.

"That's a wolf bite." Stefan confirmed.

"Close. It's a _werewolf_ bite. Got it from the same mongrel that got Rose downstairs as well." I corrected him, still feeling bitter about it.

"How are you still alive?" Stefan wanted to know. "This bite is very deep, you must have been bleeding excessively." I nodded.

"It did yeah. I was healed by vampire blood." I explained. Stefan frowned.

"Obviously not enough. Didn't Damon give you enough of his blood?" Stefan looked appalled, but I shook my head.

"Damon didn't heal me, Elijah did." I said. "He is more than capable of healing it all the way, but this is my punishment for putting myself in that situation in the first place." I told them. Elena looked horrified.

"That's sick!"

"That's _family_." I corrected her. "I should've known better, considering what happened to Henrik." I told her. "This is just Elijah's way of reminding me to be careful in the future, and a way to ensure Niklaus' wrath against Jules (and possibly me) when he eventually sees it." I probably looked a little sheepish. But Elena still had that judgemental look on her face. I rolled my eyes, changing the subject that was bound to be brought up again when I went down to see Rose and Damon downstairs. "And to answer your question: Elijah is one of the first ever vampires like his brothers and sister; which means they essentially _invented_ compelling and they are immune." I told them.

"Did he tell you this himself?" Elena asked, sounding a little catty. I scowled at her.

"No, he didn't have to. It should've been obvious." I retorted, not in the mood for her petulance. "Were you just about to leave, Stefan?" I asked him, casually.

"Yeah, I was going to find Alaric to see if Isobel had more information. Why?" Stefan asked politely.

"He'll probably be at the Grill. That's where Damon and I found him when we investigated the possibility that another werewolf was in town." I advised him. Stefan nodded gratefully at the info. "I'll meet you there, I've got a suspicion that the 'bitch' that bit me and Rose will return there today. I'm gonna have a little word with her." I told him, darkly.

Stefan shrugged.

"Okay. See you down there." He kisses Elena goodbye and leaves, leaving Elena and I standing awkwardly in his bedroom. We look at each other for a moment, before I abruptly turned and walked out of the room in search for Rose and Damon to see how she was fairing.

"Wait, Grace!" I paused on the stairs, and turned towards Elena, waiting for her to get on with what she wanted to say. "I just wanted to say thanks for what you said to Katherine the other day. It helped us free Stefan safely from the tomb." Elena told me. I didn't smile.

"No thanks is necessary, Elena. I would've done it even if Stefan hadn't have been trapped in there." I told her before continuing the descent. I could feel Elena's dagger eyes burrowing into the back of my head as we walked towards the Library where both Rose and Damon were.

"I was born in 1450; that makes me 560 years old." Rose explained to Damon.

"Well, if you were a bottle of wine…" Damon trailed off, making an attempt at light hearted banter to ease the tension of an increasingly hopeless situation. Rose brushed it off, barely acknowledging the humour.

"So I can die. I've lived long enough." Rose declared. Damon made an irritated noise underneath his breath.

"You know, if you're gonna be mom, I'm just gonna kill you myself just to put me out of your misery." He promised. I looked round the doorframe and saw Damon pouring a little of the bloodbag he held in his hand into a glass, offering it to Rose. "Come on, it's just a little werewolf bite." Damon insisted, sounding obviously in denial that his latest fling was dying right before his eyes.

Rose looked at him flatly.

"Just a little, fatal to a vampire werewolf bite." She amended his description. Damon shrugged.

"Well, according to a legend which is a notoriously unreliable source. Drink up." He urged her. Rose looked hesitant. "Blood heals." He reminded her, and Rose takes a sip from the blood. She pauses for a moment, before brightening a little.

"Yeah, it does feel like it's working." Rose declared. Damon scooted forward.

"Let's have a look, come on. Let me see." He urged. Rose sits forward, allowing Damon to pull aside her shirt and look at her bite mark. My heart stops when I see how much worse the wound looked. It had started spreading down her back, and I counted my blessings that I was not a werewolf myself. Elena walked passed me and into the room. She had not seen the wound just yet, but freezes and looks a little bit sick. "Definitely … better." Damon lied, then looked up when he saw movement. His eyes lock onto mine. "Right Elena?" Elena returns to reality.

"Um, it's not bad." She trailed off. I decided to withdraw from the room; I had noticed the furious expression on Damon's face and knew that I was in deep shit.

"Excuse me for a second." Damon spoke up, and I hadn't even taken a single step before Damon had blurred into my path and without uttering a word, snatched me up from where I stood and blurred me towards the kitchen. He practically pushed me inside, and blocked any escape. "I oughta kill you where you stand." Damon told me in a low, angry voice that held a hint of anxiety. "Where the fuck did you go last night?" He demanded.

I bristled at the tone.

"Home." I replied succinctly.

"You were bleeding heavily from your fucking shoulder! How could you possibly manage to do that without bleeding out!?" He growled.

"I called my brother. He healed me, and then brought me home upon my request." I didn't see the point in lying to him. Damon's eyebrows nearly disappeared into his hairline.

"You invited him into my house!?"

"It was either that, or you'd have been burying a corpse this morning, Damon." I stated.

"I said I would be right back!" Damon protested, looking anguished.

"I was dying, Damon! Not like Rose is at the moment. I was literally fading away." I snapped. "Elijah wasn't happy that what had happened to me occurred, and this is my punishment!" I pulled aside my strap to draw his attention towards the bite mark on my shoulder.

"He didn't heal you completely?" Damon was outraged, but I wasn't done with my explanation.

"No, he didn't. But it's better than what could've happened. I would've ended up dying like my youngest brother did; and not only would you have had to deal with a pissed off Elijah when he found out, you would have been dealing with an enraged, devastated and vengeful Klaus as well when he eventually got wind of the situation!" I reminded him, not bothering to use Niklaus' proper name. Damon immediately crushed me into his arms, practically suffocating me in his distress.

"I'm sorry. I didn't realise…" He muttered.

"But that wasn't the only reason why Elijah took me home. I was gathering the weapons I needed to deal with Jules." I told him. Damon stiffen almost immediately after I mentioned Jules, but didn't make a comment. He technically didn't have to; I knew for a fact that he was also eager to tear her limb from limb. I pulled away from him wiping my eyes, surprising myself because I hadn't even realised that I had started crying.

"You're going after Jules? Are you insane?" Damon wanted to know.

"Hardly." I responded, heading for the kitchen door with Damon following me closely. "But she threatened a Mikaelson and satisfaction indicates that I retaliate." I declared. Damon frowned.

"But why you specifically?"

"Because Jules frightened two members of my family. I almost died, and it reminded them of what happened to Henrik." I replied. "Nobody should have to be reminded of that horrifying day. I know I won't forget it." I muttered miserably. I glanced at Damon, and saw him looking at me pensively. "What?" Then without warning, Damon shoved me up against the wall and looked me in the eyes. "What are you doing?" I demanded, trying to get away from him.

"Trying to understand." Damon replied simply. "And the only way I can do that is to see it for myself." I looked at him like he was crazy.

"How are you going to do that?" I demanded.

"Doing what I did when I eavesdropped into your dreams. Only you're going to have to describe it to me so I can project into your memories." Damon instructed me. I immediately protested.

"I don't want to." I whimpered. Damon's face fell sympathetically, but still he persevered.

"Please, Grace?" He insisted. I hesitated before nodding and relaxing when Damon focused unblinkingly onto my eyes. "Visualise the memory. I'll do the rest." I closed my eyes and drew in a deep breath.

* * *

 _ **~: GRACE'S MEMORY (DAMON'S P.O.V):~**_

 _I opened my eyes and found myself standing in a very rustic house. I glanced about in confusion before focusing upon an unfamiliar girl with very long blonde hair and wearing a very old fashioned dress. I heard an innocent giggle and I whirled around clapping eyes on Grace. But at the same time, I knew that it wasn't her. This girl was the same tall beauty I had seen in Grace's dream that day before we went to Richmond with Rose. She was wearing the same style of dress as the unknown blonde girl who was still standing at the window, examining some jewelry and what looked like talismans dangling from the frame. Her normally short dark brown hair was also just as long as her friend's._

' _Grace' smiled sweetly at me._

" _You look surprised to see me, Damon." 'Grace' observed, using an unusual European accent. I frowned._

" _Grace?" I asked her. She smiled again._

" _Or Gráinne. It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Salvatore." She greeted me, formally. "But if it makes it easier, you can continue calling me 'Grace'. After all, we are one and the same." I was shocked._

" _I thought this was a memory. You can see me?"_

" _Of course I can." She replied. "But don't worry my sister and Ayana can't." Ayana? I turned and saw an older woman who looked similar to that old Bennett witch, Sheila, moving about the room; observing Grace and her 'sister'._

 _Great! Another ancestor of Bonnie's._

 _I came over to Grace, already feeling irritated and I hadn't seen anything yet._

" _What's going on? I thought we were here to relive your brother's death?" I demanded. Grace frowned at me._

" _Patience is a virtue. That's exactly what we're doing here, Damon. You wanted to understand, and I'm showing you." She indicated for me to step outside the house and pointed to the villagers darting around, going about their business. "This is the morning after the full moon. Last night Henrik and Niklaus snuck out of the caves to see the werewolves turn from beast back to man. But leaving the caves was expressly forbidden. I don't think I have to tell you why." Grace explained to me. I nodded, already getting the picture in my head because of what I've seen happen to both Grace and Rose when they faced off against Jules. It made me wonder what had happened to this 'Henrik' kid._

" _But they disobeyed the rules, huh? Sounds like something Stefan and I probably would've done; just to piss off Giuseppe." I responded._

" _It was a great risk to disobey Mikael. He was a very cruel man." Grace agreed. We both reacted to a pained yelp, and I turned to see the blonde girl clutching at her fingers, which were slightly red, like she had been holding too long to a hot plate. 'Blonde girl' glowers at Ayana._

" _Ayana, you burned me!" She whined, in an irritating European voice. My eyes widened when a second 'Grace' reached out and examined her fingers. I glanced between the girl in the house, and the one standing beside me observing me._

" _But? Wha..?"_

" _Did I forget to tell you that I'm here to guide you through this memory?" Grace asked innocently. I glared at her._

" _I think words escaped you conveniently." I corrected her._

 _Grace laughed. "Rebekah always did love trinkets." I watched the 'memory Grace' playfully telling off this Rebekah._

" _Your sister is hot." I smirked, leering at the oblivious blonde._

" _And her brothers would emasculate you in seconds if you so much as approached her with less than good intentions." Grace warned me._

" _Spoilsport." I muttered. But before I could say anything else, I heard somebody screaming._

" _MOTHER!" I turned my head in the direction of the sound and saw the guy Grace had referred to in her last dream as this 'Niklaus' who was seeking out Elena to kill her for the Sun and Moon Ritual._

 _I was stunned to see tears rolling down his face, and horrified at the sight of a teenager not much older than Jeremy Gilbert lying limply in his arms. It was then that I remembered a drunken conversation I had had with Grace the night after the carnival debacle. This 'Henrik' had been mentioned then too; and through my own memories I recalled that Grace had been particularly weepy then too. Both 'Memory Grace' and Rebekah immediately came to the window, and gasped when they saw Klaus and Henrik, and ran out to meet them._

" _Is that your little brother?" I asked Grace, who was watching the scene with sorrowful eyes. She nodded, and walked calmly towards the gathering crowd. I followed; not sure if seeing this memory was such a good idea after all. There was so much blood – and I'm a fucking vampire – and all of the wounds I saw looked worse than the bite that Grace and Rose had._

" _Niklaus! What happened!" I heard 'Memory Grace' ask him. I looked over at Grace standing beside me; she was stone-faced._

" _It turned out that Henrik was still alive at this point. But only just." She explained. My eyes widened in horror. "None of us knew. It won't be long now." She explained. I turned back to the large crowd to observe as 'Memory Grace' began ripping strips of fabric from her dress to use as makeshift bandages. But even I knew it was pointless._

" _No, no!" I stepped out of the way in time to see an older woman who looked like Rebekah and Klaus running to the group and demanding what was wrong. While an explanation was given, Grace placed a hand on my shoulder._

" _It's over. He's now dead; succumbed to his wounds."_

 _I jerked my gaze back towards the dead teenaged boy. I squatted beside the body, and took in how young he really looked, and now how peaceful he was. I looked over at Klaus; he and his sister were attempting to comfort 'Memory Grace' who had wondered off. Somebody stood beside me looking at the body, and I glanced up and saw Elijah; looking very different to how he looked in the present. Gone was the aloof, composed expression in his dark eyes that I remembered glaring back at me when I pinned him against the front door of the abandoned house. Now all I could see was an alien vulnerability and utter devastation._

 _I suddenly understood._

 _As I watched the older woman – who reminded me so much of my own dear mother before she died giving birth to Stefan – become inconsolable when she learns her child had just died, I saw Elijah walk over to console his mother and grieve with her. I realized that I shouldn't have been so judgmental of Grace wanting to have Elijah heal her from her wounds._

 _If Grace's injuries reminded Elijah of this particular scene, then I had no business being angry._

 _I did not have the right._

" _You've seen what you needed to see, Mr. Salvatore. I hope that it was informative." Grace said._

* * *

 _ **~:REALITY (Grace's P.O.V):~**_

Tears were streaming down my face, when Damon and I came back to the present. But I wasn't alone; Damon was also crying. I was so angry that he made me remember that.

 _ **"**_ **Oh, knull. Hvorfor måtte du få meg til å huske det, Damon!?** _ **"** (Oh, fuck. Why did you have to make me remember that, Damon!?) _I yelled at him in Old Norse. Damon looked at me with confusion.

"I don't understand. What was that?" He asked. I wiped my eyes and walked away from him, angry.

"It was my mother language: Old Norse." I replied, resentfully. "Did you see what you needed to see?" I asked him, and Damon nodded looking guilty. Good.

"For what it's worth…" Damon called out, causing me to pause mid-step. "I am sorry for what happened with your little brother. That bite you have on your shoulder looked just as gruesome as the ones on Henrik. I think I can understand your brother's desperation and anger better now." Damon admitted, quietly; probably thinking back on how worried he felt when he saw me screaming and writhing in agony, and the amount of my life that had spilled from the wound as a result.

"Thank you, Damon." I replied. "And I hope that if something like that happened to Stefan that you'd react just the same as Elijah and Niklaus did." I told him, seriously. Damon didn't respond with his usual caustic remark regarding anything involving Stefan, and it gave me hope that it meant he was giving it some serious thought. Both of us returned to the living room, where Rose and Elena were waiting and the vampire would occasionally whimper and wince whenever she moved and disturbed her werewolf bite.

"So, where's Stefan?" Damon cleared his throat and asked Elena the very second he stepped into the room. Elena looked suspiciously at both of us; particularly when she realised that we both had been crying at one point due to the red and puffy state of our eyes.

"He left. I need you to talk to him. He's convinced that he has to find Isobel, but I think that's gonna upset Elijah." Elena explained. I nodded in agreement.

"He would be correct. Elijah would be pissed." I told her, earning a dirty look from Elena.

"No, can do." Damon responded promptly. "I'm with Stefan on this one, despite how much it will piss off Elijah." He looked at me apologetically, and I rolled my eyes. "However, if you could play nurse for a little while with Grace…" I flashed him a look to indicate how _not_ happy I was with his plan as I had my revenge against Jules to dole out. But then I realised that I had forgotten that there was one crucial part of Niklaus' ritual that required sacrificing a werewolf. So I decided to spare Jules' life on a whim.

Perhaps she would get her comeuppance in a different way?

 _Wink wink, nudge nudge…_

Rose smiled gratefully at Damon's suggestion that both of us – vulnerable and very fragile humans – would stick around and play nursemaid for a vampire with an unknown aliment.

"It's not necessary." She insisted, but I shook my head.

"Regardless of whatever slight you did towards Elijah and Niklaus five-hundred years ago, nobody deserves to die like this. It's just too bad there's no known cure for your condition." I told her.

"I agree. It is necessary." Damon backed me up, ignoring what I had said about the lack of a cure. "Besides, Elena is a do-gooder. It's in her nature, she just can't resist." Damon stated, a little dismissively, before leaving the room. Elena looks at both Rose and I for a second before following Damon. I was about to follow when Rose unexpectedly stopped me.

"Thank you, Grace." She said, smiling a little. "And I'm sorry that you had been dragged into this mess that night you were kidnapped along with Elena." She told me, looking regretful. I grimaced.

"Yeah, I understand where you're coming from, Rose. But at the same time, I don't regret being kidnapped accidentally." I reassured her. Rose frowned with surprise.

"Why?"

"Because if I hadn't, I wouldn't have seen Elijah again. At least not right away. I also wouldn't have witnessed Elena's true colours as well." I explained. Again, Rose frowned at what I said.

"That's harsh. She's just trying to survive your fiancé in any way that she can." Rose defended Elena.

"Sure, she is. By following my advice." I stated, smirking a little.

"Your advice?"

"Before Elena conned the both of us into taking her to Richmond, I advised that Elena accept that she was going to die by Niklaus' hand." I told the dying vampire who looked horrified.

"You're on Niklaus' side in all this?" Rose sounded outraged. I frowned at her assumption.

"I'm not on anybody's side. I've chosen to remain neutral in all of this." I corrected her. "All I suggested to Elena was to not run, but try to find a loophole in the ritual that would allow her to live after Niklaus killed her." Rose still looked confused. I sighed, feeling slightly exasperated. "I know you find this hard to understand, Rose. But, Niklaus is just as much a victim in this ritual as Elena is. I was there when Niklaus was first cursed in this ritual." I told her.

"So that justifies taking somebody's life, does it?" Rose sounded disgusted.

"I'd curb that self-righteous attitude if I were you. Neither one of them are saints; you of all people know this about Niklaus, and you're just learning this about Elena also." I warned her. "I don't condone killing, but if it means giving somebody their life back, I'd help find a solution that makes both parties happy in the long run." Rose looked at me curiously, obviously trying to figure out what made me tick. I grimaced a little, not really enjoying being observed like a specimen underneath a microscope.

"You are a very strange person, Grace. But somehow, I have this feeling that you'll be a good influence on Klaus someday." Rose eventually concluded. I nodded; accepting that assumption. Elena walked back into the room, looking sulky.

"If you wanna go with Damon you better hurry, he's just left." Elena suggested. I shrugged.

"I'm not in any hurry. I drove here." I reassured her before I smiled at Rose. "Come on, let's get you upstairs and into bed." I said to her, and the vampire made a face; reluctantly getting to her feet with some assistance from Elena and myself. Together, Elena and I worked together to escort a rapidly weakening Rose up the staircase and into Damon's large luxurious bedroom. We walked Rose towards his large bed and eased her down onto it.

"I hate this. I'm a vampire, I haven't had a cold in five centuries." Rose grumbled.

"Just get in bed." Elena retorted. But Rose wasn't through with her tirade.

"We don't get sick. When we die, it's fast and sudden and it's certainly not drawn out in illness." I made a face.

"Makes me glad that I'm not a vampire yet." I stated. Elena looked at me, aghast.

"Wait, you actually want to become a vampire someday?" She sounded appalled by the idea. I looked at Elena like she had sprouted two extra heads, and one of them started speaking in Spanish and the other Swahili.

"If you want to be with somebody forever, Elena, you kinda have to live forever. It goes with the territory." I reminded her. Elena frowned.

"But have you considered what you'd be giving up? The chance to grow old, have children?" She pointed out the possibilities.

I didn't bother pointing out that the children thing might still be on the cards if my unexpected vision was to be believed. Being a Medium had both its curses and its blessings; and right now, yeah, I had doubts. Because Niklaus was technically dead and therefore sterile. But why would I get that vivid image in my head of myself carrying my child towards Niklaus if it wasn't meant to come true?

"I'll have my family and my love. The ones I lost a thousand years ago." I smiled, feeling triumphant. "That will be all I'll need." I responded instead; ignoring the questioning look Rose threw at me. She knew that I was lying, but it didn't mean she knew what I was lying about. I noticed Elena glancing curiously around the room. Rose noticed Elena's curiosity too and grinned.

"You've never been in Damon's room before, have you?" She guessed. Elena flushed in both annoyance and embarrassment before picking up a book and raising an eyebrow at the blurb. I snorted at her reaction.

"What were you expecting exactly?" I asked her. Elena looked at me with shock.

" _You've_ been in here before?" She sounded appalled. Even Rose looked surprised and just a little pissed. I smirked, knowing that she was jealous. But she had nothing to fear; Damon was like another one of my older brothers to me.

"I had had a bad headache and Damon found me and fed me some of his blood to help clear it up. I must've passed out after drinking some, because I woke up in this room … and cussed out Damon when he eavesdropped on one of my dreams." I explained. Rose nodded, accepting that answer before turning to Elena.

"What about you? Not what you expected?" She asked Elena, slightly teasing her.

"It's just a room with a bed." Elena shrugged. "Maybe I expected there to be silk sheets." It was a fair assumption. Plus, I really wouldn't be surprised if Damon really did have silk sheets. Both Rose and I smiled at the thought, as Elena continued inspecting Damon's bedroom. I walked over to the open window, allowing the cool breeze to wash over me.

"You're lucky, you know. No one's ever loved me the way you're loved." I naturally thought that Rose was talking to Elena, since it was not possible that Damon would show me that kind of interest.

"I doubt that." Elena responded, evenly.

"I wasn't talking to you." Rose corrected Elena. I froze and turned to look back over at Rose propped up on Damon's pillows, and then at an astonished and miffed looking Elena who was gaping at me. My eyes widened in shock.

"Me?" Rose nodded her head, looking completely serious. "Not possible." I insisted. But then I really gave the idea some thought. Damon had been acting a little weird recently; like yesterday at the Grill, when he wrapped an arm around my waist when I stepped in between him and Alaric, so I could join in on their conversation about Jules. Or how possessively he reacted when I invented a scenario revolving around Elijah cancelling a 'family catch up' dinner between us when I was helping both him and Alaric distract Jules, so one of them could slip some wolfsbane into her glass. Or the fact that he would sometimes brighten whenever I walked into the room or when we'd playfully tease or fight with each other. "We're just friends."

"Trevor was my best friend. Nothing more. He never looked at me, or paid me as much attention as Damon does you, Grace." Rose insisted. "I've seen devotion, and that's exactly what he has for you."

I was speechless.

But I knew that I had to nip this in the bud pretty quickly. I don't think Niklaus, Henrik or Elijah would be particularly pleased to know that Damon had started developing feelings for me. Don't get me wrong, it was bloody flattering and a great ego boost; but it was also dangerous, not to mention I only saw him as my best friend and a 'big brother figure'.

I didn't want him to die because of me.

"It would be a really stupid move. Niklaus or Elijah would rip him to shreds; and I don't want that to happen to him. I love him, of course I do. But like he was my _much older_ brother." I told Rose, who nodded approvingly. She obviously saw the flaw in Damon's feelings also. "I don't want to hurt him." I whispered, fretfully. Elena rolled her eyes while Rose sighed.

"I hear you. But forgive me for saying so; Damon would probably be the better choice between him and Klaus." Rose suggested. I scowled warningly at Rose as Elena finally decided to pipe up.

"But I thought you liked Damon. Why are you suddenly shoving him at Grace?" Elena wanted to know. Rose looked at her like she was an idiot.

"In case it has completely escape your notice, I am dying. I've accepted that I am. The same way that I've accepted that Damon has obviously developed feelings for Grace that I could never hope to achieve from him, even if I had never gotten bitten by that werewolf." Rose told her, logically. "Even if Grace lets him down gently and they remained strong friends; neither of us would be able to achieve the strong feelings Damon has for her." I bit my lip, realising that despite Rose accepting that Damon didn't feel for her in that way, I still felt guilty about it. Rose, sensing the awkward atmosphere, changed topic. "But speaking of giving up: why are _you_ so eager to give up?"

"I'm not giving up on anything. Here." Elena seemingly ends the subject by handing Rose a heated mug of blood. But thankfully, Rose is stubborn and dodges the dodge.

"What do you call this whole deal with Elijah?" Rose asks.

"I call it my best option." Elena shrugs.

"Your best option is encouraging my brother to spirit you away to places unknown so that he could give you to Niklaus, who is going to kill you as soon as gets the opportunity?" I pointed out the facts to her dubiously. "Yeah, that's not at all defeatist." I drawled, unimpressed.

Rose nodded in agreement. "It's your easiest option."

Elena looked defensive.

"That's not fair."

"Those are the words of a person who know they are wrong, and just don't want to admit it to themselves because of a guilty conscience, or because they are too stubborn to admit it." I stated, logically.

"Let me put another question to you: Do you really think that your witch friend destroyed the moonstone?" Rose questioned Elena.

"I spoke with Bonnie." Elena responded. "I know that she had the help of another witch; unless you mean it's Elijah's witch, so no, I don't." Rose looked at her with pity.

"You really are determined to die, aren't you?" Elena said nothing.

"Rose at least ran for her life, you're not even trying." I pointed. "You're just taking the easy way out." Rose suddenly groaned, getting both of our attention and we hurried over to her side, concerned.

"I'm so tired…" She mumbled, closing her eyes and sinking down into the pillow she was reclining on. I lay the duvet over Rose and turned to Elena.

"You go and get Rose some more blood. I'll stay and watch her." I suggested. Elena nodded and leaves, just as Rose starts talking in her sleep.

"No, stop, wait." I paused, frowning her in confusion and very much alert. "Tell them to prepare the horses." My eyes widen when I realise that she is hallucinating. I shush soothingly at her.

"It's okay, Rose. Just get some sleep. You'll feel better when you wake up." I lied. Rose cracked open an eye and frowned at me.

"Trevor, don't be so stupid. You're never going to make it there before the sun." Rose slurs deliriously. I gulped, feeling uncomfortable just as Elena reappears, and falters at my grave look.

"What is it?" Elena asks, warily. But Rose sits up abruptly, moaning from the pain.

"Elena, Elena, I need more blood." Rose urges. Elena immediately rushes over with the mug.

"Yeah, of course. Here." She pushes the mug into her hand and Rose drinks it down greedily. But almost instantly starts vomiting it up again. Elena rubs Rose's back, soothingly. "It's okay, everything's gonna be alright." She promises. While Elena was attending to her, I rushed into the bathroom to fetch a clean, damp face-washer to wipe up the blood smeared around Rose's face. Elena walks in after me to wash her hands; some of the blood Rose had thrown up had ended up on her. "She's not going to get better, is she?" Elena asked me rhetorically.

I shook my head sadly.

"This is not how I wanted to observe the effects of the werewolf bite." I muttered before we both went back into Damon's room. We froze. Rose wasn't lying in the bed where Elena and I had left her. "Rose?" Elena walked over to the bed, while I cautiously glanced about the room for a sign of Rose's whereabouts.

 _Where'd the hell did she go?_

* * *

 **A/N: End of chapter. Hope you enjoyed it. The next update will be soon :)**

 **TTFN x**


	23. Delirium

**A/N: Welcome back! In this chapter, Rose is deteriorating quickly from her werewolf bite; and both Elena and Grace are in serious danger. It's up to Grace to defend Elena.**

 **Sorry for the delay in uploading; I had no internet access for an entire day, and had to wait until today to do so. Shit happens.**

 **Reviews are welcomed, flaming is not appreciated.**

 **I don't own** _ **The Vampire Diaries.**_ **All characters (except for Grace) are owned by author L.J. Smith.**

 **Enjoy xx**

* * *

 **DELIRIUM**

" _Love is not altogether a delirium, yet it has many points in common therewith."_ _ **~Thomas Carlyle.**_

* * *

Minutes ticked by the longer Rose was missing from Damon's bed. He had instructed us not to let her out of our sights, and it would suck majorly – no pun intended, of course – if she had managed to get loose.

"I'm gonna check downstairs." I told Elena, who nodded and continued searching for Rose. But I had only taken a few steps out of the room when I suddenly heard Elena scream out in both fear and surprise. I raced back in to find Rose pinning Elena to the wall by her neck and in full vampire face.

"It's all your fault, Katerina." Rose declared; sounding hurt and betrayed. It was obvious that she was stuck in a memory induced by the werewolf venom. "You Katerina, you did this." I barreled forward and attempted to free Elena from Rose's powerful hands.

"It's Elena. Rose, Rose! I'm Elena!" The aforementioned girl exclaimed, also clawing desperately and fearfully at Rose's hands.

"You betrayed us!" Rose snarled.

"Rose! Snap out of it! It's not Katherine, you've got Elena!" I told her, firmly. Suddenly, Rose snaps out of her hallucination and releases Elena in horror.

"Elena?" Rose takes a step back from Elena, and I shoved Elena behind me for protection. I may be fragile as Elena was, but at least I had some basic self-defense skills and sword-fighting techniques to fall back on if I needed to. Elena didn't.

"Yes, Rose. It's me, it's Elena." Elena insisted. Rose's vampire face disappears as she returns to her senses.

"Oh my god, Elena. I'm so sorry. I don't know what's happening to me. I'm sorry." Rose apologized. Elena looked shaken, but offered Rose a reassuring smile.

"You're gonna be alright." I told Rose, who focused on my face. Frightened tears welled up in her eyes.

"My mind, I'm…"

"It was just for a second." Elena reassures her, and I nodded firmly in agreement. Rose looked at Elena with worry.

"I'm sorry, don't be scared of me." She pleaded.

"I'm not. I'm not, but you need to rest." Elena insisted as she and I helped Rose back over to lay on Damon's bed. This time, tears did start falling down Rose's cheeks.

"I'm scared." She whimpered.

"I'd consider you a fool if you weren't." I told her, offering a comforting smile which Rose weakly returned. Elena and I perched on the side or on top of Damon's bed, facing Rose.

"You're not alone. We're right here." Elena reassured Rose. She didn't look convinced, or comforted by that fact.

"Here, where's here?" Rose demanded, feverishly. Elena and I exchanged grave looks with each other. It seemed like Rose was developing memory loss as a result of the werewolf venom.

"Damon's bedroom. You're in Damon's bedroom." Elena told her.

"I want to go home." Rose whimpered. I paused, suddenly inspired again and retrieved my sketch book. I had an idea of how I could make both Rose happy, and give some sort of comfort to Damon after Rose finally passed. Elena mouthed 'what-are-you-doing?' at me and I waved at her dismissively, before Rose's crying distracted Elena.

"Tell me about your home." Elena suggested, trying to distract Rose from the pain she was obviously feeling, and to attempt to calm her down. Rose smiled nostalgically, and both Elena and I couldn't help but smile as well as how peaceful – if it was only for a second – Rose looked remembering her life 500 years ago.

"St. Austell." My sketching pencil began flying across the page in a series of strokes and scribbles. "Thirty kilometers south of London." I paused, realizing how familiar the place Rose described. "With fields and trees and horses." Rose murmured.

"Sounds beautiful." Elena commented.

"I've been there before." I realised. Rose looked at me with astonishment.

"You have?"

"When I was little. My parents used to take us there for a vacation." I explained. "It's probably changed a hell of a lot from when you last saw it. But I can picture what it probably looked like 500 years ago in my head." I grinned and resumed sketching. I just hoped that the picture I had in mind would be finished before Rose died.

"You're from England?" Rose was surprised.

"Up until I was ten, yes." I responded. "But this isn't about me, Rose. This is about you." I reminded her. "Tell us more about what you remember of your beautiful home." I encouraged her. Elena looked over my shoulder at what I was doing and a small smile spread across her face. At least, that's what I hoped I was seeing from out the corner of my eye. Rose sighed sadly and a little discouraged.

"When you live long enough, everything disappears. So much time wasted, I just wish I wouldn't have been so afraid." Rose told the both of us.

* * *

Rose discussed her life from when she was human with Elena and me with great enthusiasm, up until she passed out on Damon's bed; trailing off mid-sentence. That was when Elena and I decided to let Rose be and disappeared to do our own things. A couple of hours later, Elena remembered that Rose had violently vomited blood on Damon's bedsheets; and being stuck inside the Boarding House to baby sit her with nothing productive to do, Elena felt it was only fair to make sure that Rose would be as comfortable as possible for her final hours.

"I brought some clean sheets." Elena announced, expecting to see Rose sleeping on the bed, and myself either reading or sketching on Damon's window bench or reclining beside Rose on Damon's massive bed doing the same things. But I had chosen this opportunity to head downstairs to grab a drink. To my knowledge, Rose was still fast asleep in the bed. By the time I gotten back to Damon's room, I almost walked right into a panicked Elena.

"Elena? What's wrong?" I frowned, concerned.

"Rose isn't in there." Elena told me.

"What?" I looked passed her, and confirmed that Rose wasn't in there; just the bloodied and rumpled sheets that Rose had passed out in. "We gotta find her." I told her. Elena nodded and I seized her wrist and we searched the entire house; finishing in the Library. But Rose has seemingly vanished into thin air. Elena and I both knew that Rose hadn't left the house because the front door wasn't open and banging in the wind. Elena immediately pulled free her phone and accessed her contacts.

"I'm gonna call Damon." She announced and I nodded. It was likely that Rose was probably unstable and getting worse. We needed a vampire back up. "It's Elena. Grace and I are worried about Rose, we both think you should come home." I heard Elena telling Damon down the line. However, while she was talking to him; I hear a noise coming from another room. As Elena hung up I caught her attention.

"Did you hear that?" I asked her, frowning. Elena walked over to the door and paused. There was definite movement going on down in the basement.

"Rose?" Elena called out. I walked down into the basement with Elena hot on my heels. At the bottom, we find a discarded blood bag, which I picked up and showed to Elena. We go farther into the basement, and both of us react with horror when we find her drinking from a blood bag which she had taken from the fridge. There are a lot of emptied blood bags that had been thrown haphazardly on the floor around her. "Oh my god." Elena blurted out, drawing Rose's attention. She locked eyes with me first; and my heart launched itself into my throat when I realized how incredibly feral she looked: Rose's irises were still hazel, but her sclera had turned a vivid crimson. There were thick, pulsating dark blue veins underneath both eyes and her fangs were long and looked razor sharp. Blood was smeared gruesomely around her mouth and coated her fangs in a thin red film. Rose growled threateningly at us like a dog warning us to stay away.

"Oh, Rose…" I whispered, helplessly. Elena stupidly made a noise, drawing Rose's attention and I swore underneath my breath when she threw down the half-drunk blood bag, readying herself to launch at Elena.

"Katerina." Rose growled. Both of us froze.

"No." Elena replied. I grabbed Elena's wrist and knocked over the nearest heavy object to block Rose's path.

"Run!" I screamed at Elena and the both of us tore up the staircase. Rose was quick to pursue us.

"Rose, stop, stop, it's Elena. I'm not Katherine." Elena tried to snap Rose out of her hallucination. It seemed to work, as Rose stopped and eyed us uncertainly.

"You're hallucinating, Rose." I told her, using calm and soothing tones. "This is Elena, not Katherine." Rose shoved me aside and I landed hard on the wooden floor, while she grabbed a frightened Elena and tackles her to the floor. I instantly got to my feet and rugby tackled Rose off Elena, which gave the teen the opportunity to open a curtain. The unfiltered sunlight floods the part of the room that Rose is in and she is hurt by the sunshine; giving Elena and I the opportunity to run for our lives.

We almost make it out of the house, when Rose stops Elena and attempts to bite her. However, Elena fends Rose off by digging her fingers into her werewolf bite. I winced, knowing how much that hurts; since the bite on my shoulder still stung, even though it was partially healed. Rose screams in pain, allowing Elena to grab my wrist and we both haul ass to Stefan's bedroom. Elena quickly locks the door, and both of us push furniture in front of it to barricade ourselves in. Elena opens the curtains in front of Stefan's window and I seize a wooden chair and smash it to make two stakes from its legs.

"Elena? I know that's you and not Katherine." Rose attempts to open the door, jiggling the door handle insistently before she stops to cough and groan uncontrollably. "Elena? Grace? Please, I need your help." Rose begs us. Neither one of us wanted to kill Rose, but at the same time, neither of us wanted to die. I would like to survive long enough to see my beloved Niklaus; not become a feral vampire's chew toy. Elena and I huddle together in Stefan's room, not budging for anything; and thankful that Stefan had his own ensuite bathroom like Damon's (only not as luxurious).

It is nighttime before I finally decided to see if the coast was clear. I glanced over at Elena who had passed out on her boyfriend's bed, deep in slumber. I attempted to shove aside the furniture blocking the door as quietly as possible so I didn't wake her, and made my way downstairs to investigate Rose's whereabouts. I clutched both my crudely made stake and one of my daggers in my hands, and cautiously wondered downstairs; checking my corners as I went. The main door is open, but it doesn't fill me with comfort and I obsessively glance about for signs of danger, before turning and coming face to face with a worried Damon.

"Are you okay?" He demanded, and I studied him momentarily; trying to determine if what Rose said earlier was true and Damon had indeed started developing feelings for me. "Where's Elena? Where's Rose?" Damon questioned me, suddenly looking afraid; even more so when he sees the stake in my hand.

"I don't know where Rose is. But Elena is upstairs in Stefan's room." I told him. Damon immediately heads for the staircase and goes up it to the second floor, making a beeline for his brother's room.

"Is she hurt?"

"Shaken. But not hurt, no." I reported, as we re-entered Stefan's room. Damon goes over to where Elena is sleeping and shakes her awake. Elena's eyes open slowly and registers Damon's blank faced expression.

"Damon? What's happened? Where's Rose and Grace?" Elena immediately sits up, and begins to panic before she sees me and relaxes a little. Damon straightens up.

"That's what I'm gonna find out. You coming with, Grace?" He asks, not really waiting for an answer. I nodded immediately and followed close behind. Elena hesitated for only a few seconds before reluctantly following, since Damon hadn't really told her that she wasn't allowed to come with us.

* * *

I follow Damon as he tracks down Rose's last whereabouts. None of us say a word; as we all know that this was a very serious situation, and it is likely that there would be casualties to be found along the way. Eventually we come upon Liz and her deputies cordoning off a nearby area in the High School parking lot. We immediately approached; realizing that we had struck metaphorical gold.

"Hey." Damon hastily greets Liz who looks relieved to see him, and slightly disapproving when she glances in my direction. I was a little taken aback.

"Thanks for coming so quickly." Liz thanks him, and Damon shrugs nonchalantly.

"I was close by Liz, what happened?" Damon asked, getting straight to the point and I sidled up to him so I could hear. Liz looked like she was struggling not to say something, and was losing the battle.

"Did you have to bring them?" Liz indicated in my direction. Damon raised an eyebrow at the question and turned to look at me, only to sigh in annoyance. I frowned and turned to see that Elena had tagged along.

"Grace can take care of herself, trust me. But I have no idea why the minor is here." He responded casually. But I could tell from the tone of his voice that he was very worried. Elena opened her mouth to protest, but Damon returned to the point. "So really, what happened?" He asked brusquely. Liz reluctantly divulged the information.

"A vampire. Luckily one of my deputies discovered the body before anyone else saw him." I winced.

"Oh, shit…" I muttered underneath my breath. I felt Damon squeezing my hand in reassurance, before letting go.

"We have to secure the area then." Damon stated automatically. Liz nodded and turned towards her deputies, talking sternly and urgently to them.

"Don't cause a panic, but let's take this party into the cafeteria." I noticed Elena walking off to the side and pulling out her phone. Presumably attempting to call Stefan. I glanced over at Damon who focused entirely upon Liz, and sighed. An all-business Damon was never something you wanted to see. It usually led to trouble. "I take the east side of the school, you go west?" Liz suggested.

Damon nodded.

"Sure, okay. Come on, Grace." He grabs my wrist and drags me off in the direction indicated by Liz, with Elena trotting along behind us when she noticed. Both of us overheard her voice message to Stefan.

"Hey, Stefan, it's me. I don't know where you are but please call me. It's important." Elena urged him before hanging up and looking over at Damon and me; but mostly Damon. "Hey. Have you heard from him? Do you know what he's up to?" Elena requested. Damon looked at her sharply.

"My baby brother isn't my top priority right now." He replied dismissively. "Take this." He handed a stake to both of us. "Come on, let's go." Elena and I start casing the west side of the school like Liz instructed us with Damon taking up the rear to protect us from behind. We soon come across Rose biting into a student. "Rose, stop!" Damon shouts at Rose who immediately releases the poor girl and rushes towards Damon. He grabs Rose and pins her to the ground. I crouch cautiously beside her while Elena stands further back from us.

"Rose, Rose! It's us, it's Damon and Grace. Rose!" I shout at a violently bucking Rose. Almost immediately, Rose's vampire face recedes and turns back to normal. She turns her head and spots the girl she had attacked and bursts into tears.

"Did I do this? I never meant to hurt anyone." Rose insists to both Damon and I. "I never meant to hurt anyone." She repeats. Damon nodded, deeply concerned.

"I know." He reassures her. Rose turns her attention towards both Elena and me.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." She sobs. I feel tears threatening in my own eyes.

"It's not your fault, Rose. We don't blame you, honey." I reassure her further. Damon gets to his feet and helps Rose to hers.

"Come on, let's get you home." Damon suggests to Rose, who shakes her head.

"No, I don't have a home. I haven't had a home in so long." Rose cries harder, and I turn away feeling as helpless as Damon looked. Elena had an emotionless mask on her face, as she watched Damon and me attempting to calm down the obviously frightened and delusional Rose. Suddenly Rose curls in on herself and whimpers from the pain. "Oh make it stop! Please make it stop! I hate it, make it stop!" Rose pleaded with us. Damon, without a word, scoops Rose up into his arms and starts to walk away. I glanced over at Elena, who stoops down to pick up the stake that Damon had discarded in his attempt to help poor Rose, before hurrying after my distraught best friend; who was carrying his lover back to the boarding house.

* * *

The second we arrive there, Damon immediately makes a beeline for the staircase; obviously intending on heading straight for his bedroom. I don't follow them, but Elena does. I step into her path.

"Leave them be." I advised, firmly. Elena scowls at me before ignoring what I said and continuing up the stairs. I sighed in resignation and made my way into the parlour. I walked over to one of the red velvet couches in front of the large roaring fireplace and curled up onto it after removing my shoes. It didn't look like Rose had very long to live, and I doubted that Damon would appreciate an audience witnessing the demise of somebody he cared about. My theory was proven correct when I heard Rose screaming in pain from somewhere on the second floor, and Damon sharply ordering Elena to leave. A minute later, I saw Elena wondering down the corridor on the second floor above me. A foul expression was on her face, and I saw her heading in the direction of Stefan's room. A door slamming confirmed the destination. "You still have a lot to learn, Elena." I spoke out loud, as though Elena were standing right in front of me. "When someone is grieving, or attending to somebody's deathbed, the very last thing they require is somebody being underfoot." I leaned my head against my knees and closed my eyes, allowing the warmth of the fireplace to cover me like a warm blanket. "Particularly, if they are saying goodbye…"

 **(A/N: This is optional, but please listen to** _ **Echo**_ **by Jason Walker while reading this next part of the story. I believe it sets the mood.)**

I must've dozed off, because movement right in front of me disturbed my slumber and I looked up groggily to see Damon standing at the fireplace with his back to me, staring into the flames. His fist was clenched tightly by his side, and I knew that he struggling to hold back his emotions.

Rose was dead.

Part of me wondered if Damon realised that I was here, and I wasn't sure I wanted to test that theory or not. So I swung my feet off the couch and calmly put on my shoes and made an attempt to leave without Damon noticing.

"Leaving so soon, Grace?"

 _Fuck…_ I didn't dare turn around to face him. I knew that if I saw the tears and grief on Damon's face that it would set me off, and I couldn't bear facing that reality that Rose was gone; albeit free from her pain and suffering. I steeled myself before replying.

"I think I probably should. Give you the space you need to grieve properly." I responded and continued walking. What I didn't expect was Damon to vamp-speed in front of me, and I thudded into his chest. I made the mistake of looking up into his eyes … and that was all she wrote.

"Don't leave me." Damon sobbed and I immediately dissolved into tears as Damon's head landed heavily onto my shoulder and he buried his face into my neck. I could feel his tears soaking into the delicate skin of my throat. Damon clutched me tightly to him as I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and we both fell to our knees on the Persian rug, as I supported him in his grief.

* * *

When all the tears were shed, I helped Damon bundle up Rose's desiccated body in the bloodied sheets Elena had attempted to change before Rose chased us all around the house in a blood-fueled rage brought on by the werewolf venom. Gently, and respectfully; Damon scooped up Rose and carried her downstairs to his car where he instructed me to open his trunk. He deposited Rose's body inside and closed it firmly, before he nods at me and gets into his car. It was decided earlier, after I had calmed Damon down, that it would safer and easier to just present Rose to Liz; since technically she was the vampire responsible for the deaths of all those innocent people. It killed two birds with one stone, and kept Damon, Stefan and Caroline out of the shit. I offered to help him, but Damon firmly declined; stating that it was his responsibility. So I went home, eager to put this entire day behind me.

Except that I couldn't sleep. The way that Rose had been during her final hours was haunting me, and I wasn't in the mood for a series of nightmares on top of the almost daily ones involving Mikael. So I turned to my refuge from the realities of my troubled life: painting. It had been what I had planned on doing before Damon whisked me away this afternoon. I paused, blinking at my front door before finally taking out my keys and unlocking it.

"Hello, Stranger. Where were you today?" Henrik greeted me, sounding a little put out. But he immediately sobered the second he saw the forlorn expression on my face. I know I had one; I could see it in the mirror across from where I was standing. "What's wrong?" He asked, worried about me. I avoided direct eye contact.

"Rose is gone." I mumbled.

"Gone? What do you mean? Gone where?" Henrik asked me. All I had to do was look at him, and he immediately understood. "May she find the peace she craved all these years." He prayed, solemnly. I nodded before peeling off my jacket and carelessly flinging it on the couch before snatching up my old shirt; the one I used when I did a session of painting. "What are you doing?" Henrik asked, curiously.

"Painting something for Damon." I replied. "And if I have time, painting another vision I had this afternoon." I added.

"What vision?" I raised an eyebrow at the question. Henrik was unusually curious tonight. I smiled at him.

"A vision that if it turns out to be factual, will make you an uncle one day." I told him. Henrik looked shocked before a happy little smile spreads across his face. I headed for my painting supplies and pulled out a fresh canvas, my paintbrushes and my good paints. Once I started, I did not stop until I was finished. I just hoped that Damon liked the finished product.

"You really are talented, Grace. I'm impressed." Both Henrik and I jumped in fright and turned to face the intruder, who was perched casually on one of the stools surrounding my island bench. My eyes widened in shock. "What? You weren't expecting this?"

"Rose…" I breathed. The ginger-haired vampire gave an unimpressed little snort before she smiled warmly at me.

"Some medium you are." She teased. I frowned.

"What on earth are you doing here?" I demanded. Rose hopped up from the stool and came over to me where I was standing in front of the easel.

"My original intention was to say goodbye. But judging by this painting, I think I might stick around to see Damon's reaction." She looked at me for confirmation. I nodded, a little confused that I would be earning a visit from Rose. "How did you know?" Rose was looking wide-eyed at the painting, and I blinked in confusion.

"How did I know what?" I asked her. Rose turned and frowned at me.

"What I looked like 500-years ago." Rose asked, looking a little spooked. I turned and studied the painting I had improvised in the heat of the moment. It was a head-and-shoulders portrait of Rose that I had envisioned when I was in the zone painting. In my mind, Rose had been wearing a periwinkle blue Renaissance dress, and her ginger hair was long and wavy, with a soft braid holding back her fringe from her face.

"I studied the renaissance as part of my course. Plus, I saw the movie _Ever After_ which was set approximately the same time as you lived about 500-years ago. Then I improvised what you potentially looked like. And clearly by your reaction, I was spot on." I shrugged, modestly.

"It's exactly what she looked like that day she and that Trevor guy hid Katerina from Elijah, that night when she escaped Niklaus' ritual." Henrik piped up from where he had perched himself on the couch. I had wondered why Rose had failed to take notice of him before now. Rose turned in the direction of my little brother, shocked now that she could see him.

"You're Henrik, aren't you?" Rose guessed.

"I must be." Henrik confirmed, with a little bit of cheek. "I've been observing your every move since that night Katerina managed to escape Niklaus." Henrik stated, matter-of-factly. Rose nodded taking that in, as she did a casual eye sweep over him.

"You're so young." Rose sounded sad, and Henrik frowned. He hated being pitied.

"I'm really not you know. This body is young, but my mind is ancient; like it would have been if I had lived long enough to be turned into a vampire like my brothers and sister." Henrik insisted, defensively. It was my turn to frown this time.

"How do you know Mikael and Esther would still have turned you and your siblings into vampires if you had survived that werewolf attack?" I challenged him, not unkindly. Henrik made a face.

"It was Father's pride that made our family what they are. I'm pretty sure that anything would've set things in motion. My death was just a convenient co-incidence, so to speak." Henrik pointed out. I nodded; it made sense. Mikael, as I recall, was a man who always needed to be in control over everything. Nobody was allowed to oppose him; and if they tried, they were threatened with the business end of his sharp sword or offered a knuckle sandwich.

"Have you seen Damon?" I asked Rose gravely. The redhead looked at me with sorrowful eyes.

"He has not taken my death well." She responded. "But of course, you would already know this." Rose looked at me pointedly and I scowled defensively.

"Of course I know this. I held him in my arms while he sobbed his poor heart out." I told her before sighing heavily. "Despite what you say about his feelings for me, Rose, he cared a great deal for you also. I don't think he will be ever be entirely the same." I predicted. Rose laughed.

"Now let's not be depressing. I was a passing fancy for him. In time, he will forget all about me. But I still want to be there to see his reaction to your gift. He deserves this." Rose stated. I nodded, pulling a protective sheet over the top of the painting so it wouldn't get smeared or ruined overnight.

"Do what you wish Rose, it's not like anybody apart from me can see you." I reminded her. "But I hope that Elena isn't going to be causing her usual brand of strife tomorrow. Neither Damon nor I are in the mood to bail her out of more trouble." I mused before yawning into my hand. "I'll see you both tomorrow. Hopefully nothing bad happens between now and then." I hoped.

* * *

Of course, it turned out that those words I said before bed, turned out to be my famous last words. Only I didn't learn about them until I clicked on the TV while going through my morning routine. Both Rose and Henrik were seated upon the couch and bar stool, morosely watching the TV set as I walked in with a piece of toast dangling from my mouth as I fussed around with my hair, pulling it into a high ponytail. I frowned at them, curiously.

"What's the matter with the both of you?" I demanded. Rose merely raised a finger and pointed towards the TV. I turned and groaned audibly. A tall thin blonde news reporter, whom I vaguely remembered was called Andie Star was on screen grimly giving a breaking news report.

"The authorities believe last night's assailant may also be related to the missing campers and park ranger who have yet to be found, as well as 25-year-old Jessica Cohen, reported missing this morning." She reported. I closed my eyes and gathered every bit of patience I owned.

"Goddamnit, Damon!" I growled, as I turned and walked from the room. Rose looked after me shrewdly.

"How do you know that Damon is the culprit behind these murders?" She questioned me. Henrik filled her in.

"Because this is how he reacts whenever he is angry or grieving." He explains to a shocked Rose. "This is his mechanism of coping with something he doesn't want to deal with without flicking off the switch." Henrik sinks back further into the couch cushions and crosses his arm over his chest as I walked back into the room, carefully placing down the neatly wrapped up painting from last night on the coffee table. I shrugged on my leather jacket.

Andie Star continued talking.

"The sheriff's department says investigations are pending and no further comment will be made. In related news Mayor Lockwood spoke earlier today…" I reached for the remote and switched off the TV set. Rose still looked stunned that Damon would have that sort of reaction to her passing.

"I never knew he cared that much. I just thought I was something to keep him warm at night." Rose commented. I rolled my eyes.

"You thought wrong then." I replied, before picking up my keys, purse and the painting. "Shall we?" I asked her. Rose frowned.

"Where are you going?" Rose got to her feet and followed me to front door. Henrik trailing behind.

"Paying Damon a visit." I replied simply.

"But weren't you there yesterday?" Rose asked. I nodded. "So why didn't you just stay there overnight." I frowned in annoyance.

"A) Because I wanted to let him grieve in peace, B) I was tired and over the entire day and C) My painting supplies were here." I responded. "Also, I'm kicking myself for not staying over there with him, because what occurred last night might not have happened otherwise, and I should've remembered that. In addition to giving him my painting, I'm also gonna kick his well-toned ass." I reported with a determination, before blinking at Henrik when he made to walk out the door with Rose and me. "You're coming too, Henrik?" I queried. He nodded.

"Something tells me that this is something I can't miss. Don't worry, if you don't hear from me as much. I'm still here, just observing today that's all." He reassured. Rose and I nodded before walking out of the apartment. We piled into my car and drove towards the Boarding House.

* * *

"I'm beginning to think I should get the brothers to reserve me a parking spot in their garage, I'm such a frequent visitor." I muttered underneath my breath. My ghostly companions sniggered as I parked my car, grabbed the painting I had made for Damon and headed for the front door of the mansion. Rose and Henrik simply materialized to my side. I jumped in surprise. "I'll never get used to how you do that." I hissed at them, resentfully. I let myself into the house and strode confidently down the main corridor. I paused, listening for somebody's voice. Hearing nothing, I climbed the staircase, followed closely by both Rose and Henrik, and almost immediately heard raised voices coming from Stefan's bedroom.

"Trouble in paradise?" Henrik questioned, believing the raised voices to belong to both Stefan and Elena – whom I thought would've been at school right now, before I remembered that it was a Saturday – in the midst of an argument.

"You brought back John Gilbert? That was your big 'save Elena' move?" Came Damon's incredulous raised voice. I held back an amused snort, as Henrik flushed red and Rose smirked.

"Well, dear brother. That _would_ be the case if they were in a romantic relationship." I chided playfully. "But that would be called 'incest', and is typically frowned upon in most respectable societies." I told him, glad that Henrik was incorporeal, as his hand merely fazed right through me when he took an annoyed and embarrassed swipe at me. "And probably in the supernatural world as well." I added, turning to Rose for back up. Rose looked disgusted by the mere thought. We both focused upon Stefan's slightly ajar bedroom door, once again eavesdropping on the conversation.

"I went to go look for Isobel, and I get John instead. He said that he can help us, and we're desperate." Stefan insisted. Both Damon and I scoffed.

"We're not that desperate, Stefan. The guy tried to barbecue me!" Damon protested, and I froze at what he said.

This John guy tried to do what?

I strode closer to the door; ignoring the alarmed looks on both Rose and Henrik's faces. Stefan sighed impatiently.

"Damon, Bonnie's new witch friend is working with Elijah." My eyes widened at this little piece of information. Did this witch have anything to do with what Elijah had been doing with Elena recently? "So we have to assume that the moonstone was never destroyed. Elena is putting a lot of faith into some deal that she made with Elijah to keep everyone safe. I mean, do you trust Elijah? I don't trust him." Stefan ranted on and on, apparently not realizing that Damon had gone quiet the moment Stefan had asked him if he trusted my brother or not. "He's an Original, he can't be trusted." Says who? "It's not like we can just go up and kill him, because apparently he can't die!" Stefan stated. I peered through the ajar door and noticed that Damon had his back to the doorway, and Stefan was – thankfully – not within notice. Finally, Damon sighed.

"The difference between you and me, Stef, is that I _do_ trust Elijah." Damon retorted bluntly.

"You do?" Stefan sounded incredulous. "Since when?" He demanded. Damon made an irritated noise underneath his breath.

"Since Grace allowed me to gain access to one of her memories. That's when I saw how Elijah used to be, before he changed and became who we know now." Damon explained succinctly. Stefan frowned.

"What Elijah used to be?" Stefan echoed, probably believing that Damon would dish out the information. I bristled, hoping that Damon wouldn't be so stupid as to reveal something as personal as what I showed him to Stefan. Damon immediately shut down.

"Not important, and also none of your business." I relaxed visibly, and looked back at Rose and Henrik with shock.

"Well, I'll be damned." Rose blurted out, impressed.

"I'm still waiting for the part where John Gilbert is the answer." Damon attempted to steer the conversation back on point.

"He knew about the sacrifice, Isobel told him. He said he knew of a way to keep Elena safe." Stefan eventually revealed.

"And how do we do that?" Damon asked.

"He's not talking. At least not to me, anyway." Stefan explained. Damon growled underneath his breath. This was obviously not something he needed right now; considering Rose had just died only yesterday and he was obviously still touchy about the subject. Pretty sure, none of us needed this at this moment.

"Great work, Stefan." Damon told him, sarcastically. "Top notch. As if I didn't have enough problems." Heavy footsteps approached the bedroom door and I quickly hurried away from it.

"Hey…" Damon's footsteps stopped. "I'm sorry about Rose." Stefan said, regretfully. Rose stiffened beside me; her eyes widening at being mentioned. I groaned; Stefan had the worst timing ever.

"Whatever. I knew the woman for five minutes." Damon replied dismissively, and Rose looked hurt.

"Don't worry about it. He's still grieving, he doesn't mean what he says." I reassured her. Stefan didn't look like he believed him.

"And you cared about her after five minutes. I wonder what that means?" He asked, pretending to really think about the proper answer to this question. Damon snarled at him.

"It means I care, Stefan. It means that I'm changing, evolving into a man capable of greatness." Damon stated, but I couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic about that, since he already confessed that he trusted Elijah in spite of the fact that he was planning on taking Elena away to Niklaus eventually. But part of me believed that it was because Elijah was associated with me; and I was known to see the good in people, and my instincts were never usually wrong.

But hey, I'm due to be wrong sometime, right?

Damon glared sharply at Stefan. "Better watch your back, because I may have to go get a hero-hairdo of my own and steal your thunder." Damon sniped at Stefan, and I frowned. Now he was being sarcastic. That was a relief, for a second I thought that Damon had had a lobotomy. His heavy footfalls sounded again and I sprang to attention when Stefan's bedroom door opened revealing Damon, who blinked at me in astonishment.

"Hey, Damon." I greeted him. He nodded, but didn't smile in reply. "Where are you off to? Or is it private?" I asked tentatively. Damon sighed and turned me around to walk along with him.

"I'm going to talk with John Gilbert; the thorn in my fucking side." He explained, rather bluntly. I nodded. So no love lost between them apparently.

"You need some company?" I offered. Damon glanced down at the package in my hand and stopped mid-step, raising an eyebrow at it and ignoring my question momentarily.

"What's that?" He asked, as we both dodged Stefan who came walking down the corridor with a slightly worried expression on his face. He greeted me absently as he went by. Wordlessly, I held up the painting to Damon who looked surprised. "For me?" He asked. I nodded and Damon immediately tore off the wrapping paper. His eyes widened at the portrait, and Rose, Henrik and I waited with baited breath for his reaction.

"I figured you'd what something to remember her by. She obviously meant a great deal to you, regardless of how strongly you deny it." I told him. Damon didn't say anything; he was still looking at the portrait of Rose's face. The real Rose came up beside Damon and smiled at him warmly.

"I just wish I could hug him one last time." Rose admitted to me, with frustration. I smiled sadly. Eventually, Damon looked over at me and I held my breath, waiting for his response.

"This is beautiful. Thank you, Grace. I don't know what I'd do without you." Damon confessed, before pulling me into a very tight embrace. I laughed as I wrapped my arms around his neck and tried not to pass out from the lack of oxygen circling around my lungs.

"Oh, be in all kinds of strife I expect." I teased, sticking my tongue out at him playfully. Damon rolled his eyes before pulling away from me and planting a kiss on my cheek. He seized my hand and tugged me along to the opposite end of the mansion and into his bedroom.

"With all my love." I heard Rose call out before she disappeared. I glanced over at Henrik questioningly.

"She's gone." My eyes widened in dismay. "Not permanently, Grace." Henrik rolled his eyes. "She'll be back whenever you need her. She made me tell you that." My little brother rolled his eyes, with feigned annoyance. I glanced over at Damon who seemed to be lost in thought.

"What are we doing in here?" I asked, warily. Damon snorted.

"Finding a spot to hang this." Damon replied, like it should've been obvious. I felt rather foolish.

"Oh, well. Why not here?" I suggested walking over and placing my hand on a vacant strip of wall that lead towards the bathroom. Damon scrutinized my choice before he smiled in approval.

"Good choice." He complimented me before leaving the room momentarily to retrieve something to hang the portrait on the wall. I sighed, and dug around in my bag for some quick and easy wall hangers that I had brought along with me; anticipating that Damon would've liked what I gave him and would've wanted to hang the picture immediately. I quickly and easily mounted the canvas on the wall, moments before Damon walked back, carrying a hammer and some nails.

"All done. Shall we go and interrogate this John guy now?" I asked a slightly bewildered Damon, much to Henrik's mirth.

* * *

 **A/N: Nice knowing you Rose. See you in a few chapters :)**

 **Please review. TTFN ;)**


	24. Fed To The Wolves

**A/N: It's time for a chapter update! Thank you for sticking around for this long.**

 **As always, I would appreciate reviews. But I detest flaming. So please don't.**

 **I don't own** _ **The Vampire Diaries.**_ **All characters (except for Grace) are owned by author L.J. Smith.**

 **Happy reading xx**

* * *

 **FED TO THE WOLVES**

" _Throw me to the wolves and I'll return leading the pack."_

* * *

The resigned, weary expression on Elena's face indicated very quickly to me that she had been expecting a visit from Damon about this John guy. Probably the very second he came back to Mystic Falls, or so Damon explained to me on the car ride over to the Gilbert House. I was going to chew him out about the numerous deaths he had caused the night before, but decided to hold my tongue instead.

"Where's John?" Damon demanded of Elena the very second she opened the front door. Elena made a face at him due to the rude way he had asked the question, and stepped aside so that he, Henrik and I could come into the house.

"He's not here, he left. I don't know where he went. He just blew in, announced to Jenna that he's my dad, and then took off." Elena told us both, and I raised an eyebrow.

"So I take it he's not in the running to become Father of the Year then?" I deadpanned. Elena ignored me, focusing upon Damon instead. She looked and sounded pretty peeved, and I didn't blame her.

"That's cold." Henrik stated. I was not entirely sure if he was referring to what John Gilbert had done, or the reaction Elena had to what I said.

"That's public knowledge now?" Damon didn't look entirely fazed about that.

"Apparently?" Elena looked surprised by Damon's reaction to this. So the knowledge that her supposed uncle was in fact her biological father was apparently yesterday's news to him. Go figure. But a little warning probably would've been preferred.

"Are you okay?" Damon asked, sympathetically. Elena shrugged as she takes a seat on one of the couches in the living room and gestures for us to do the same.

"Yeah, I'm good. Jenna's head's spinning, but I'm okay." She admitted.

"Did he say what we was doing here?" I asked Elena, who shook her head at the question; also looking a little unnerved by the situation as I did.

"No, he didn't. But Stefan thinks that he's telling the truth about wanting to help me." Elena told us both. Damon raised an eyebrow.

"Do you believe him?"

Elena snorted. "Not for a second."

"Me neither." Damon added. Elena looked at both of us a little helplessly.

"What are we going to do?" She asks. Damon immediately got to his feet.

"Kill him." He responded simply, and Elena, Henrik and I looked at him, not amused as Damon makes an attempt to leave.

"Damon…" Elena sighed with frustration.

"Can we be serious, please?" I agreed with Elena for once. Clearly, this John person was bad news if Elena and Damon were having this sort of reaction towards him. It probably makes me glad that I haven't met him, and I hoped that I wouldn't meet him anytime soon. Damon turned and looked at us with a martyred expression.

"Oh, come on. I'm joking." He insisted, then faltered when Elena and I just looked at him with 'try again' expressions on our faces. "Okay, maybe I'm a little serious about that."

"Damon!" Elena sounded appalled, and I rolled my eyes at his immaturity. There was only so much I was willing to overlook because I knew that he was grieving Rose's death. Damon looked irritated.

"I'm not gonna hurt him, Elena. I'm a good guy now, remember?" Damon reminded us.

"So why does it sound like it's a hardship for you?" I asked him pointedly. Elena nodded in agreement.

"I agree. What does that mean?" Elena looked wary. Damon flashed me a warning look which I stubbornly returned.

"I'm gonna have a civil conversation with your father." Damon promised Elena, before he turns and heads for the door. "Let's go, Grace!" He calls out to me, and I huffed and got to my feet to follow him out.

"Wait, I'm coming with you!" Elena announces, snatching up her own purse, keys, etc. and following quickly.

* * *

Elena told us she last learned that John was headed for the Grill. So that's where we headed, and part of me hoped that Damon wasn't about to cause a riot. It was clear that he was not in the right mind frame to start and finish a potential brawl between himself and Elena's father. We walked into the Grill and almost immediately zeroed in on Jenna and Alaric who were sitting in a booth, eating their lunch. Jenna looked like she was in the middle of a rant, judging by the painfully polite expression on Alaric's face.

"I can't believe it." Jenna was saying as we closed in on the booth, trying to gather as much information as we could before they spotted us, or Damon did something unfortunate like jump in prematurely with his usual blunt fashion. "Elena is my sister's husband's brother's daughter, and her mother is my boyfriend's deceased wife." Elena winced visibly from where she was standing between Damon and me. "You can't make this stuff up." Jenna exclaimed, looking hurt and resentful that this information had been kept from her all these years.

"It's definitely a little overwhelming." Alaric agreed, attempting to calm down his angry girlfriend.

"I can't believe that they kept it a secret. How is it even possible to keep a secret like that?" She wondered. The main doors opened behind us, and in strolled a dirty blonde haired man in his late 30s, early 40s. By the fact that Elena visibly bristled; smart money would indicate that this guy was John Gilbert. Her biological father made a deliberate beeline for the lunching couple and takes a pew.

Jenna immediately recoils.

"Hey you two. Do you think I can join you?" John asks them absently.

"Do you have to?" Jenna replies with false sweetness in her tone. John looked at Jenna in annoyance, which only deepened the second he clapped eyes on our motley crew standing awkwardly at the main entrance. Damon immediately starts to head over to them.

"I guess I don't have to, but I might as well." John explained before laying on the charm the second Damon and Elena approached the booth. Henrik and I lingered behind a little, just observing for now. "Look who's here." John greeted them. Elena stops Damon momentarily before he could open his mouth to respond to John's greeting. Clearly this was not going to be a barrel of laughs.

"We just need answers. Please don't do anything stupid." Elena urges him. Damon glances over at John calculatingly, much to Elena's chagrin and my uneasiness.

"Yeah, but stupid is so much more fun." Damon protested. Elena frowned at him, obviously not in the mood for him to be a jackass. Henrik and I stared at the both of them like they had gone completely mad. What was so wrong about this guy that they would be playing up like this?

"Damon, I mean it. All I'm asking is you try to keep it together. Be the better man." Elena urged once again. Now this was a switch; normally Elena would save that sort of speech for the _person_ Damon was going to be talking to, not the other way round. He sighed exasperatedly.

"Okay then." He promises, before we join the booth. "John, buddy." Damon greets John like they were old friends they hadn't seen in years. "How have you been?" Damon enquires, looking like it pained him to ask the question. John offers him a small, but wary smile in response.

"I've been alright, Damon. It's good to see you." He looks over his shoulder and notices me, standing there observing the conversation. "Elena, you haven't introduced me to your friend." John gets up from his seat and reaches out for my hand to shake. "John Gilbert. Nice to meet you, Miss...?" I withdrew my hand from my jacket pocket and reluctantly take John's pumping it twice before releasing.

"Williams. Grace Williams." I responded. "Charmed, I'm sure." I added, before sliding into the booth next to Damon who took my hand underneath the table and squeezed once in what I assumed was meant to be a comforting gesture. The Grill's staff were handing out candles to commemorate the victims of Damon's overnight rampage, and everybody at the table took one and lit it. Damon decided to start his interrogation.

"So John. Rumour has it that you know a lot, and won't say anything." Damon stated casually. John throws Elena an annoyed look before answering Damon's statement.

"How do I know you can be trusted, Damon?" John retorted. "Originals can compel vampires. And, according to Stefan, that's why Katherine's still in the tomb, because an Original has compelled her to stay there." John pointed out. I bristled, then calmed when Damon laid a hand on my thigh which I immediately pushed off despite how much comfort it brought me.

"I'm sure my brother has his reasons for compelling Katerina, Mr. Gilbert." I said, sternly, grabbing John's attention. "And trust goes both ways, sir. By the stories I've heard both Damon and Elena tell me about you, there is little to be trusted about you also." I reminded him. John frowned at me.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, Miss Williams, but I'm pretty sure I just heard you say that Elijah Mikaelson was your brother?"

I nodded. "You heard correctly." John looked sceptical.

"But you're not an Original. You're lying." He insisted.

"You are correct, I'm not an Original; but I will become a member of that family soon enough." I insisted, smirking, earning alarm from John.

"You're engaged to one of them?" John breathed, quickly putting two and two together. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Not relevant to this topic. Elijah is not a fool nor is he a moron. I assure you, compelling Katerina to stay in that tomb will be beneficial for all of us." I stated firmly.

"And it's only because of all the vervain left in her system." Damon added. "Stefan and I, on the other hand, are chock full." If John's eyes could get any wider, I swear that his eyeballs would've fallen right from his head.

"You guys are drinking vervain?"

Damon shrugged dismissively. "It's an acquired taste." He admitted, before his ice blue eyes darted down to his recently sown up fingers. That was when it occurred to me who John was, and I looked at Elena in surprise. She gave me a smug little smile and a nod, confirming my suspicions. "I don't see that magic little ring on your stitched finger, so if you know something about Klaus, you better start talking, or I will kill you in your sleep." Damon threatened. John instantly recovered from his shock and a superior little sneer appeared on his face.

"It that any way to convince me that you and I are on the same side? First, I need to know that I can trust you, Damon that I can count on you." John rises to his feet and gets out of the booth. "Then we'll talk." He straightens up his suit before leaving the Grill. I turned to an annoyed Damon and a visibly deflated Elena, before gathering up my purse.

"That was fun. I need some air, excuse me." I said, before sliding out of the booth and making a beeline for the main entrance. Henrik following close behind.

"Calm down, Grace." Henrik warned me. I drew in a couple of deep breaths the second I met fresh air and leaned against the black fence that surrounded the outdoor dining area of the restaurant.

"Are you sure you know what you're getting yourself into?" I jumped when John came from out of nowhere and approached me. He had a concerned look on his face, in addition to the superior one he had when he left. I scowled at him.

"You need to be more specific, sir. I have no idea what the hell you're going on about." I told him. John offered me a disarming smile.

"Marrying into a family like the Mikaelson's. Is that wise?" John elaborated.

"Is it your business?" I retorted. Henrik looked angry as well that his family was being besmirched. The smile disappeared.

"It is when it concerns who my daughter associates herself with." John stated, getting into my personal space. I assumed it was an attempt to intimidate me. I looked at him sharply.

"Maintain your distance, sir." I warned him in a low voice. "And as for whether or not my decision of marrying into the Mikaelson Family is wise, I would consider it a tremendous honour. Considering, I've known the family for nearly a thousand years. I been well informed about their reputation." I told him, relishing in the astonishment on John's face.

"A thousand years? That's not possible, it's obvious that you're human." John stammered.

"I agree, it's not possible. Had I not been reincarnated from the girl they knew." John paled further. "I have all her memories. Or will when I reunite with all five of them." I explained.

John instantly got hostile.

"You stay away from Elena." He threatened me. I withdrew my dagger and brandished it at him, narrowing my eyes. John eyed the weapon cautiously.

"Now, that would be a little bit difficult; considering that I'm one of the few people trying to save her arse in any way we can." I informed him.

John looked appalled. "You would go against Klaus?"

"I never said anything about going up against him. When the time comes, and it will, I won't be a part of it." I told him, already getting bored. "Now I suggest you start getting useful, and quickly. I am the only thing standing between Damon taking matters into his own hands and forcing you to spill what you know about Niklaus. At least be thankful for that." I sheathed my dagger and resumed leaning against the fence. John eyed me cautiously before turning on his heel and disappearing into the shadows.

* * *

A few seconds later, Caroline immerged from the Grill, fumbling around in her purse for her car keys. I straightened up from my perch and jogged over to the bubbly blonde.

"Hey, Caroline!" I called out to her. She turned and looked at me before a warm smile appeared.

"Oh, hey Grace. What are you doing here tonight?" Caroline asked, walking over to me and fiddling with her keys.

"Gathering information from John Gilbert with Damon and Elena." I responded, gesturing to the Grill. Caroline wrinkled her nose, showing her displeasure about that and I grinned. "Yeah, it's a bit like that. That's why I came out here, needed some fresh air so I didn't king-hit the bastard." I told her. "You headed home?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm dying for a shower. This day has kinda sucked." Caroline confessed. I smiled sympathetically at her.

"Sorry to hear that." I stated. "Well, I won't keep you. Talk with you soon, okay?" I asked, hopefully.

"Absolutely. Bye." Caroline waved before turning and heading for the parking lot, which thankfully was within eyeshot. Not that Caroline needed protection as she was a vampire; but it didn't stop me from looking out for her to make sure she got to her car safely. I figured once she was in her car and on her way, I'd go back into the Grill and prepare myself to referee an inevitable fight breaking out between Elena and Damon.

"Are you sure you're not concerned that that John guy won't do something to you because you're associated with our family?" Henrik questioned me, worriedly. I laughed lightly, still maintaining eye contact on Caroline, who was currently in conversation with Matt Donovan.

"I can take care of myself, Henrik. Don't you worry." I reassured him. "Besides, it's not as though Damon or even Elijah won't back me up if things get out of hand." I added, then frowned when I noticed a commotion going on where Caroline was.

"What is it?" Henrik asked.

I didn't respond, instead I unsheathed my dagger and moved as silently as I could towards the parking lot, ready to back up Caroline if needed. My eyes bristled when I realised that Jules was interrogating Caroline about Tyler Lockwood. I couldn't help but roll my eyes; was this mongrel still searching for him? My blonde friend opened her car door and moved to get in when Jules intercepted.

"I know you're lying." She informed Caroline who scowled at the werewolf.

"Really? How? Is that one of your little wolf tricks?" Caroline questioned, sarcastically. I inched closer, this was about to go south rapidly.

"Actually, it is." Jules elaborated, pulling something out of her back pocket. I saw red.

"Well, I have a trick too." Caroline informed Jules before vamping out and turning to face the bitch. Unfortunately she is hit in the face with vervain spray, causing Caroline to scream in pain.

"HEY!" I snarled. Jules turns to me in astonishment as I swing at her with a roundhouse kick, knocking her off to the side. "That's not fighting fair." I informed her, before turning to Caroline. "Are you alright, sweetie?" I asked her with concern.

"I think so. Look out!" She warned me, and I turned in time to see another werewolf standing there and I slashed at him with my wolfsbane laced dagger, nicking him in the ribs; which smoked slightly at the touch. However, he recovered quickly and shot Caroline point blank in the head. She crumpled to the ground, and I snarled in anger and turned to kick their arse when something hard slammed into the side of my head, knocking me out.

* * *

I woke up trapped in a cage, in what looked like a cramped looking RV, sporting yet another thudding headache. I groaned in pain.

"This is starting to get old." I muttered underneath my breath, as I turn my head and immediately see Caroline lying opposite me with a gruesome bullet entry wound on her forehead.

"Grace! Are you alright?" My head snaps towards Henrik who was squatting beside the cage, looking as frustrated and helpless as he always did whenever I was in caught up in situations like this.

"Just peachy. I so enjoy these ridiculous damsel-in-distress situations." I drawled sarcastically, as I sit up and crawl over to my friend's side; letting out a relieved breath when she stirs and sits up shakily. "Caroline, are you okay?"

"No, I'm not." She grumbles and starts digging the bullet out, screaming only a little in the process, before dropping it.

"Right, stupid question." I mumbled, sheepishly. "Let's get out of here." I start searching for the lock and attempt to free us, but Caroline suddenly clutches at my arm and pulls me behind her, shielding me from Jules' friend who suddenly appears with a shit-eating grin on his face.

"I see you got the bullet out." He indicates to the already healed over wound on Caroline's forehead. "That was nasty." He commented, and I cautiously groped around for my phone which I concealed in secret location specifically for situations like this. But it was clear that either this werewolf was not too bright, or too focused upon Caroline to notice what I was doing. "I've got lots of wooden bullets, other toys." Caroline's eyes widened in fear, and I stiffened; deciding to forget about the phone momentarily to help defend Caroline. The idiot aims a gun at Caroline. "It's gonna be a long night, sweet pea." He tells her before shooting her in the chest. She screams in pain.

"You son-of-a-bitch!" I shouted and hurled one of my daggers at him, successfully burying it in his thigh. He abandons Caroline and me in favour of groping frantically at the dagger. I desperately start searching for the lock, but before I could unlock it, Jules appears and grabs my hand, and with a crafty smirk snaps my wrist like kindling. I nearly pass out from the pain, but it doesn't stop me from falling sideways to the floor; my back facing the open doorway.

"GRACE!" hollers both Caroline and Henrik, Jules shoots Caroline again before reaching for her pocket and pulling free a phone, which I recognised as Caroline's and hits speed dial.

 _"Hey. Is everything okay?"_ Both Caroline and I recognise Stefan's voice coming from Caroline's pilfered phone, which was on speed dial. I didn't need to glance over my shoulder to know that Jules was grinning from ear to ear, believing that she had won.

"That depends. How badly do you want to keep her and her friend alive?" Jules wonders. There was silence for several seconds, plenty of time for me to grab my phone and quickly text Elijah.

 _SOS..._

Then I paused. I had absolutely no idea where the hell Caroline and I were being held captive, so I decided reluctantly to wait a little longer. Jules was bound to reveal our location sooner or later to Stefan, if she intended on bringing him over here.

 _"Who is this?"_ Stefan eventually asked.

"Ask your brother. Where's Tyler?" Jules demanded.

 _"Jules? Where's Caroline?"_

Jules made an impatient noise underneath her breath. "You made a mistake, Stefan. I'm gonna give you a chance to fix it." Jules stated, matter-of-factly. I grit my teeth, trying to ignore the pain and impatiently waiting for Jules to drop a hint of our whereabouts already!

 _"Where is she?"_ Stefan's angry voice demanded. Jules looked over at Caroline and me, thoughtfully. Her partner somehow managed to pull free my wolfsbane laced dagger and was now crouched down beside me, holding it over me threateningly.

"Right here. Want proof?" Jules walks into the RV and talks to her partner. "He needs proof." The bastard shoots Caroline in the arm, causing her to scream, and returns the favour to me by jamming my dagger into my upper thigh.

I screamed bloody murder.

"Oh, my God! Grace!" Caroline squeals fearfully at me, then flinches when she smells my blood. Stefan had to have heard that. I turned my head weakly towards Caroline, who seemed to be struggling.

"Hold your breath, Caroline." I instructed her, weakly. She nodded frantically and draws in a deep breath; desperately trying to keep her bloodthirst at bay. The male werewolf grinned at his achievement and hopped out of the RV.

 _"What's happening?"_ Caroline and I hear Tyler over the line.

 _"Hurt them again, and you're dead."_ Stefan threatens them with a low, cold voice. Henrik looked ready to launch himself at both werewolves and I was impressed and proud of the progress he was making with his fear of werewolves. Jules scoffs, unimpressed with Stefan's threat.

"I hurt them again, and they're dead." Jules corrects him. "Bring Tyler to me, the clearing by Wickery Falls." I brighten in triumph and finish my text message to Elijah:

 _SOS Wickery Falls. Hurry bleeding out… - G._ I hit send just as Jules finishes her ransom call. "You have 20 minutes until they die." Jules hangs up and I tuck my phone back into my pocket as Caroline attempts make me stay awake.

"Oh God, Grace. Stay awake!" She begs, tears streaming down her face and smearing her mascara.

"So, how many vampires are there in this town anyway?" Jules' partner questions Caroline, before spraying her with vervain when she doesn't respond. She screams again. I attempt to sit up.

"Leave her alone, you bastard!" I snarl. Werewolf-boy gets into my face.

"Or you'll what?" He taunts me before squirting Caroline again. Caroline makes a desperate attempt to free us both by kicking at the bars of the cage we're trapped in.

"Why are you doing this to us!? Why are you doing this? Why?" She shrieks at him with fury. He shrugs.

"You're a vampire. Why not?" He uses a blowgun to shoot wooden darts into her neck. "Your friend Grace on the other hand, is just collateral damage." He shoots her again. I raise my head and painfully swivel around to face him, as I wrap my uninjured arm around Caroline's shoulders.

"I didn't give you permission to use my name." I inform him. He raises a mocking eyebrow.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" He taunts us.

"Let us out!" Caroline shrieks. His response is to shoot more wooden darts at her, and then at me for good measure. I bit down hard on my bottom lip to stop myself from giving him the satisfaction of knowing he had hurt me again.

"Excuse me? What was that?" He repeats himself. Caroline kicks and screams again, and I suddenly feel light-headed. Caroline stops shouting and immediately focuses on me, freaking out and trying to stop my excessive bleeding. The werewolf humphed smugly before leaving the RV to join Jules outside.

"Get it out of your system?" She asks him, unamused.

"No, I'm just getting started." He responded, darkly. Jules sighed exasperatedly.

"Brady, let's be smart about this. I just want the boy. It's our duty to help him, it's who we are." Jules reminded the newly named Brady.

"You want to talk duty and honor? These are vampires. They cross one of us, they cross all of us. _That's_ who we are _._ " He reminds Jules. I couldn't help it, I started laughing; albeit weakly. This draws their attention. "Something funny? Did I miss something funny about all this?" Brady growls at me.

"You're so screwed." I told them, still laughing and causing Caroline and Henrik to look at me like I had finally lost my mind.

"Do tell us, sweets. Why are we screwed?" Brady demands. I sat up with some assistance from Caroline.

"Have you heard of someone called Klaus?" I asked them, interestedly.

"Who hasn't heard of him?"

"Well, I hope you've said your prayers, because if you get out of this unscathed; he'll hunt you down and skin you alive." I told them.

"And why would he do that?" Brady asked, although he had paled a little at this threat.

"Because I'm his better half. Do the math." I suggested, before slumping against Caroline.

"Grace, stay with me!" Caroline urged, frantically. "Oh, shit! Let us out!" She begged, but Brady and Jules ignored her.

* * *

I woke up when Caroline started shaking me excitedly, and Henrik whispered into my ear.

"Grace, wake up!" Henrik urged. I groaned and sat up supported by Caroline, enough to see Jules facing Stefan and Tyler who have just walked out of the woods.

"Where's Caroline and Grace?" Stefan demanded.

"Locked up tight." Jules answered, shifting her weight from one leg to the other.

"Let them go, and I'll release Tyler." Stefan promises her. "It doesn't have to get any messier than it already has. I'm not your enemy, Jules." He insisted. Jules snorted.

"It's a little late to be waving the white flag, don't you think?" She pointed out. Stefan pressed on with his negotiation, with a doubtful Tyler standing beside him looking nervous.

"You need to leave town. No one else has to get hurt." Stefan stated. Jules bristled, instantly.

"I'm not leaving without Tyler." She insisted. Stefan glances at Tyler who stubbornly avoids eye contact with him.

"Tyler is free to make his own decisions, as soon as you release Caroline and Grace." Stefan promised. Just then Damon steps out of the woods, casually eying Jules with a hateful glare.

"My brother the peacemaker. Since Stefan got here before me, I'm gonna let him try it his way before I resort to my way, which is a little bloodier." Damon suddenly freezes and sniffs the air, before he stiffens when he realises what he is smelling: my blood.

"Where are they?!" He demanded, almost frantically. Stefan looks at his brother with alarm, as does Tyler.

"Damon, what's wrong?" Stefan demanded.

"It's Grace! She's bleeding out, and wherever she is she's trapped with Caroline." Both Stefan and Tyler react with fear.

"Oh, shit!" Tyler swore.

"Give them to us!" Stefan demands, urgently. Jules doesn't react.

"Let go of Tyler." She counters. Damon snarled angrily, and I grin weakly; touched that even in his grief he was still protective of me.

"Give us the girls, now! Without a full moon it's not an even fight and you know it. We will take you." Damon pointed out, bluntly.

"I'm not so sure about that, tough guy." Jules whistles, and the rest of the pack walk out from their hiding places; each holding weapons, including stakes, cross-bows and a flame thrower. Both Caroline and I paled.

"Well, shit. They've got everything but the kitchen sink." Henrik blurted out. Jules is incredibly smug, particularly with Brady standing beside her, looking cocky as all hell.

"Let's try this again. Give us Tyler." Jules orders them. Damon immediately turns towards Tyler.

"You heard her. Go. Get over there." He tells him. I wished I could laugh.

 _Where are you, Elijah…_

I groaned. Tyler immediately walks over to Jules without a second thought. Brady steps forward to address the Brothers.

"So which one of you killed Mason?" He demands. Damon raised a hand into the air.

"Uh, that'd be me." He confessed, not at all concerned. Brady turns to his pack.

"Boys, make sure that one suffers." Brady requests, pointing at Damon, who looks at Stefan.

"We can take them." He reassures his brother. Stefan looks a little doubtful.

"I don't know about that."

Damon sighed. "Well then…" He charges over to Jules whom I assumed flipped up onto the RV. Tyler rushes into the RV and comes face to face with Caroline and me.

"Tyler there's a latch on the door, and I can't get to it." Caroline instructs, using one hand to point while supporting my limp body with the other. I hear Tyler hesitate. "Tyler?" Caroline questions him, but he still doesn't budge. "Tyler, please! Grace is going to die if we don't do something! Tyler?" Caroline yells.

Tyler takes one look at me before finally acting and opening the cage. Caroline guides me out first, but Jules grabs me and throws me out of the RV and grabs Caroline, pushing her face first against the RV and putting a gun to her back. I landed hard on the leafy ground and my broken wrist, jostling the knife handle and causing a wave of nausea to rise. I manage to hold on and glance over to see Tyler not moving to help Caroline. Damon was about to be staked by Brady, when all the werewolves except for Tyler start screaming in pain and covering their ears. Each one of them fall to their knees.

"What's happening?" Caroline demanded as she raced over to my side.

"What the hell is going on?" Tyler echoes. Suddenly an unfamiliar pair of feet approaches Caroline and me, and I glance up to see an older, smartly dressed African-American man with glasses standing there with his hands held out and muttering something underneath his breath.

"That's Jonas. One of Elijah's witches." Henrik tells me, relieved. I smile weakly. Damon and Stefan get up off the ground. Jones scans the four of us with a stern, no nonsense expression on his face. He takes one look at me, and his eyes narrow. Clearly, this was going to get back to Elijah.

"Elijah made a promise to Elena. I'm here to see it's upheld. You need to go. Get out of here. Now!" Jonas instructs Damon, Stefan and Caroline. They nodded.

"Damon! Stefan! Quickly, it's bad!" Caroline indicates towards my still heavily bleeding leg and my now eggplant purple wrist. Without a word, Damon vamp-speeds over and carefully picks me up before all three of them speed off through the woods.

"Damon… it hurts…" I whimpered.

"I know, sweetheart. We'll take care of it." Damon mutters to me, using soothing tones.

"Henrik…?" I mumbled.

"I'm here, Grace." He sounded so angry. Damon must've heard me because he tightened his grip slightly and kissed my temple. We make it back to the Boarding House in record time.

"Stefan, get a sling!" Damon orders Stefan, who doesn't hesitate and disappears through the house. Damon and Caroline head straight upstairs to Damon's bedroom, where he gently deposits me onto the bed and accesses the damage. The most obvious injury to deal with first was the dagger still sticking into my leg. "Caroline, you're gonna have to hold Grace down." Damon instructs her, and the next thing I know is Caroline grabbing both my hands – wincing and apologising profusely when she remembers my broken wrist - and holding them down at my sides. "This is gonna hurt, Grace. I'm sorry." Damon apologises. "On three. Ready?" Without warning, Damon pulls the dagger sharply out of my leg and I scream out in agony before finally passing out.

* * *

I woke up feeling no pain whatsoever, and a pleasant warmth was blanketing me. My cheek was resting against something warm and slightly hard, and somebody's fingers were carding themselves through my hair. I smiled, feeling comfortable and safe, and proceeded to fall back asleep when there was a loud knock from close by. I flinched, and the person playing with my hair muttered a curse underneath their breath before gently lifting up my head and gently placing it down on what I now realised was one of the red couches in the Boarding House. They placed a kiss on top of my head and I heard footsteps retreating towards the knocking noise.

"What do you want?" My eyes slowly opened when I recognised Damon's curt voice. The visitor didn't immediately respond, and I wondered why.

"You're very pale. Has something happened?" The unwanted visitor was John Gilbert. I groaned softly and attempted to smother myself with the couch cushion. I licked my chapped lips and frowned at the familiar taste of something sweet and metallic, and realised that Damon had fed me his blood again. Clearly, he had learned his lesson from the last time when I had been injured.

"If you're just here to discuss my health, then you can just fuck off right now." Damon stated, then probably started closing the front door, if the sound of flesh smacking against wood gave any indication.

"We didn't finish our conversation." John got straight to the point.

"I'll bite." Damon eventually said, before I suddenly heard footsteps approaching.

"What's happened here?" John asks, sounding slightly concerned, and a little too close for my liking as I jumped in fright at his loud voice.

"Never you mind. Just get to the point." Damon growled protectively and I flinched when he suddenly, and without warning picked me up. "Shush, sweetheart. Just go back to sleep." Damon whispered into my ear as he repositions me on his lap. I nodded tiredly and lay my head into his neck as he cuddles me close. I smiled at the possessive hold. The sound of couch springs squeaking, told me that John had also taken a seat on the opposite couch.

"I've been thinking. Personal feelings aside Damon, I think you and Stefan will do all you can to protect Elena." John stated the obvious.

"I agree with that statement." Damon replied.

"So I come bearing gifts." I opened my eyes a fraction when John places something metallic down on the antique coffee table in front of us. It turned out to be a folded cloth, which when unwrapped revealed a silver dagger and a jar full of ash.

 _What the actual fuck is that? And why am I getting a bad feeling about this?_

"What is that?" Damon wanted to know.

"This is how you kill an Original." John responded, and I immediately reacted to that, snapping open my eyes and glancing down at the dagger in horror. Damon shushed me and glared at John, who looked shocked at my reaction.

"It's alright, baby. Relax." Damon murmured to me. I nodded, but didn't feel like relaxing when I knew for a fact that there was something lying on the coffee table in front of me, that was capable of eliminating members of my family. "Don't keep us in suspense, John." Damon stated, impatiently. John nodded.

"In this vial is ash from a white oak tree that dates back to the genesis of the Originals." John explained, and I could only stare in horror. "The dagger must be dipped into the ash, and then plunged into their heart." I started shaking my head in protest.

"You are not using that thing on my family. No fear." I protested.

"It won't kill them, Grace." I jerked my head towards Henrik, who was sitting beside Damon and looking at the dagger like it had done him a personal wrong. "I've seen these before." He told me reluctantly. "It'll only put them into a death-like state because of the ash." He told me. I didn't care if it possesses the ability to make them as high as kites, nobody was going to be plunging that into Elijah. John hands Damon the dagger, frowning at both him and my reaction.

"How do you know all this, John?" Damon sounded suspicious. This helped me relax a little.

"Isobel." John responded. "She's very good at finding out things." Then he smirked knowingly at Damon. "But, of course, you know that."

Damon didn't react to this. "Where is Isobel?"

"Let's just say if she accomplishes what she's attempting, Klaus will never set foot in Mystic Falls." Like hell; it wasn't just Elena that this all concerned. I actually wanted Niklaus to return to the place we were both born and raised in over a thousand years ago so we could reunite. Damon tightened his grip around my waist. "Where Elena's concerned, you and I are on the same side. And Miss Williams too, I suppose." John indicated towards me. I glowered at him, still fighting sleep. John gets to his feet and leaves without another word.

"Please, Damon. Don't use that on Elijah. He doesn't deserve this." I urged him, groggily. Damon didn't respond, except to rise to his feet, burden and all, and ascend the staircase to his bedroom. "Please." I begged him. Damon still doesn't reply as he pulls back his duvet and gently tucks me into it.

"Go back to sleep, Grace. You're still healing." Damon responds, kissing my brow and leaving the room. I feel frustrated, and helpless tears slip from my eyes. Something vibrates on the guest nightstand and I turn my head to see my phone sitting innocently on it. I wrestle my way over to it and pick it up. It's a text message from Elijah responding to the one I sent him:

 _Grace, I realise that you are probably asleep at present; but the second you receive this text message, respond immediately. – E._

I hastily typed back a response.

 _Thank you, Elijah for sending your witch. This is the second time I've ever felt truly scared. – G._

I hit send. I could feel my eyelids threatening to snap shut. My phone buzzes.

 _You're welcome, dearest. I'm just relieved that you're safe. It seems to me that your friend has learned his lesson from the last incident. – E._

I sent one more text.

 _He did. He's been extremely attentive all night. I need to rest, I'm still recovering from the ordeal. Godnatt, Elijah. – G._ (Goodnight, Elijah).

Immediately my phone buzzes.

 _Pleasant dreams, Grace. – E._

* * *

I woke up again for the third and final time that night, to the sound of splashing water. Frowning, I sat up in Damon's bed and, without thinking, leaned over to locate the source of the splashing. My eyes widened and I felt my face heat up when I realised that it was Damon having a bubble bath. Cursing, I immediately lay back down and rolled over to bury my face into Damon's guest pillow.

 _Jesus… I hope he didn't see me._ I thought frantically.

The sound of water gurgling down the drain was heard, and I forced myself to relax and go back to sleep; which wasn't too hard. I yawned, and snuggled down into the softness of the mattress and froze when heavy footfalls were heard on the polished floorboards. The bed dipped a little before Damon (hopefully fully dressed) lay down beside me and closed his eyes. I cracked open mine and looked at him with annoyance.

"Damon, what's going on?" I demanded tiredly. His response was to roll over and fling his arm around my waist, pulling me towards him.

"Nothing. Go back to sleep." Damon replied, still holding me like his personal giant teddy bear. I normally would've protested, but his presence was oddly comforting and I soon found myself falling back to sleep. Or so I thought. "I need a distraction." Damon suddenly spoke up, and I realised he was fessing up to why he was so moody and _now_ so attentive to making sure I was comfortable after being injured.

It was bizarre.

"I can help you, Damon. Whenever you need me, you can just call and I'll be there. I won't abandon you." I whispered back. Damon hummed in response before moving so that his mouth was right near my ear. A warm shiver shot down my spine when his warm breath tickled the peach fuzz on my ears.

"You see, the only thing is, I have a problem I need help with. It's really messing with my mind." Damon explained, as though he hadn't heard my promise. Or rather, had chosen not to hear my promise. I waited for him to continue, having an inkling that I knew what he was going to say, and it made me very worried and very uncomfortable.

"Oh? What is it?" I reluctantly asked.

"I'm in love with a woman I can never have." Damon confessed.

 _Shit._

"That sucks. Why can't you have her?" I played along, hoping my voice didn't give away the anxiety I was suddenly experiencing. "Is there another man involved?" I asked, tentatively. Damon tightened his grip around my waist, and I let out a surprised 'eep'.

"Yeah, but that's not the point." He insisted. "The point is, I'm in love with her, and that drives me crazy. I'm not in control."

 _Damon, you have no idea who you're dealing with. Back down, please!_

"You don't trust yourself around her?" I guessed.

"No, I don't. But I'm tired of lying to myself. So I'm going to fight for her against this man." My eyes widened with fear. "May the best man win." Damon whispered before kissing my cheek. "Sweet dreams, Grace." Then Damon released me and rolled over to the opposite end of the bed, and falling asleep. I suddenly found it hard to breathe. I opened my eyes and locked them on a stunned Henrik who also looked at a loss about what I could do to stop this from happening.

"This is bad." Henrik stated.

 _Oh, God. Help me…_

* * *

 **A/N: Damon has thrown down the gauntlet, and Klaus hasn't even shown up in Mystic Falls yet. What's gonna happen next?**

 **Please review :)**


	25. When Life Gives You Lemons

**A/N: Hey guys! Time to see how Grace reacts to Damon's unwelcomed confession, while juggling how to prevent Elijah being daggered.**

 **Reviews make the world go round. Flames will not be tolerated.**

 **I don't own** _ **The Vampire Diaries.**_ **All characters (except for Grace) are owned by L.J. Smith. I also don't own the song** _ **Raise Your Glass,**_ **that fun song is owned by the talented** **Alecia Beth Moore, A.K.A Pink.**

 **Happy reading :)**

* * *

 **WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU LEMONS…**

" _Love isn't brains children, it's blood, blood screaming inside you to work its will. I may be love's bitch, but at least I'm man enough to admit it."  
_ _ **~James Marsters (Spike): Buffy the Vampire Slayer ('Lover's Walk' S3 EP8)**_

* * *

I was the first one awake the next morning, and at first I thought that Damon's confession of his feelings for me were just some freaky dream that my injured body had 'created' for me while I was healing overnight. But when I opened my eyes and registered that I was indeed still slumbering in Damon's bedroom, re-cooperating from my injuries; I realised that I was very much, shit out of luck.

 _What do I do now?_

Cautiously and quietly, so I wouldn't disturb Damon, I eased myself out of bed and went to use the loo and have a quick shower before I disappeared downstairs and fixed myself some breakfast. Then curled up on one of the couches in the parlor and occupied myself with some sketching. Mid-sketch, my phone buzzed alerting me to a new text.

 _Good morning, Grace. Did you sleep well? – E._

I couldn't help the touched smile that spread over my face when I read my brother's words. As to an appropriate answer to respond with? Well, I couldn't exactly say 'no, not really. My best friend just confessed that he loved me as more than a friend, and is going to fight your brother for my hand.' That would go down like a lead balloon, and I might as well blindfold Damon and set him in front of a firing squad. It would be a kinder alternative to what Elijah would probably do.

No, instead I responded with:

 _I've had better nights. But I'll live otherwise. – G._

I placed my phone down on the coffee table, just as Damon stumbled downstairs; dressed in his usual blue jeans, black boots and a long-sleeved black button down, unbuttoned and revealing his chest. His slightly curly jet black hair was still damp from his shower. I stared determinedly at the picture I was sketching.

"Good morning, Grace." Damon greeted me cheerfully, and I looked up and smiled politely back.

"Hey, Damon." My phone buzzed again and I reached for it and checked it.

 _Did you consume enough blood last night? – E._

I rolled my eyes, remembering the times when Elijah was exceptionally overprotective when any of us were under the weather. This was no exception.

 _Yes, Elijah. I'm feeling abnormally strong this morning, which meant that I'm probably sloshing with Damon's blood. – G._

I eyed Damon sauntering into the room, and taking a seat next to me on the couch, sipping from a cup of coffee which was probably laced with a generous dollop of human blood for flavor. I shuddered at the thought. His skin did look a little paler than it should, which meant that I had probably needed a lot more blood than I did the last time Damon had to feed me.

"What are you up to today?" He wanted to know. I shrugged, rubbing the side of the graphite against the paper.

"Haven't decided yet. But I think I might take it a little bit easy today, considering I almost died … again." I muttered that last part to myself. But unfortunately, Damon heard it. His hands white knuckled almost immediately, causing me to cringe. My phone buzzed.

"You're popular today. That's the third time your phone has buzzed in the space of five minutes." Damon observed. I grinned sheepishly.

"It's just Elijah, checking up on me." I explained. "It's an old habit he has that apparently he hasn't shaken in a thousand years." I told him. Damon nodded, but said nothing.

 _Good girl. Just be exceptionally careful, please. – E._

My fingers flew over the keys.

 _That was the plan today. – G._

There was a sudden knock at the door. I looked at Damon questioningly. He smiled, and got to his feet.

"That'll be Alaric." Damon explained to me and I looked confused.

"What's he doing here?" I asked him, returning my attention to my sketch.

"We're telling him about the silver dagger John showed us last night." Damon told me. I raised an eyebrow at him.

"We?" I echoed, in disbelief. Damon rolled his eyes before knocking back the last dregs of his disgusting blood and coffee concoction.

"Alright, _I'm_ going to tell him about the silver dagger John showed us last night." Damon corrected himself. I wasn't happy about the fact that Damon appeared to be seriously considering using that strange weapon on my brother.

"Fair enough. But Elijah doesn't deserve to be daggered." I told him stubbornly. Damon ignored my last statement as he walked over to answer the door.

 _By the way, Elijah. What are you up to today? Just out of interest? – G._

I heard muted greetings between both men before they walked back into the parlor.

"Hey, Grace." Alaric greeted me with a warm smile. I looked up, smiling back.

"Morning." I greeted, brightly. Damon got straight to the point.

"So, John Gilbert gave this to me kill Elijah." Damon stated bluntly, ignoring the glare I threw at him as he unrolled the dagger from the protective cloth John had preserved the dagger in. "He said you have to dip the dagger in the remains of an old white ash tree that dates back to the Originals, if there's any truth to that?" Damon glances at me for confirmation, as he hands the dagger to Alaric.

I thought back to my past, frowning at the less than pleasant memories. Most of the faces I saw were still blurred to me, which was frustrating. But I was able to decipher that the first few days that Niklaus, Elijah and the other siblings were newborn vampires, they tended to actively avoid a very old looking white tree that had vervain growing in patches all around it.

That was good enough for me.

"It's extremely accurate." I confirmed. Alaric frowned at the both of us as Henrik materialized from out of nowhere and sat beside me, also remembering.

"I think the people who created those silver daggers, probably procured the ash from the remains of the tree Niklaus, Elijah and everybody else burned to the ground when they discovered their weakness to the wood." Henrik filled me in. I smiled gratefully at him, but decided not to reveal this to Damon or Alaric. I didn't want to provide them with any more information on how to put down my family, albeit temporarily.

"What are you up to today, Mr. Saltzman?" Damon casually asks Alaric as he gets to his feet and heads over to his wet bar, with Alaric following him.

"Well, Jenna and I were supposed to go to her family's lake house, but somehow, we both got roped into doing this Historical Society thing at the Lockwood's." My phone buzzed again.

 _I'm supposed to be making an appearance at a Historical Society's High Tea. Why do you ask? – E._

I frowned a little defensively at the response Elijah had sent me.

 _Can't I be interested in what my brother's day is going to be like? – G._

"Sounds interesting." Damon stated sarcastically. I grinned.

"I wouldn't mind attending. It'll give me an opportunity to stretch my legs after being stabbed yesterday." I piped up, eagerly. It would also be an opportunity to spend some time with my brother.

 _Normally I would oblige to your inquiry without question, dear one. But at present, you are associating with those who seek to derail my plans at present. – E._

Well, okay. He's sort of right about that, I suppose. But a bigger part of me, just wanted to spend as much time with my brother as possible, to make up for our thousand years apart. That, and he was a bigger part of my former life that I was trying to get back to at all costs. Damon looked at me incredulously.

"You're serious?" He demanded. I smiled sweetly at him and nodded. I returned Elijah's last text quickly.

 _Touché. But I wouldn't miss out on an opportunity to spend what little time I could with you, Elijah. Surely, you can't fault me on this. – G._

Damon sighed. "Sure, why not." He reluctantly agreed, and I grinned triumphantly.

 _Of course not. I miss you too. I shall I assume that I'll be seeing you there this afternoon then? – E._

Damon turned back to talk more with Alaric about their plans regarding the dagger. This gave me the opportunity to make my plans without earning suspicious looks from both men.

 _I'll be there with bells on. – G._

* * *

A few hours later, and after Damon, (Henrik), and I made a pit stop at my apartment so I could change into something a little bit smarter for the Tea Party, the 'three' of us made our way down to the Lockwood Mansion. Part of me hoped that Damon had been delirious from sleep deprivation, and had forgotten what he had confessed to me before he fell asleep.

No such luck.

I walked down from the apartment block (escorted by Henrik) wearing what I deemed appropriate for a Tea Party: a white chiffon and lace sundress with spaghetti straps that ended just slightly below my knee, with a slightly plunging neckline, and accessorized with black high heels with a thin strap around the ankle and over the instep and thick, chunky heels. I also wore my vervain/wolfsbane bracelet around my wrist as a precautionary measure, and my long dark brown hair was down and slightly pulled back from my face with a jeweled hair clip and in loose curls.

I had also discreetly strapped my dagger on my thigh in the most likely event that I was targeted again. It was becoming apparent that I was just as big a target as Elena was these days. It was growing tiresome. I inwardly cringed at the look of pride on Damon's face the second he clapped eyes on me when I immerged onto the street, and I knew that he had already laid claim upon me even though I hadn't agreed to the relationship verbally or physically.

"You look beautiful, Grace." Damon complimented me, as I walked over to his side. I smiled, charmed but wary.

"Thank you, Damon. You're very sweet." I replied, before sliding into the car when Damon opened it for me. I threw a pained look at Henrik who looked sympathetic as he was unable to lend me assistance.

"Let's get this over with shall we?" Damon muttered, sounding less than enthused by the idea of 'enduring' a tea party with some of Mystic Fall's more distinguished citizens. I frowned at him.

"Don't make it sound like a hardship." I scolded him, he ignored me. "You didn't have to go you know. I could've gone by myself; I don't require a babysitter." Damon just fixed me with a look.

"Your current track record says different, Grace. I'm not letting you out of my sight for the time being." He declared. I somehow managed not to strangle him, before I realised that 48 hours were not up yet, and Damon was only being cautious because of the risks of being killed and accidentally (or deliberately, depending on the situation) changed into a vampire before I wanted to.

I sighed.

"Fair enough, Damon. But don't coddle." I pleaded. Damon grunted in response but said nothing else. We continued to the Lockwood Estate in almost silence, broken by the opening guitar riffs of _'Raise Your Glass'_ by Pink, coming from Damon's car radio. I grinned, and Damon must've noticed because he immediately turned up the volume. _"Right, right. Turn off the lights. We gonna lose our minds tonight. What's the dealio?"_ I sang along with Pink, out loud, giggling a little. My eyes widened in pleasant surprise when Damon joined in:

 _"I love when it's all too much. Five a.m. turn the radio up. Where's the rock and roll?"_ Damon crooned with a surprisingly talented singing voice. I looked at him in astonishment, and he smirked and winked back as though proposing a challenge.

 _"Party crasher."_ I continued with the next verse, amused.

 _"Panty snatcher."_ Damon wiggled his eyebrows, causing me to roll my eyes and shake my head; but at the same time I couldn't help the smile that continued spreading across my face.

 _"Call me up if you a gangsta."_ The wind blew through my hair and I casually slipped on my sunglasses.

 _"Don't be fancy, just get dancy."_ Damon made a face at the lyrics.

 _"Why so serious?"_ We sang at the same time, then dissolved into laughter before singing the chorus: _"So raise your glass if you are wrong, in all the right ways. All my underdogs, we will never be never be, anything but loud. And nitty gritty, dirty little freaks. Won't you come on and come on and raise your glass. Just come on and come and raise your glass!"_

Damon and I sang the entire song all the way to the Lockwood Estate, with Henrik sitting the backseat, watching the both of us with a mixture of amusement and confusion. The Tea Party had already started by the time Damon and I had arrived, and I paused eying the expansive estate with a certain amount of trepidation; since the two times I had been here, I had paid witness to Stefan being stabbed in the stomach by Katherine, and got kidnapped alongside Elena by a lackey of Rose and Trevor's so that we could be hand delivered to Elijah. I wasn't exactly keen to discover what mayhem would be had if I set foot inside. Damon paused behind me, before walking around to stand face to face and looked at me with concern.

"You alright?" Damon asked, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder. I focused on his too blue eyes and recognized how much he truly cared about me.

I smiled.

"A little anxious. The last few times I've been in this house, something bad has happened. I'm not sure if I want to tempt fate." I answered truthfully. Damon sighed and glanced about the expansive property, also a little suspicious as well before wrapping an arm around my shoulders and planting a kiss on my temple.

"You're the one who wanted to be here, sweetheart." Damon reminded me as he escorted me towards the front entrance. Henrik hovered nearby, glancing about and looking like an (invisible) sentry. It was clear he was also less than trusting too. The Lockwood's white double doors were wide open with guests standing around in front of or within view, and sipping on alcohol while engaged in gossip and laughter. "But don't worry, I'll make sure that you stay out of harm's way." He murmured into my ear. Movement caught my eye, and I glanced up to see Jenna Sommers looking at us both, curiously. I broke away from Damon's comforting embrace and walked through the threshold, accepting a Buck's fizz from a passing waiter, and took a small sip as Jenna approached.

"Grace, what are you and Damon doing here?" Jenna asked, politely. I offered her a friendly smile.

"I'm here to support my brother." I responded, taking another sip of my drink and scanning the room for a glimpse of a 'young' man in his mid to late 20s, dressed in an expensive suit and probably looking bored but trying to be polite at the same time. Jenna looked surprised.

"You have a brother?" I nodded. "Who is he?"

"His name is Elijah." I responded, brightly. Jenna's eyes widened.

"Elijah Smith is your brother?"

 _Smith?_ I hoped that a look of astonishment didn't appear on my face as I smiled in reply.

"That's the guy. I'm supposed to meet him here, you wouldn't happen to know where he is at present, would you?" I asked Elena's aunt politely. Jenna recovered from her surprise and immediately started scanning the large crowd all around us.

"Oh, he's over there talking with Carol Lockwood." Jenna pointed towards the next room where I instantly spotted a pleasantly smiling Elijah talking with an obviously flirting Carol. I offered Jenna a grateful smile.

"Thanks. I'll talk soon." I promised and started towards the couple. But before I could take a couple of steps, Jenna reached out and stopped me. She looked a little suspicious.

"If you don't mind me saying, Grace. He looks a little too old to be your brother…" Jenna observed.

 _Honey, you have no idea…_

"And, no offence but you don't look anything alike." She added, frowning a little. I was quick to respond.

"I'm his kid sister. His mother had him young." I explained, and Jenna frowned.

"His mother? Are you his half-sister then?" I was getting a bit frustrated with Jenna's fishing. So I decided to tell a half-truth.

"He's my brother-in-law. Or will be soon." I told her.

"You're engaged?"

"Yep. His brother and I are childhood sweethearts, and we were partially raised by Elijah when we were very young." Jenna got a dreamy expression in her eyes, and I inwardly groaned. Jenna was clearly a hopeless romantic. I seriously needed an excuse to move.

"There you are, Grace. C'mon, I've spotted someone we need to talk with." Damon came over and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. I could've kissed him, if I somehow knew that it wouldn't give him the wrong idea. "Nice to see you again, Jenna." Damon greeted her, before steering me away.

"See you later, Jenna." I promised over my shoulder at a bemused looking Jenna. I offered Damon a grateful look. "Thanks for the rescue." I told him before knocking back what was left of my cocktail. Damon smiled and shrugged, taking my glass from me and handing it to another passing waiter.

"You're welcome. She was asking too many questions." He said, before making a face. "And _Smith?_ Seriously, that's the name he came up with?" I knew that Damon was referring towards Elijah. I rolled my eyes as we approach Carol and Elijah. Both Damon and I could see the obvious annoyance reflected in Carol's eyes as we stopped in front of her and Elijah, and I was amused to see the look of relief in my brother's.

"Damon. Grace." Carol greeted us, cordially.

"Carol."

"Mrs. Lockwood." I greeted her, politely. Carol immediately grimaced at the title.

"Please, call me Carol, Grace. Mrs. Lockwood was my mother-in-law." Carol insisted.

I smiled politely. "Of course." I watched Carol and Damon air kiss each other before turning my attention towards a visibly delighted Elijah.

"Hello, sister. Hope you are feeling better?" Elijah greeted me, deliberately enquiring after my health. His label caught Carol's attention, and she looked at me a little accusingly.

"Grace, you never told me that Elijah was your brother." I offered her a tolerant smile.

"You never asked." I responded before walking towards Elijah with the intention of giving him a hug; a gesture that was received amiably by Elijah, who smiled at me and kissed the crown of my head with affection. I remained by his side, hugging him around the middle as Carol smiled tightly and turned towards Damon.

"Elijah, I want you to meet Damon Salvatore. His family is one of Mystic Falls' founding families." Carol introduced Damon to Elijah who nods in acknowledgement. Damon gave a slight smirk that I noticed Elijah frown slightly at.

"Mm-hm. Such a pleasure to meet you." Damon tells Elijah and extends a hand towards him. Elijah smiled.

"No. Pleasure's mine." He responded, shaking Damon's hand. I observed them, curiously. It was hard to imagine that I had seen Damon pinning Elijah to the front door of an abandoned house. Or witnessed Elijah removing Trevor's head with a simple (but vicious) swipe of his hand, and brutally plunging his hands into the chests of three vampires loyal to Niklaus and removing their hearts; then slowly and deliberately wiping away the blood on his hands with a clean handkerchief. Now these two very dangerous vampires were schmoozing like they were business colleagues or really good friends.

It was slightly twisted.

I suddenly noticed both John Gilbert and Alaric observing from across the room. John had a very unattractive scowl on his face, while Alaric looked a combination of concerned, curious and confused. I waved at them both, and earned a friendly smile from Alaric (who raised his glass of bourbon at me in a salute) and a look of contempt from John, which caused me to roll my eyes. Like father, like daughter I suppose. I tuned back into the conversation between Damon and Elijah.

"Might I have a word with you?" Damon requested Elijah as he opened a nearby door and gestures for Elijah to enter. My brother nods, kisses my head again and moves to walk into the room and Damon follows swiftly. However, I did not like the expression on his face. I went off in search for another drink, but couldn't help feeling worried about what was being discussed in that room. This time, I didn't think that either one of them would be tolerant of me eavesdropping on their conversation. Not being an idiot, I decided to just wait and see the result.

* * *

A few minutes later I had wondered outside of the manor, another cocktail in hand, and strode unhurriedly towards the Lockwood's massive water fountain that sat in the middle of their front lawn. Other guests had the same idea as I did, and were standing around in various clusters enjoying the warm sunshine. I perched on the lip of the fountain and idly allowed the water to flow through my fingers as I absently played with the water.

"What do you suppose they're talking about in there?" Henrik asked me a few seconds later, standing across from me with his arms crossed over his chest and frowning at the manor. I shrugged and took a sip of my cocktail.

"Who knows what goes through Damon's head. It could be any manner of things. I just hope he minds his manners. Elijah, as I recall, doesn't tolerate rudeness." I responded to him.

Henrik sniggered. "I remember. I reckon Kol's ear has not been the same since Elijah caught him being less than gentlemanly to that girl he had his eye on in the village." I giggled, at the memory.

"At least it wasn't Mikael who caught him." I reminded him. We both immediately sobered at that, and shuddered violently at the type of punishment that old bastard could've given poor Kol. A shadow descends over me, and I glanced up to see an annoyed Elijah standing there. "Elijah? Is something wrong?" I asked, immediately concerned and looked around for Damon.

"Something has been brought to my attention that I feel needs addressing." Elijah told me with a serious expression on his handsome face. I frowned, and discreetly exchanged a curious glance with Henrik.

"Sounds ominous. Whatever's the matter?" I asked, alert. Elijah gestured beside me.

"May I?" He requested, indicating his desire to take a seat beside me. I nodded, and Elijah immediately sat down and leant forward on his legs, supporting his chin with one hand and allowing the other arm to balance casually on his other knee. "It appears that Damon Salvatore has become besotted by you, dear. Were you aware of this?" He asked with an enquiring tone. I had been about to take a sip of my cocktail when Elijah made the comment. I paused, lowered my glass to rest beside me on the fountain.

"Yes, Elijah. I was aware of his newfound feelings." I confirmed. "It was as much a shock me to me, as it was to you." I added. Elijah nodded.

"What do you intend to do about it?" I looked at him with shock.

"Absolutely nothing." I stated firmly. "I intend to treat him like I have been treating him since I arrived in this infernal town. As a friend, nothing more." I told him. "My heart belongs to somebody else, and _always and forever_ will be." I warned him. Elijah looked shocked at the vow I reiterated to him.

"How do you know that phrase?" He demanded, looking a little spooked. I cupped his face with my hands, and smiled at him.

"I remember the last words Niklaus ever uttered to me before I died that night, Elijah, and I've been hearing them every night before I drift off to sleep." I explained to him. "I believe the words were: 'I love you, always and forever'." I grinned at the astonished expression on my big brother's face.

"I can see that my concerns have been unfounded. We have nothing more to discuss it seems." Elijah realised.

"You are correct, sir. You have nothing to fear." I teased him, before wrapping both arms around his shoulders and laying my forehead on his. "I hope you weren't too hard on Damon, though." I fretted slightly. Elijah waved a dismissive hand through the air.

"He will live. But perhaps he will be a little wiser and respectful in the future." Elijah reassured me, before getting to his feet and offering a hand to help me up. I took it, picking up my champagne glass, and allowed him to pull me to my feet. "Shall we rejoin the party?" He asked, looking a little more relaxed than he did when he confronted me about Damon's feelings.

"Let's." I agreed and we walked arm and arm back into the manor; both ignoring the looks we got from the other guests. I glanced around for a view of Damon, but was slightly disappointed when it appeared he was nowhere in sight. "Damon's disappeared." I reported to Elijah who looked unconcerned.

"Mr. Salvatore is probably off licking his wounds. Our private conversation was … painful." Elijah looked a little put out.

"Care to elaborate?"

"I stabbed him in the throat with a pencil." Elijah relayed, unapologetically. I looked at him with dismay.

"Elijah!" I whisper-shouted at him, earning a scowl in return.

"You of all people should know, that I do not tolerate any level of rudeness from anyone; be it family or those outside of our family." Elijah stated sharply.

I nodded.

"But stabbing him with a pencil, Elijah?" I insisted. Elijah remained unrepentant.

"I'm sorry, dearest. But the punishment stands." He told me, firmly.

"I just wish he hadn't run off and ditched me here. I have no way of getting back to the Boarding House." I complained.

"Why the Boarding House?"

"Because I left some of my stuff there when I was recuperating from being kidnapped for the second time." I explained. Elijah smiled sympathetically.

"Then I shall drive you back there when the party is over. I believe it would be safer for you to stay here for now until Mr. Salvatore has sufficiently calmed down." I had no doubt that Damon would be in a particularly vengeful mood, if what Elijah had done to him had any bearing on the situation. He'd probably lash out at the first person who asked what was wrong with him. Plus, I had a sinking feeling that whatever Elijah had presumably told him about me, would've fallen on deaf ears. It would only make him more defiant and incur Elijah's wrath even more severely than a simple pencil to the throat.

* * *

A couple of hours later, a little buzzed from the alcohol I had consumed, Elijah kept his word and drove me back to the Boarding House, promising to wait for me before he would then drive me back to my Apartment so I could sleep off the alcohol and avoid an unnecessary hangover the next morning. As Elijah's driver pulled up on the Boarding House driveway, I missed Elijah quickly getting tense. I turned and flashed him a quick smile.

"I'll be right back." I promised and moved to open the door. Elijah, quicker than a snake, reaches over and closes it. I looked at him for an explanation. "Elijah?" He raised a finger to his lips and pointed to his ears, indicating that he was listening to a distant conversation. It took several minutes before he sighed with exasperation.

"It appears that your friend has found himself in a bit of trouble again, in the form of that same group of werewolves from before." Elijah sounded irritated. I was worried.

"What's going on?" I asked, urgently.

"They are seeking Niklaus' moonstone." Elijah confirmed. I groaned.

"Well, that is going to be a problem. Last time I saw the moonstone it was in the tomb with Katerina, and then Jeremy Gilbert liberated it from the tomb; but not before sacrificing himself in the process." I told him. "Where its present whereabouts are I have no idea." Wordlessly, Elijah reaches into his jacket pocket and withdraws the moonstone, holding it up to me. "You have it?" I said, surprised.

Elijah nodded.

"The same night I rescued Stefan Salvatore from his imprisonment in the tomb, I came into possession of the stone." He explained. I frowned down at the pearly transparent stone with distaste.

"May I?" I asked my brother, who reluctantly hands it over to me. I held it up in front of my face, examining it moodily. "All this fuss over a bloody cursed stone." I spat, then shrugged. "I guess, if it's with you; there's no safer place." I handed it back to him. "Nobody's going to mess with you unless they have a death wish." Elijah smiled slightly and replaced it back into his pocket. "So what now. I would really like to get home." I asked. Elijah, again, wordlessly opened the car door and stepped out, indicating for me to follow suit. We walked silently, and unrushed towards the front door which was wide open, allowing us the opportunity to listen in to the conversation now taking place.

"You know what the great thing about buckshot is?" I paled, recognizing the voice of Jules. "It scatters through the body. Maximum damage." I froze. Wait a minute? She's using a shotgun on Damon!? I snarled angrily, and reached down to unsheathe my dagger. But Elijah calmly and gently grabbed my wrist to stop me. I looked at him in askance.

"Allow me." He suggested quietly. "Wait here until I give you the all clear." He told me. I nodded and watched as Elijah swaggers into the room, and leans against the bannister. Amazingly, nobody notices him.

"Where's the moonstone?" Jules demands Damon, and I watched Elijah withdraw it from his jacket again and starts playing with it with his nimble fingers. Damon snorts.

"Get over it, honey." He croaked, and I frowned. "You're never gonna get it." Damon promises her. Jules looked like she was about to retaliate when Elijah made his presence known.

"You looking for this?" He asked, idly. All eyes lock onto him, as he walks over to place the moonstone on an end table. He backs away. "Go ahead. Take it." He insists. I watched as Damon looked at him incredulously, as though questioning Elijah's sanity. But I knew that Elijah wouldn't willingly give up the stone unless he had a plan up his expensive sleeves. One of the werewolves Jules had brought along as backup, used his wolf speed to rush towards the moonstone; and almost instantly, Elijah (being obviously faster) plunges his hand into the wolf's chest and rips out his heart. The wolf falls down onto one of the red couches, very much dead. The next two wolves obviously weren't too bright, and they too ran full pelt at Elijah; who just as quickly rips out their hearts.

"This is almost too easy." I mumbled underneath my breath, and nearly collided with Jules when she, in a panic, wolf-speeds out of the house before she too could be killed.

Damn. I really wanted to hit her and slice her up until she bled.

Elijah allows her to go, then turns his attention towards the last werewolf who was cowering in horror before Elijah. He walks over to him, and the wolf crouches down and pulls his jacket over his face in fear.

 _You can't seriously think that'll save you, right?_ I thought sardonically. Elijah seizes him by the lapels and pulls him up from the ground.

"You can come out now, Grace. Go pack up what you've left behind." Elijah calls out to me from where I was waiting in the hallway. I cautiously ventured out, and froze when I saw Damon's current state. He had been chained to a chair with a wooden spiked metal collar around his neck. Apart from the obvious blood streaked gruesomely around his throat due to the wooden spikes protruding into the delicate skin of his neck, and his generally weakened condition; Damon looked relatively unharmed.

"Oh, God. Damon…" I exclaimed with alarm.

"Don't worry about him at the moment, Grace. Just go do what you came here for." Elijah instructed, sternly. I nodded, and quickly rushed up the staircase. Thankfully, this house was like Switzerland; you could hear everything that went on around here. Which meant that I could hear the conversation happening downstairs.

"Now where were we?" Elijah asked rhetorically.

"You were killing werewolves, and showing off." Damon attempted to jog his memory. I groaned as I quickly darted around collecting my belongings and stuffing them into my oversized purse. Damon really didn't use his brains at times. Elijah, thankfully, ignored him.

"So, what about you, sweetheart." He addressed the werewolf still in his clutches. "Hmmm? You want to take a shot?" No response from the wolf. "Yes? No? Yes?" Elijah was getting impatient. "Where's the girl?" Elijah demanded.

"I don't know." Damon admitted, truthfully, jangling the chains securing him to the chair.

"It really doesn't matter." Elijah insisted. I came downstairs in time to witness my brother slam his fist into the wolf's face. The wolf falls to the floor, and Elijah begrudgingly removes the chains strapping Damon down into the chair. "So you realise that this is the third time I've saved your life now?" Elijah pointed out, annoyed. Damon doesn't reply, so my brother turned around and grabbed the moonstone. He looks at me pointedly. "Don't be too long, dearest." He instructs before walking out of the house, leaving me to talk to Damon.

"Where is he taking you?" Damon asked, evenly. I rolled my eyes, and helped him to remove the torture device from around his neck.

"Just my apartment. I've had a little too much to drink, and he offered to give me a lift there since my designated driver ditched me at the Tea Party." I looked at him, sternly. Damon had the decency to look shamefaced … but only for a second. I looped my purse over my shoulder and headed for the front door, trying hard not to yawn my head off. "I'll talk to you later." I said, smiling a little. "See you Damon." I headed for the backseat of Elijah's car and hopped in.

"You okay?" Elijah asked, quietly.

"Considering the day I've had, I think I'll be fine. At least nobody has tried to kill me." I replied, laughing bitterly. Elijah gave my address to his driver and we immediately set off, while he put his arm around my shoulder and attempted to comfort me. "Do you want to know something strange? I actually miss our life a thousand years ago; and we barely survived that." I admitted. Elijah nodded in agreement but had nothing to say, and after a short journey we arrived at my apartment.

"Have a pleasant evening, Grace." Elijah bid me, smiling at me warmly. I nodded, before getting out of the car and waved at him as the car drove away. I stomped tiredly up the vestibule to the residential area, eagerly approaching my apartment door and looking forward to having a long soak in the tub after my miserable day where I had to address my feelings with Elijah about Damon's declaration of love.

"I wish you were here, Niklaus. You always knew the right words to say whenever I was lost." I spoke out loud, as though he were walking towards me, ready to accept me into his arms for a hug, or perhaps potentially sitting at the island bench with his usual cheeky grin or flirtatious smirk on his dimpled face. "But you're not, that's the thing. And I have no idea how long it's gonna be until you arrive in town." I muttered, as I kicked off my shoes, not really caring where they landed (I'll pick them up later) and disappeared into my bedroom. I made a beeline for my ensuite bathroom and started filling the tub, chucking in my favorite jasmine scented bath bomb to the rising hot water and tying back my long brown hair into a messy bun. "I just hope that tomorrow is better." I mumbled as I sank into the blissful heated water.

* * *

"Is there anything I can do to help you feel better?" Henrik asked, surprising me when I immerged from my room; dressed in comfy purple and pink checkered flannel pants and a white tank top, and socks covering my now warm feet. I pulled a brush through my hair and pulled it back into a ponytail as I responded to his plea.

"Sit with me while I watch a movie?" I suggested, earning an approving grin from my baby brother-in-law as he practically ran for the couch and sat down on it while I clicked on the kettle and fixed myself a mug of hot Milo to enjoy while losing myself in the predictable storyline of a romantic comedy, or maybe even a Disney movie if I so desired. As I set down my mug, I went over to my collection and trailed a finger absently along the spines of my DVDs, probably worrying Henrik even further with my melancholia.

"Do you wanna talk about what's bugging you?" Henrik eventually asked, as I selected _The Princess and the Frog_ from the Disney section and inserted it into the DVD machine. I sighed, and sat down heavily on the couch, causing Henrik to bounce slightly on the couch cushion.

"Damon made his romantic intentions towards me to Elijah, and he naturally confronted me about him." I explained to Henrik who looked horrified.

"Holy shit. How did Elijah take it?" Henrik pressed. I watched as the animated sequence for Disney's logo played out on the large flat screen, and snorted.

"He stabbed Damon in the throat with a pencil." I responded. "Although, I think it was probably because Damon was his usual abrasive self." I took a sip of my Milo. Henrik gave an uncomfortable chuckle.

"I'm surprised frankly that he's not dead."

"Tell me about it." I laughed. The opening titles for the movie began and Henrik squinted curiously at it.

"That's New Orleans from the 1920s?" I nodded, wondering where he was going with this observation. "Huh, it's a pretty close approximation. Considering our family founded the city back in the 1800s." Henrik declared and I looked at him, surprised about the mini history lesson about the Mikaelson's adventures after we both had died. "That's the Garden District, and the French Quarter. Wow, they even somehow managed to recreate the Abattoir in Disney animation style…" Henrik trailed off, apparently amazed that the animators were that shrewd to pull something like this off. I was more amazed that the family I was marrying into had founded one of the world's most popular tourist attractions.

This surprisingly enough was cheering me up dramatically, and I settled down to watch the movie with Henrik giving me little tidbits of trivia every few seconds. Our little bubble of freedom was burst by a few solid thuds at the front door. I frowned and paused the movie to answer the door. I made sure the security bolt was in place before addressing the unknown visitor.

"Who is it?" I called out, cautiously.

"It's me, Grace. Please open up, I have something to tell you; and you won't like it." I inwardly deflated and opened the door to reveal Damon. But I did not remove the security bolt.

"Couldn't this wait until morning, Damon? I'm tired." I questioned him. Damon shook his head.

"I think you'll want to hear this." He insisted. I sighed, and closed the door to remove the security chain and opened it to let my best friend in.

"Alright then. What's so important?" I cut to the chase.

"Elijah has been planning on betraying Klaus instead of helping him." Damon explained, bluntly. I blinked at him.

"What?"

"Yeah. The sacrifice is part of his plan. Apparently, Bonnie interrogated one of Elijah's witches into telling her the real reason why they were helping him." Damon continued. "Turns out, it's not just us that want Klaus dead." I frowned at him.

"Us? You still want Niklaus dead despite the fact that it's not just Elena he's looking for but me also?" I reminded him. Damon looked stubborn. "Has the fact that I've been searching for Niklaus as well, so we can be reunited completely escaped you?" I demanded angrily. Damon scowled too.

"Once-upon-a-time, I may have been on board with the idea of killing Klaus so that Elena and essentially you would be safe from him." Damon admitted. "But after taking a stroll through not only your memories, but also getting to know Elijah a little better (except when he stabbed me with that pencil), I'm starting to have second thoughts." I was pleased to see that Damon at least respected my feelings about the subject.

"So why are you telling me this?" I was confused.

"Because I care for you. A whole lot more than Elena. And if it means helping you protect not only Klaus but Elijah too to make you happy, then I'm willing to make a few sacrifices in order to achieve this." Damon admitted. I was speechless; I would've thought that Damon would've damned the rules and gone ahead and planned out a strategy to prevent Elijah from achieving his plans.

"So what's supposed to happen now?" I asked, suddenly not so tired anymore. Damon let out a tired sigh. "What?"

"Well, it also turns out that Elena already knew that she wasn't supposed to survive this ritual." He explained to me. I hoped that my mouth didn't drop open.

"Seriously?" Damon nodded, looking frustrated. I was disgusted with her actions. "Elena is her own worst enemy." Again, Damon nodded and started pacing the room. "Anything else?" I asked, quietly. Damon stopped and turned towards me, looking like he wanted to start making more amends.

"Alaric and I are supposed to get together to form a plan on how to take down Elijah. I was going to use the silver dagger John gave us…" Damon trailed off, but something that Henrik told me when we first saw the dagger came to mind.

"The dagger won't kill Elijah." I told him. Damon paused and looked at me with surprise.

"How do you know this?" He demanded.

"Henrik told me." I replied. Damon raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"Henrik? Your _dead_ brother?" He chuckled disbelievingly at me and I frowned, feeling hurt and offended. "Seriously, how do you know that those daggers won't kill Elijah?" All I did was just stare at Damon, with a glare on my face. The smirk on his face slowly faded when he realizes that I'm not bullshitting him. "How is that possible?" Damon exclaims.

"I'm a Medium. Have been since I was born. Although, at first I thought that Henrik was my imaginary friend, but when he didn't disappear when my peers' stopped seeing theirs, I knew something was weird. Later on when I was older, I finally figured it out." I explained to him. Damon was silent for a few minutes, taking this new information in.

"Fine. If what you say is true, and the dagger won't kill Elijah; what will it do to him instead?" Damon asked.

"Put him in a 'death- _like'_ state." I responded promptly. Damon considers this.

"Handy."

"I know you meant barbaric, right?" I corrected him. Damon shrugged, but looked pensive. Like he was already forming a plan in his head. Then Damon turned and looked at me with a fierce determination on his face.

"I think I know a way to get on Elijah's good side so we don't get into trouble when he does get that silver dagger shoved into him." He explains.

"The term you're looking for is called 'daggering'. And what did you have in mind?" I asked.

Damon grinned.

"You know how I said that Elena already knew that she was going to die and that Elijah was going to let it happen?" I nodded. "Well, I believe that we should tell Elijah the truth and forewarn him that we're going to dagger him, but also tell him that we're on his side and once the people who are against him are none the wiser, we will bring him out of it." I felt a little unsure about this plan. There were a lot of things that could go wrong, and I didn't want to lose my brother's trust. But when it ultimately came down to it, I would definitely lose his trust if we went ahead and daggered him without telling him. So I reluctantly agreed.

"I hope you're right about this, Damon. It's not just your arse on the line for this." I pointed this out to Damon, as I reached for my phone that I had absently thrown on the coffee table and texted Elijah:

 _Hey big brother, Damon and I need to talk to you about something of great importance. Can you stop by my apartment at noon? – G._

* * *

 **A/N: That's a wrap. Next chapter should be up soon. Klaus is almost here boys and girls!**

 **TTFN x**


	26. A Stab In The Dark

**A/N: Welcome back! Hope you're looking forward to reading this new chapter update. We're very close to Grace and Klaus reuniting. But I'll let you know when ;)**

 **Make my day by sending reviews. Flames will not be tolerated.**

 **I don't own** _ **The Vampire Diaries.**_ **All characters (except for Grace) are owned by L.J. Smith.**

 **Let the daydreams begin :)**

* * *

 **A STAB IN THE DARK**

" _I closed my eyes and spoke to you in a thousand silent ways."_

* * *

I was sitting on my couch doing some sketching, and waiting for both Damon and Elijah to show up. It had taken Elijah a while to get back to me, but when he did, it was a promise to make an appearance to hear what both Damon and I had to say. I was particularly impatient to put forward our proposition towards my brother so we could move forward with our plans to bring Niklaus to town, help him break his curse, and then figure out a way to stop Elijah from killing him; reasons why unknown at this point. I hoped that Elijah agreed to go along with our plan, otherwise we were screwed. A polite knock came from the front door. But who was it?

"Damon's here." Henrik reported, walking into the room and flopping down on the couch.

"How do you know that?" I asked, frowning at him with bemusement.

"I was keeping watch for him outside the apartment. It was something to do." Henrik replied, like it was no big deal. I smiled.

"Thanks, sweetie." I answered him, and he gave me the thumbs up gesture as I put down the sketchbook and pencil and got to my feet to answer the door. I glanced back at Henrik and observed him. He had crossed his feet at the ankles and sat back with his arms folded across his chest, closing his eyes. I absently wondered if he realized that that position make the bloodied rips and tears on his tunic top look all the more obvious. But then dismissed the thought almost entirely, as it wasn't important. "Hey Damon." I greeted him, and stepped back so I could let him passed. He frowned at me with confusion.

"How'd you know it was me?"

"Henrik." I responded.

"He's here? Where?" Damon looked around for a glimpse of him. I smirked.

"He's always here. Currently sitting on the couch. What are you looking for?" I asked him, amused.

"Evidence." I rolled my eyes, and walked back over to my sketchbook and scooped it up.

"Can't you just take my word for it and let it go?" I asked almost exasperatedly. I walked towards the kitchen and promptly seized an old-fashioned glass and fixed Damon some bourbon. I made a point of always having a bottle of Wild Turkey for whenever Damon or any other vampire would potentially pay a visit to my place. He took the glass from me and takes a large sip. I absently grabbed a second glass and filled it to hand to Elijah when he got here. "So, what's going on?" I asked him, curiously. Damon paused, staring out of the window to the Town Square outside. I saw the corners of his mouth rise slightly with amusement.

"I'm having the oddest sense of de-ja-vu right now." He mused out loud. I looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"What do you mean?"

"Stefan just asked me the exact same question when I called him ten minutes ago." Damon explained. I nodded, and took a seat at the island bench.

"Uh-huh. And what was the answer you gave him?" I prodded, getting impatient because Elijah could be here at any moment; if he wasn't already and decided to eavesdrop on our conversation.

"Tyler Lockwood ran away from home last night." Damon reported. That was surprising.

"Woah. How'd you find that out?" I asked.

"Sheriff Forbes. She heard it from a very distraught Carol Lockwood early this morning." Damon replied soberly. I grimaced, finding it hard to imagine the depth of pain that poor woman was probably feeling. First her husband is killed, now her only son makes a disappearance.

"Man that's lousy. The woman's a pain in the arse, and a huge gossip. But nobody deserves that." I commented, and Damon nodded, agreeing with me.

"Well, Tyler's disappearance ends the werewolf chapter, bringing us to…"

"Elijah." I finished, taking in a deep breath when it meant that it was now time to focus upon what we wanted to put forward to Elijah; and whatever we asked, had to be worded in the right way or it's possible Elijah could take it the wrong way.

"What about me, precisely?" Came Elijah's voice unexpectedly from behind my front door. Both Damon and I jumped and looked at each other nervously. I hurried over to open it, stepping aside to allow my brother entry into the apartment. Elijah eyed both of us, one to the other and focused suspiciously on Damon. "Mr. Salvatore?" Elijah greeted him politely. Damon nodded, but otherwise didn't say anything in response. I immediately made a beeline for the pre-made drink I had waiting for Elijah and held it out to him.

"Would you care for a drink, Elijah?" I offered. He smiled and graciously accepted the drink.

"Thank you." Time to cut to the chase.

"Would you like to sit down?" I offered once again. Elijah nodded and moved to sit on the couch, unknowingly sitting next to a delighted Henrik, and I went and sat on his other side. If Henrik had been alive, this would've been a very odd and a very interesting situation. Damon remained standing at the window, much to my annoyance. An unpleasant pause reigned supreme while I gathered my thoughts, only to be broken by Elijah's inquiry.

"So what is it that you both wanted to talk to me about?" My brother asked, taking a generous sip of his bourbon and making a slight face at the flavor. Mental note: Elijah is not a fan of bourbon. I cleared my throat, nervously.

"Um, we, uh…" I stammered. Elijah places a calming hand on mine, looking concerned about my flustered state.

"Why are you nervous, Grace?" He asks, patiently. "Surely what you have to tell me, can't be that bad." Damon and I exchange looks, and I couldn't help but privately think:

 _Depends on what your definition of 'bad' is…_

"Damon and I have become aware of your plans regarding Elena's future." I eventually blurted out. Elijah raised an eyebrow at my unexpected statement.

"Go on?"

"We just wanted to inform you that we're on your side, and we want to help you with your plans to lure Niklaus to Mystic Falls, and help break the Hybrid Curse that Esther placed upon him." I clarified, deliberately not adding the knowledge that we also knew he wanted to kill Niklaus as well. Elijah looked taken aback.

"You'd be willing to sacrifice Elena Gilbert?" Elijah questioned.

"If that's what it takes. Yes, I would." I confirmed, confidently.

"Besides, Elena clearly has no sense of self-preservation, so why not assist her in her suicide attempt?" Damon added, taking another sip from his drink. Elijah said nothing for several moments. But by the calculating expression on his face, it was clear that he was trying to figure out if he was being duped.

"And what pray tell is the catch?" He enquired, sternly. I glanced over at Damon, who knocked back the last dregs of his drink and placed the glass on the coffee table, before reaching into his leather jacket and producing the silver dagger, still wrapped up in its protective cloth. The second Elijah saw the dagger he was on his feet. I had never seen him look so afraid before. "Where on earth did you get that?" He demanded.

"It was given to Damon by Elena's father, John Gilbert. Along with a vial of white oak ashes." I confirmed. Elijah looked at Damon suspiciously.

"And do you know how John procured this dagger?" Elijah was extremely serious. It rang alarm bells.

"I believe the bastard got it from Isobel Flemming, Elena's biological mother. She's apparently very knowledgeable about Klaus and the rest of your family." Damon sounded rather put out. Nobody spoke for several minutes, before Elijah smiled; obviously accepting that neither Damon nor I were up to no good, and made himself comfortable so he could hear what we had to say.

"Alright then. What is the plan, and how does it involve this dagger?" Elijah asked, holding it up. Damon and I sighed in relief; both of us glad that Elijah agreed to work with us.

"In order for Damon and my plan to work, we need to enquire what your plans for today are, so we can work our plan around it and make it work." I ventured, cautiously, still on tender-hooks around my polite, but very unpredictable brother. Elijah absently played with the dagger and starting concentrating on it, instead of us as he replied to our question.

"I believe today is the day that delightful Jenna Sommers woman is taking me on a tour of some of the historical sights of this town." Elijah responded easily. Damon nodded in acknowledgement.

"Okay. We can work with that. I could 'ask' Alaric, to 'spy' on you and report back on his 'findings'." Damon suggested. Elijah frowned thoughtfully.

"Alaric? Isn't he the historical teacher at the local High School?" He asked, curiously. I nodded, confirming this.

"Yes. Alaric Saltzman. He was also Isobel's ex." I explained. Elijah's eyes widened with interest.

"Really? How interesting." He commented. "Then what will happen after he reports back to you?"

"Make the suggestion to Jenna to go to the Mystic Grill for a drink after the tour." Damon continued. "We will both be there waiting with Alaric, and then we will come up with the idea of throwing a dinner party; to properly welcome you to town."

"And what will happen at this dinner party? I assume it has something to do with this dagger." Elijah asked, still holding the dagger.

"The Dinner party will be like any other, except during dessert; one of us will dagger you, then after a specific length of time, Grace will revive you." Damon explained. Elijah nodded, placing down the dagger and getting to his feet.

"I accept these terms." He stated. "When would be an appropriate time to 'suggest' a trip to this Mystic Grill?" He asked.

"I'll text you." I told him. Elijah nodded, and drank down what was left of his drink before putting down the glass on the coffee table. He extended his hand towards Damon in what was supposed to be a friendly gesture. Damon cautiously took it and both vampires shook hands.

"I look forward to working together with you and my sister with this plan. However, I don't have to remind you, that should you betray me in any way; the plan will be void, and the consequences will be dire." Elijah warned him, narrowing his eyes slightly. Damon frowned.

"Why are you just warning me? This is Grace's plan as well." Damon pointed out. I went over and hugged Elijah around his waist and in return he wrapped an affectionate arm around my shoulders.

"Because apart from my own loving parents, Elijah helped to raise me when I was a child." I explained to him, and pointed out the portrait painting of Elijah, Niklaus and myself as young children. "I would know better than to betray one of my older brothers who has practically been there for the entirety of my reincarnation's life." I pointed out.

"Having said that, of course, I know from experience that Grace was, and possibly still is, no saint. People make mistakes. It just depends on the manner of the mistake that was made. If it was accidental or deliberate." Elijah added. He takes a glance at my wall clock and frowns. "I must leave now if I am to meet up with Ms. Sommers on time." My beloved older brother makes his way over to the front door and opens it. He turns to me, and gives me a pointed look. "I await your text." He says, then looks up at Damon. "Mr. Salvatore." Then he leaves.

The moment Elijah leaves, Damon immediately whips out his phone and speed-dials Alaric.

"Hey Ric? Yeah, I need a favour." Damon requested, and I raised an eyebrow at the singular. Damon walks back over to the window with a view of the town's square. I looked at him with confusion, but Damon shook his head; indicating that he'd tell me in a second before Alaric started speaking again on his side of the conversation. Damon looked a little surprised, but easily recovered. "Well, okay. Awesome, I'll see you soon then." He hung up and I practically pounced on him for the information.

"What's up?"

"Apparently, Jenna was very forthcoming about playing tour guide with Elijah today to Ric. It seems I didn't have to ask Ric anything at all." Damon explained, scratching the back of his messy inky hued head and looking a little shocked.

"That's lucky." I mused. Then I frowned at him. "And what with the 'I' before? I thought this was a team effort." I stated, slightly accusatory. Damon looked sheepish.

"That was deliberate. Just in case it blows up in our faces, then only I would get the blame for it." Damon admitted. I sighed in annoyance.

"It's a nice thought, Damon. But I shouldn't have to remind you that I can take some of the heat, you know." I reminded him. Damon smiled at me, slightly.

"It's not a problem. I'm used to being blamed for things going wrong. It's been happening long before you moved here." Damon insisted.

"Seems a bit unfair. What if you weren't to blame for things going pear-shaped?" I asked, frowning a little. Damon snorted.

"Given my track record, I'm nearly always the instigator for things going wrong."

* * *

A few hours later, Damon and I went across the road to the Mystic Grill, instantly snagging the next available booth; and both of us equally as impatient for Alaric to rock up so he could spill what information we should already know about Elijah. But we were careful to pretend that we were ignorant, to keep up appearances with those not in the know. I immediately sat up straighter the second Alaric swaggers into the Grill, and spots us. I nudged Damon who turns and looks at Alaric, waving him over.

"Operation: stab-in-the-dark is a go." I quipped, earning a weird expression from Damon, as Alaric slid into the booth next to him, and immediately flagged down the nearest waitress for his usual bourbon. Damon immediately cut straight to the chase.

"Other than your lecture on the history of Mystic Falls, did you get anything out of Elijah?" Damon asked. Alaric frowned, looking a little pissed off about something. I immediately texted Elijah to start making his way over to the Grill with Jenna.

 _Come down to the Grill now. – G :)_

"No, it was boring." Alaric admitted. "Of course, Jenna thinks he's charming." He sounded a little bitter, and I 'oh'ed in realization. Clearly, Jenna was either flirting with or paying too much attention towards Elijah; thus making her boyfriend, Alaric, very jealous. But thank God Alaric is no idiot, otherwise we wouldn't be talking with him right now.

 _On my way. – E._

"You sounded jealous." Damon commented. Oh, good. So it wasn't just me who noticed. My best friend turned to me, looking curious. "Does he sound a bit jealous?"

I nodded. "Kinda do." Alaric looked defensive.

"Maybe we shouldn't talk about this here." I didn't know whether or not to be annoyed or flattered that Alaric didn't want me to be part of this conversation. I chose flattered; mostly because I already knew what was going on in regards to Elijah.

"Grace is Elijah's sister, remember? She's already fully informed about everything." Damon reminded Alaric who nodded.

"I know. It's just a bit awkward discussing killing her brother in front of her." He observed. I pretended to look resentful, as I noticed Elijah entering and holding open the door for Jenna.

"Speaking of…" I gestured towards Elijah who nodded inconspicuously at me, before plastering on a pleasant smile. Damon smirked, and I frowned when I realised that he was about to tease Alaric.

"Ah, there's Jenna with her new boyfriend." He commented casually, earning an unamused scowl from Alaric and a hard kick in the shin from me. "Hi!" Damon greets Jenna and Elijah, wincing a little from the pain. I smirked triumphantly; I can kick really hard when I want to. Jenna offers Damon a polite smile.

"Hey, guys." She greets all of us, and slides into the booth next to me, and Elijah snags a chair from a nearby table and pulls it up to the booth.

"So I hear you two had quite a meeting of historical minds today." Damon stated, airily. Elijah raised an eyebrow as Jenna responded to the question.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that." She confirmed.

"Well, as much as I'd like to continue this, I've got papers to grade." Alaric dumps down some money and gets up from the table. I took this as a cue to suggest the dinner party idea.

"No, you know what? We should continue this. Let's have a dinner party." I suggested, glancing at both Damon and Elijah for back up.

"That's a great idea. I'll be happy to host." Damon immediately piped up. "Say tonight. Maybe?" He glances around at all of us for our answers.

"I've got nothing on. Jenna?" I responded. However, Alaric looks extremely hesitant, and glances not so subtly at Elijah who is more than aware and looked unconcerned.

"I don't know if tonight works…" He looked at his girlfriend, trying to get her to take the hint. But Jenna is oblivious.

"Yeah, I'm free." She chirped, brightly.

"It'd be a pleasure." Elijah agreed, following the plan; despite the expected outcome for him in the end. I managed a smile, but didn't feel much like celebrating when I knew that one of us was going to be jabbing a tainted silver dagger into my brother's heart. Damon however, grinned from ear to ear.

"Great." He said, pleased.

* * *

Another couple hours later, and a quick detour to the nearest supermarket, Damon drove me back to the Boarding House. I volunteered to prepare the meal – after threatening to gut my best friend who had the nerve to question if I could actually create something edible – and promptly made preparations. Another hour went by and Jenna and Alaric arrived. I had just finished making the meal and was letting it brown in the oven, so Jenna and I began preparing the table for the dinner party.

Judging by the tension I could sense radiating from the young couple; I decided to undergo a friendly interrogation with Jenna about Alaric.

"So what's going on with you and Alaric?" I questioned, aiming for sensitivity. "I feel there's some tension." Jenna frowned as she laid out the cutlery and glasses on the table. I instantly regretted asking. That is, until she unexpectedly owned up; despite the fact that she barely knew me.

"I don't know." Jenna admitted, a little miserably. "I really like him. It's more than like and I want it to work, but I can't help but feel that he's hiding something from me." Jenna stated, scooping up some linen napkins and arranging them at every placement. "And then I've got John whispering things in my ear about him." I froze. Anything coming from the mouth of John Gilbert, was probably nothing good.

"Like what?" I replied, warily.

"Things I don't want to believe. Things I don't believe, not if they're coming from John's mouth." Jenna responded, and I couldn't help but grin.

 _Smart girl…_

"In some cases, I tend to agree with you. Trust is the key to any relationship." I confided with her. Jenna looked at me with skeptical eyes.

"And how long did it take for you to trust your fiancée?" She asked, curiously. I paused, trying to remember the moment that really sealed the deal for me about Niklaus. The moment when I realised that despite his faults (which were many), his paranoia, moments of self-doubt, insecurities and trust issues; that I knew that he was 'the one'.

I smiled wistfully.

"With Nik? No time at all actually, because we grew up together, and I already knew almost everything about him. But it did take a while for him to completely trust me; but it's probably because he had a hard time trusting people because of his harsh childhood and upbringing." I explained. "But I believe the moment he completely gave in and trusted me with his whole heart and soul – without being sappy, mind you – was the evening he proposed to me at a mutual friend's wedding." I trailed off, remembering that moment that I shall never forget.

* * *

 _ **~:Flashback (A thousand years ago…):~**_

 _It was an absolutely beautiful wedding ceremony. One that I believed the bride – a mutual friend of both Rebekah and I – would remember until her dying hours; and perhaps even after that. It was just after the feast, and the happy couple had invited everybody to join with them dancing. Naturally, Rebekah – who loved to dance - was one of the few who immediately got to her feet and stampeded to the makeshift dancefloor in the meadow where the ceremony took place._

 _She was beautiful, as always: (still blurred to me) dressed in a heavy long sleeved olive green tunic dress with a coronet of wildflowers on top of her golden head. Her hair had been tied back in a thick braid that trailed down her back as usual, and her baby blue eyes were bright and joyful as she celebrated her friend's happy marriage. We danced with each of her brothers (all dressed in formal long sleeved tunics and breeches, furs, leather belts, and their traveling boots) and even managed to drag me to my feet and clung to my hands as we both spun, jumped and danced in circles, laughing._

 _I spied Niklaus (also frustratingly blurred out) not too far away from where Rebekah and I had been dancing with Kol (blurred out), Elijah, dour-faced Finn (blurred out) and Henrik (this was before he was viciously mauled by werewolves)._ _He was being far too quiet, as he was just as joyful and vivacious as Rebekah was at parties, feasts and celebrations like these, when the mood took him; and I was concerned. Particularly when I realised how nervous he looked; even more so when Elijah kept whispering to him with a reassuring expression on his face._

 _"Gather round, girls. Gather round!" The bride yelled, clutching her bouquet of wildflowers in both of her hands. I clamped both hands over my ears when Rebekah squealed excitedly into them._

 _"Oh! Quickly, Graínne!" She hastened, seizing my wrist and launching the both of us into a sea of unwed females; just waiting for the chance to snatch the bouquet out of thin air. I was less enthusiastic than Rebekah was, but stayed to humor my best friend, who was pushing and shoving away girls in her bid to grab the flowers._

 _I chuckled fondly._

 _"Ready? One, two, three!"_

 _The bouquet soared through the air, and I momentarily looked away to glance over at Niklaus; who had walked over to stand where his brothers were observing the bouquet toss with amusement on their faces. I turned back in time to receive a face-full of multi-colored flowers, and fell backwards with a surprised shriek, landing in a heap on the ground. In some strange twist of fate, I had caught the bouquet; which traditionally meant, I was the next to marry. Momentarily stunned, I heard disappointed awes and congratulatory cheering as helping hands seized my upper arms and pulled me to my feet, while I spat loose petals from my mouth. Then I was nearly suffocated to death when Rebekah wrapped her arms around my neck and hugged me as she jumped around with excitement._

 _"Oh, I knew it!" She shrieked. "I knew that it would be your turn!" I smiled out of mortification, and took a step back from Rebekah as I clutched the bouquet in my hands. I buried my face into the spray and inhaled its natural scent as the music started playing again, and everyone resumed dancing, laughing, drinking etc. I decided that I needed some space, and I turned to Rebekah._

 _"I'm going to go for a walk. I will return soon." I reassured Rebekah, who nodded and immediately tugged poor Henrik in to dance with her; much to his embarrassment. I laughed before turning and taking a walk through the nearby wood; trying to wrap my head around the knowledge that I was, now eligible to be married._

 _But was I ready?_

 _"Well caught, Graínne. I'm very impressed." I turned to see a smirking Niklaus following me, both hands casually wrapped behind his back. He looked very handsome in his black poet shirt, midnight blue tunic top, dark breeches and traveling boots, a dark brown belt wrapped around his waist and an animal's pelt was wrapped around his shoulders to keep warm in the slight chill of the early spring air. I poked my tongue out at him._

 _"Thank you, kind sir." I responded playfully, before wondering over to a fallen log and taking a seat upon it. Niklaus followed suit. "Shouldn't you be at the feast?" I asked him. He shook his head, readjusting my traveling cloak so I didn't catch a chill too._

 _"I just escaped Rebekah's clutches. I needed a moment to myself." He responded, chucking a little as he stared at the sunset in the distance. I nodded, understanding the desire myself. I admired the beautiful reds, oranges and yellows disappearing behind the trees. I noticed him fidgeting with something out of the corner of my eye and I frowned._

 _"Something the matter, Nik? You're not yourself this evening." I observed and finally turned to face the man who had been courting me for several months. Niklaus took in two deep breaths before steeling himself and turning to face me also._

 _"There something that I have been wanting to ask you, Graínne. I-I've been practicing how I would ask you over a hundred times in my head, and I still don't know how it's going to sound so…" He held up a ring and my eyes widened in surprise._

 _"Niklaus…" I breathed, feeling my heart jumping in my chest. Was he really doing what I believed he was doing? The ring he was holding in his hand was pure silver with a lapis lazuli stone that had been fashioned to a heart-shape forged in the centre of the band. Either side of the heart, Viking runes had been engraved around the band, and in the inside of the band were both our names in Viking script with runes for love and forever engraved._

 _It had obviously been made with a great deal of care and dedication._

 _I looked into his eyes, feeling joyful tears forming in mine._

 _"Graínne …" Niklaus took my left hand in his. "You are my best friend, my love, my life, my everything. I've loved you for as long as I can remember, and no matter how long I live; I'll never love anybody else as much as I love you. Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?" I was speechless, as I cupped my hand over my mouth, abandoning the flowers in my lap and I nodded enthusiastically._

 _"Yes!" I whispered. Tears were streaming down my face as he slid the homemade ring onto my left ring finger, then cupped my face with his hands as pulled me into a very passionate and loving kiss._

* * *

 _ **~:Reality (Present Day):~**_

"Grace? Grace!" I was jolted back to the present by a highly amused and curious looking Jenna.

"Huh? Sorry, what was that?" I blurted out, earning giggles in the process. I flushed red with embarrassment.

"Did I interrupt something?" Jenna teased. I grinned coyly, as I turned and walked into the kitchen to check on the process of dinner. Jenna followed. "Well, don't leave me in suspense." She urged.

"I was just remembering when Nik proposed. Or at least the events leading up to it." I admitted. "I remember he looked so nervous." I pulled the pasta bake from the oven and set it aside to cool for a bit, as I continued with my story. "We were both at a friend's wedding, and the bride was about to do the bouquet toss. I was unwillingly dragged into the group of single girls by Nik's sister – my best female friend – and nearly ate the bouquet when it was thrown in my direction."

Jenna giggled.

"How did he propose?"

"After I finished spitting up flower petals, I decided to take a walk in the nearby woods. Nik had the same idea. We joked about the way that I had actually caught the flowers, before we eventually sat down together on a fallen log, and he – very awkwardly, but determinedly – proposed and offered me a beautiful ring." I told her. Jenna's hazel eyes zeroed in on my left ring finger and frowned.

"Where is it?" I raised my hand to my face and quickly wracked my brains for a suitable answer. It wouldn't exactly go down well if I told her the real truth. God only knows what happened to it that night I was killed.

"My brother had to take the ring to get it re-sized." Both Jenna and I looked back to see Elijah standing there with a warm smile on his face. He was obviously remembering that evening too.

"Oh." Jenna responded, sounding a little disappointed.

"Jenna. Wonderful to see you again." Elijah greeted her, warmly, and kissed her knuckles. "How are you?" He adds, making her blush a little at the gentlemanly greeting. I was relieved to see him and more than grateful when he saved my arse from giving Jenna an awkward and probably harried explanation for why Niklaus' ring wasn't on my finger.

"Nice to see you." Jenna sounded a little flustered.

"You look incredible." Elijah complimented her.

Okay, now he was just showing off.

"Thank you." Jenna smiled. The doorbell rings, and both Elijah and I frowned. Everybody who should be here, was already in attendance. "I'll get it." Jenna announces and heads out of the kitchen and down the hallway towards the front door. Both Elijah and I follow unhurriedly, and I turn and offer him a grateful smile.

"Thank you for your assistance back there, Elijah. I had absolutely no idea how I was going to answer that question before." I told him.

"You're welcome." Elijah responded, but then frowned a little. "However, I shouldn't have had to if Ms. Sommers was informed sooner rather than later about the supernatural." He warned me.

"That would be logical, and smart. But unfortunately, Elena is the one who is refusing to tell her aunt or her brother anything that is remotely related to the supernatural." I responded, feeling a little irritated. Elijah didn't look very surprised by my reaction to his observation.

"Yes, I assumed that would be the case." Elijah mused.

"I think Elena believes that the less people that know about this world, the more protected they are." I ranted, as Elijah listened. "But what she fails to understand is that the people she loves are, in reality, in more danger if they're ignorant."

"Agreed." Elijah responded. Both of us turned towards the front door when we hear Jenna's annoyed voice, but decide to hang back for now.

"Who invited him?" She demanded. Damon appeared from out of nowhere and backs up Jenna. The unexpected dinner guest turned out to be John Gilbert. He was like a rash that continued coming back.

"John! What a surprise! Leave!" Damon greeted and dismissed John in the same sentence. He proceeded to close the door in his face. But like two nights ago, John held open the door with his hand and practically shoved his way inside.

"When Jenna told me she was coming to a dinner party for Elijah, I decided I couldn't miss out on all the fun and games." John explained, all smiles. Alaric steps into the hallway to help.

"There are not going to be any games tonight, John. It's just a friendly dinner party." Alaric confirmed firmly, and fixed John with an unfriendly smile. I bit my bottom lip; if only he really knew what the agenda was tonight. It was just a relief that Elijah was in on the plan and willing to cooperate.

"What he said." Damon echoed Alaric. However, they were unable to persuade John to piss off, so we were stuck with him for the night. Damon and I exchanged panicked looks with each other when he, Jenna, Alaric and John walked into the parlor. But infuriatingly, my brother looked unperturbed by this last minute addition to the plan. I wished I felt the same. I just really hoped that arrogant dick didn't screw things for us.

* * *

Dinner was well and truly underway, and everybody sat around at the Salvatore's expansive dining table. Surprisingly enough, the atmosphere was extremely relaxed; even though John was here. Jenna pours some wine for Damon.

"I hate to break it to you, Damon, but according to Elijah, your family is so not a founder of this town." She informed him. Both of us froze, and I looked at Elijah questioningly as Damon recovered.

"Hmm, do tell." Damon requested. Both he (by an explanation from moi) and I knew that the original founders of this town were in fact migrant Vikings from across the seas from what was formerly called the 'Kingdom of Norway'. I was interested to see what tale Elijah was about to spin for us. Elijah paused momentarily to take a sip from his ruby coloured wine before taking on the mantel of storyteller.

"Well, as I mentioned to Jenna earlier, a faction of settlers migrated from Salem after the witch trials in the 1690s." I looked at him with shock which was ignored. "Over the next hundred years they developed this community where they could feel safe from persecution."

Jenna nodded. "Hmm. Because they were witches."

I knew that I had to speak up.

"Yeah, but there's no tangible proof there were witches in Salem." I pointed out and looked at Elijah for a reason why he wasn't offering them a half-truth about the real founders. Again, my look was ignored as Damon looked at me with curiosity.

"How do you know that?" He asked.

"I had a history class as part of my college degree." I explained, truthfully, grabbing Elijah's attention. "I'm a bit of a history buff. Big on the facts." I added.

"Well, the lore says that there was this wave of anti-witch hysteria. It broke out in the neighbouring settlement, so these witches were rounded up." Elijah lectured to us like he was a college professor. I found myself intrigued by my brother's seemingly endless fountain of knowledge. "They were tied to stakes in a field together, and, uh, burned. Some say you could hear the screams from miles around." Jenna and I paled slightly. "They were consumed by the fire."

"I wouldn't repeat this to the Historical Society." Jenna pointed out as John made a face at the story.

"It's starting to sound like a ghost story to me." John scoffed, as Damon made an attempt to gather further information from Elijah.

"So, why so you want to know the location of these alleged massacres?" Damon wanted to know. Elijah smiled indulgently at him, causing Damon to bristle a little at the slightly condescending expression.

"You know… a healthy historian's curiosity, of course." Elijah replied easily. Damon managed a rather weak smile.

"Of course." He eyes something behind me. "Would anyone care for some cognac?" He asks, brightly. "I have a bottle that I've been saving for ages." Damon gets up from the table and moves towards an antique liquor cabinet. Alaric immediately gestures no.

"None for me thanks. Nine bottles of wine is my limit." I raised an eyebrow at the flippant comment. Damon, Elijah and I head for the library. Along the way, Alaric's phone starts to ring; but all three of us ignore it. It was time to prepare Elijah to be daggered, and to make sure that it was an Academy Award performance.

"So far so good." I commented, flopping down on one of the black couches in the Library. Damon poured himself another drink, and turned towards me gesturing if I wanted one. I shook my head. "Although, I'm not looking forward to temporarily killing you." I directed this towards Elijah.

"This isn't exactly going to be an enjoyable experience for me either, sister." Elijah reminded me. "But I hope that things will continue moving as scheduled while I am under the effects of the dagger." Both Damon and I nodded, as Damon comes over and takes a seat next to me on the couch.

"So, in addition to the moonstone, the doppelgänger, the lion, the witch and the wardrobe…" I threw him an unamused look, which he ignored. Typical. "You need to find this witch burial ground." Damon confirmed. Elijah nodded.

"It is only because of Grace that I feel as though we've grown so close, Damon, so I'll tell you yes." He gave my best friend a sarcastic smile, and I groaned. They were just as bad as each other. "Do you know where it is?"

"I might, if you tell me why it's so important." Damon responded vaguely. I shook my head and got up, heading for the liquor cabinet and fixed myself a scotch after all and gestured towards Elijah if he wanted one too. He nods.

"We're not that close." Elijah responds, accepting the glass of scotch from me and clinking with me. Then he turns around and peruses the collection of books on the shelves. "It's quite a collection you have here." Elijah observes, looking impressed. I grinned.

"Henrik certainly thinks so, that's for sure." I muttered off handedly. Both vampires look at me with surprise and curiosity.

"Henrik was here?" Damon blurted out.

"He sometimes tags along with me when I go places. The Salvatore's private collection of books is one of his favourite places to be. But we're not attached to the hip. Henrik comes and goes whenever he pleases." I responded, taking a sip of the scotch and enjoying the burn as it slid down my throat.

"Not surprising. Whenever he finished his chores early, you could find him curled up underneath a tree or in our barn with his nose in a book." Elijah reminisced fondly. "Is he here now?" He asked, sounding hopeful. I smiled sympathetically at him but shook my head.

"No, he didn't want to see you get daggered. I can relate." I explained. Elijah looked a little disappointed, but understood and continued scanning the spines of the books.

"It's a funny things about books. Before they existed, people actually had memories." Elijah mused, a little sadly. I nodded in agreement, finishing my drink and psyching myself up for what was gonna happen next.

"Do you have the dagger, Damon?" I asked, reluctantly. Elijah turned towards where Damon was now walking towards a tray of glasses and withdraws the silver dagger from them. He offered me the dagger.

"Do you want to do the honors?" He asked, and I glared at him. Damon took the hint and I turned away, not wanting to see what was going to happen next. Somebody came up behind me and placed their hands on my shoulders. The subtle scent that wafted into my nose told me that it was Elijah. He didn't say anything just held me, trying to comfort. However, before Damon could do anything, Alaric burst through the study doors with a panicked smile on his face.

"Hey, we forgot about dessert." He announced, looking meaningfully at Damon who frowned at him with frustration, while hiding the dagger behind his back to keep the pretense that Elijah had no idea we were going to stab him. Both Elijah and I looked at him quizzically, but at the same time I was relieved … even if it was momentary.

"Shall we?" I asked Elijah, stretching out my hand for him to take.

"Of course." Elijah responded warmly, taking my hand and handing his glass to Damon, who drains it and glowers at Alaric. Elijah and I leave both men in the study in favour of seeking something sweet in the dining room. We find Jenna serving John a cup of coffee.

"Sorry, guys. Dessert is taking longer than I thought. I usually just unwrap food." Jenna says apologetically, before disappearing back into the kitchen. My phone dinged and I frowned and retrieved it, peering down at the screen.

 _I can't stab Elijah with the dagger. If I do, I'll die. – D._

I raised an eyebrow.

Stupid fine print details.

I nudged Elijah who was listening to a conversation involving John, and showed him Damon's text message. He read it briefly, and nodded looking slightly sheepish. I scowled at him, trying to translate that he should've spoken up about this little factoid earlier.

 _Alaric's gonna do it instead. So, I'm gonna 'stall'. Let Elijah know the change of plans. – D._

I glanced over at Damon who looked less than impressed too and sat down at the table, glaring at an oddly quiet John. I showed Elijah the message. He nodded curtly, and eyed Alaric who was looking nervous.

"Elijah, did John tell you he's Elena's uncle-slash-father?" Damon asked casually, still glaring at John.

Elijah eyed John. "Yes, I'm well aware of that."

"Of course, she hates him." I noticed John wince at this. "So there's absolutely no need to keep him on the endangered species list." Damon stated, and I looked at him with confusion.

"Endangered species list?"

"Yes. Miss Gilbert has made a list of people she wants protected against any threats until the situation with Niklaus is over." Elijah explained to me.

Oh. What are the chances I'm not on this list? John decided to make his intentions known.

"What I'd like to know, Elijah, is how you intend on killing Klaus?" John asked pompously. Elijah looked offended by the question, as did I.

"Gentlemen, there's a few things we should probably get clear right now. I allow you to live solely to keep an eye on Elena. I allow Elena to remain in her house living her life with her friends as she does, as a courtesy." Elijah narrowed his eyes at John. "If you become a liability, I'll take her away from you and you'll never see her again." John's eyes darted over to me.

"Does that apply to Miss Williams, as well?" He enquired, obviously ignoring the dangerous tone in Elijah's voice. Elijah's eyes flashed with anger, causing John to recoil slightly; realizing he had just pissed off one fifth of the Original family with that question.

"Are you threatening my sister?" Elijah asked, menacingly.

I went to calm down my brother when suddenly Alaric comes up behind him and stabs the dagger through his heart through the back of his chair. Both Elijah and I screamed, before he turns a ghostly grey. Dark veins spread over his entire body and he shrivels up like a prune, before pitching forward, dead.

"NO! Elijah!" I shrieked, as Alaric pulls the dagger out and places it on the table. Damon comes over to my side and pulls me to him in an effort to stop me from flinging myself over Elijah. But even he looks horrified. Alaric gives me a sympathetic look before looking at Damon.

"Now, get rid of him before Jenna comes back with dessert." He instructs.

"All right." Damon nodded, before pulling me to the side and winking at me. I realised that it was his way of telling me that everything was going to be okay. I smiled weakly, before Damon kisses my temple and turned to help Alaric heave up Elijah's body and take him downstairs to the basement.

I followed to help.

"You said there wasn't going to be any violence." Alaric bitched at Damon after they set down Elijah's body in one of the basement rooms. I frowned as I crouched down beside my brother's desiccated body and smoothed back his brown hair from his face. Clearly, Alaric and Damon had had a separate conversation from the one Damon had with Elijah and I about this plan.

"Says the guy that did all the killing." Damon retorted back, and goes to walk out of the room. However, Alaric stops him.

"Hey, I took the shot because I saw an opening, not because I planned to do this with Jenna in the house. Now, you can't lie to me like that." Alaric insisted, angrily. Damon makes another attempt to leave, but once again Alaric grabs him. "Hey, I am your friend, damn it. And you don't have any friends. So, no more lying!" Alaric growls. I immediately stood up and turned on him.

"Hey!" Alaric turns and looks at me with surprise. "You're forgetting about me, Miss. Chopped Liver." I shouted at him with annoyance. "I've been Damon's friend long before you decided to give him a chance. So clean your ears out, and cut him some slack!" I turned and crouched back down beside Elijah's body, missing the delighted smile spreading across Damon's face when I defended him. Alaric doesn't respond; instead he looks down at Elijah's body and walks out. Damon is about to leave too before he stops and turns to look at me.

"Are you coming, Grace?" He mutters. I looked up at him.

"I'll be along in a minute. Just gonna sit with him for a while." I promised. Damon nodded, and closes the cell door behind him. I sat forward and placed a kiss on Elijah's forehead before getting to my feet and moving to the opposite wall and sitting down and watching him for a while.

* * *

It couldn't have been more than about ten minutes before suddenly, and unexpectedly, Elijah gasped and sat up looking around in bemusement. His brown eyes immediately clapped onto mine.

"Grace?" He croaked, tenderly touching the place he had been stabbed and frowned. I got to my feet and came over to his side; relieved but also confused.

"What the hell is going on?" I demanded, fretting about why the dagger hadn't worked. Was it defective?

"That is an excellent question." Elijah seconded the confusion. "What happened to the dagger?" He asked, calmly. I raised an eyebrow.

"Why didn't it work?" I returned the question.

"It indeed worked." Elijah confirmed. "My question is: why wasn't it left in?" He demanded.

I paled. "Was it supposed to be?"

"You didn't know?" Elijah frowned at me. I shook my head, fearing that I was in hot water.

"John never said that the dagger had to remain in the body. All he said was that the dagger was capable of killing any of you as dead as a doornail." I explained. "Please don't be mad." I pleaded. Elijah looked at me like I was insane.

"Why on earth would I be mad at you, Grace? It was an innocent mistake. But you do realise that I'm going to have to pretend that I felt betrayed and confront Miss. Gilbert and Mr. Salvatore about this, just to keep up appearances?" Elijah told me, reassuring me at the same time. I nodded, relieved that I wasn't in deep shit.

"Fine with me. Elena needs to be scared straight." I responded, smirking a little. Elijah smirked back and leans over to hug me just as Damon burst into the room. His mouth drops open when he sees Elijah alive and sitting upright.

"You're alive. This isn't good." Damon stated. I got up, and helped the partially weakened Elijah to his feet as well, before I explained the situation to him.

"Don't worry. It's just an innocent mistake. The dagger needs to stay in the body in order for it to work." I told him. "Elijah just told me two seconds ago." I reassured him. Elijah brushed himself down to remove any dirt or dust.

"Now, if you'll excuse me. I need to 'retaliate' now." Elijah explains to the both of us. I nodded, but Damon steps into his path.

"What do you mean retaliate?" He asks, suspiciously. Elijah looks a little irritated.

"I need to 'play my part'." He responded cryptically, and vamp-speeds from the room.

* * *

 **A/N: What's gonna happen next? If you've seen the TV series, you should probably already know.**

 **TTFN xx**


	27. One Step Closer

**A/N: In this chapter we say goodbye temporarily to Elijah after he 'confronts' Elena and Stefan for betraying him by allowing Damon, Alaric and Grace to dagger him. Damon and Grace discover a newly freed Katherine in the Boarding House, and Grace goes home and encounters somebody closely associated with Klaus.**

 **Please review, and no flaming.**

 **I don't own** _ **The Vampire Diaries.**_ **All characters (except for Grace) are owned by author L.J. Smith.**

 **Enjoy xx**

* * *

 **ONE STEP CLOSER**

" _Things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end, if not always in the way we expect."  
_ _ **~Luna Lovegood (J.K. Rowling: 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix')**_

* * *

Damon and I ran back upstairs to the parlour, trying not to draw attention to ourselves since Alaric, Jenna and John were still in the dining room. Thankfully, Alaric was attempting to keep Jenna and John occupied so they could remain unaware of what had been occurring downstairs in the basement with Elijah.

"C'mon. We gotta beat Elijah to the Lake House." Damon told me and shrugged on his leather jacket, grabbed his keys and my wrist and pulled me towards his car. I broke free, and looked at him with confusion.

"What Lake House? Why?" I asked him.

"The Gilbert Lake House. That's where Elena and Stefan are." Damon explained. "Elijah is going down there to confront them about what we did to him."

I wasn't really concerned.

"You do realise that we didn't actually betray him, right? He's just pretending to be pissed off to buy us time to find the dagger and try again." I reminded him. "Elijah is a man of his word, he'll still honour the deal we made with him." Damon didn't look entirely convinced.

"Okay. Then where is the dagger?" He demanded frantically. I rolled my eyes and walked with a determination back inside the house and into the dining room. Jenna wasn't in the room; presumably in the kitchen or in the bathroom. I pasted on what I hoped was a convincing horrified face just as Alaric and John looked up. Alaric was instantly alert, while John looked suspicious.

"Grace? What's wrong?" Alaric asked, getting to his feet and coming over to me. Damon walked into the room and piped up just as I started to give the explanation.

"Elijah's gone from the basement." He announced, and Alaric looked stricken. But John looked smug, causing the both of us to scowl at him. It was obvious he had neglected to tell us the fine details regarding the dagger and what it could do to another vampire if they stabbed an Original with it.

"Gee, I wonder why?" John taunted, as he held up the dagger. I glared at him and put my hand out to him.

"Give it here, John." I demanded sharply. John looked back at me defiantly.

"I think not. If you want the job done right, you gotta do it yourself." He stated, as he got to his feet and moved to leave the house. I stepped into his path, and got right into his face.

"Maybe I didn't make myself clear." I stated slowly and carefully. "Give me that dagger right now, or else." I repeated my request. John smirked at me, then looked over my shoulder at a visibly angry Damon.

"Or else what? You'll sick your little boyfriend on me?" John taunted. I ignored the 'boyfriend' jab and pulled free my dagger, brandishing it in front of his face. John's eyes zeroed in on the blade, and he paled instantly causing Alaric to immediately step forward to defuse the situation.

"Wait, Grace. Don't do anything you might regret." Alaric urged. I ignored him.

"Or else, I will slice you up into ribbons. And what I don't cut up, I will leave for Damon to take care of." I responded, sounding just as menacing as Elijah did when John had threatened me. "You're already in hot water with that stunt you pulled when you deliberately neglected to tell Damon the whole story. You never gave him the full information revolving around that bloody dagger, and he is just itching to take out his frustrations on you. So, I'll ask for the final time; kindly hand over the silver dagger." I requested. John immediately reached into his jacket and produced the dagger, handing it to me handle first. I smiled sweetly at John as I took the dagger and carefully wrapped it up in a protective cloth. "Thank you, John. Wise move." I praised him, before turning and walking back over to Damon, who looked at me with a wolfish grin.

"You're my kind of girl." Damon praised me, and I rolled my eyes.

"Down boy." I drawled, as I handed him the dagger for safe keeping. We both moved for the front door and Damon's car, and Alaric followed us.

"Are you sure that's a good idea? Elijah is too strong for the both of you." He felt the need to remind us.

"We're well aware of that, Ric." Damon stated. "That's why we're gonna get Elena to do it when we get to the Lake House. Elijah wouldn't dare harm Elena, he needs her for Klaus' sacrifice." He reminded his friend. I didn't say a word. Alaric still looked concerned, but knew that he had no choice but to let us go.

"Be careful." He urged us. Damon started up the car and put the pedal to the metal to get to the Lake House before Elijah did.

* * *

It didn't take us long to get to the Lake House; probably because Damon had floored it the second we got onto the highway, and probably went through several red lights in the process. I'm amazed that we didn't get picked up by the cops on the way here. Almost immediately after Damon drove up and parked the car, Stefan and Elena immerged onto the deck of the house and looked at the both of us with a combination of confusion and annoyance.

"Oh, thank God. He's not here yet." I muttered, leaning against the car and sighing with relief. Stefan frowned at what I said.

"Who's not here yet? What are you both doing here?" He demanded.

"This is supposed to be a private weekend away." Elena pointed out, irritably. I ignored her, focusing instead on Stefan who seemed to be the most reasonable out of the both of them. Or at least, the most likely to hear us out without getting defensive or immediately start throwing accusations at us when they learned why Damon and I were here.

"Elijah is on his way here. He is on the war path." Damon stated, playing the part of the concerned older brother and friend brilliantly. Almost instantly, Elena and Stefan were completely alert.

"What? Why?" Elena demanded.

"Didn't Alaric dagger him?" Stefan added, seriously. Damon and I nodded, confirming.

"But he took out the dagger after stabbing him, which you're apparently not supposed to do, and he was revived after a few minutes." I stated.

"How do you know that?" Elena asked, frowning at me. "I would've thought that you'd be pleased that Elijah wasn't daggered." She stated to me, a little snidely. I just barely held back my temper.

"Damon went down to make sure that he was still there and in one piece. But Elijah had disappeared." I told her, letting a little of my irritation seep through.

"We came down here to warn you, and to get you to stick this back into his heart when you next get the chance." Damon said, handing the silver dagger to Elena, whose eyes widened in horror.

"Me? Why me? Why can't Grace do it, or even Damon?" Elena protested. I glowered at her.

"You know why _I_ can't do it." I snarled at her, causing Elena to recoil in horror. "Would you be able to do it if it were Jeremy?" I asked her. Stefan rolled his eyes and waded in to explain.

"And neither Damon nor I can do it. Remember?" Stefan attempted to jog her memory and Elena immediately paled.

"Because it's forbidden for a vampire to kill another vampire. So the dagger will take both lives." Elena recited. "I guess it's up to me then." I rolled my eyes once again. Then something caught my eye out of the window, and I glanced out to see Elijah striding up the gravel footpath towards the house. He immediately caught my eye and smiled slightly, nodding at me. I nodded back just as Stefan finally caught sight of him as well.

"He's here." He announced.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious." Damon muttered as we watched Elijah kneel down and pick up some rocks, tossing them back and forth from hand to hand. Elena walks over towards the front door, while I went out the backdoor and around the side of the house so I could see things better. Nobody stopped me. Elijah throws the rocks at the door, which breaks the front door off its hinges and causes Elena to shriek a little in fear.

"You have to go. I need to talk to him alone." Elena told Stefan, who was hiding just out of sight from Elijah.

"Elena…" Stefan was obviously against this idea.

"Stefan, I'm okay. He can't come in the house." Elena reminded him. I watched Elijah walk closer towards the house.

"You know, I might not be able to enter this house … but I am a very patient man. I'll wait you out." He told them, putting on his livid voice. I grinned; he was very good at acting like he was betrayed. Which then made me question whether or not he really had been betrayed like this in real life, and he was using those memories as inspiration. Elena opened the front door of the house but doesn't step outside. Elijah's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"They shouldn't have done what they did. I'm sorry." Elena apologized on Damon and my behalf.

"The deal is off." He told her, angrily.

"I'm renegotiating." Elena insisted.

"You have nothing left to negotiate with." Elijah insisted, and there is a pregnant pause before Elena pulls out a kitchen knife. My eyes widened in shock. Surely Elena couldn't be that stupid? I looked over at Elijah and was relieved to see him looking a bit concerned as well. It was clear that Elena really didn't think a lot of things through.

"I'd like to see you lure Klaus into Mystic Falls after the doppelgänger bleeds to death." She tells him. There is a noticeable tremor in Elena's voice. It is obvious she doesn't want to do this; but clearly wants to call Elijah's bluff.

"Stefan won't let you die." Elijah attempts to remind her. Elena nods in agreement.

"No, he won't." She said. "He'll feed me his blood to heal me, and then I'll kill myself and become a vampire, just like Katherine did." I nearly launched myself at her to stop her from doing so. I wouldn't put it passed Elena to actually do something like that, and fuck up Niklaus' chances well and truly. Because if Elena did martyr herself without giving birth to another child, Niklaus would remain stuck in the Hybrid curse for all time. And neither Elijah nor I could allow that to happen. "So unless you want that to happen again, promise me the same as before … promise me … you won't harm anyone that I love. Even if they've harmed you." Elena pleaded with him.

However, Elijah was unimpressed; and quite frankly looked rather insulted too.

"I'm sorry, Elena. But I'm going to have to call your bluff." Elijah stated, frowning. We all watched as Elena breathes out and points the knife to her stomach. Elijah is curious and unsure about what she will do, and I could feel the anger rising inside me when that little bitch looks Elijah dead in the eye and stabs herself in the stomach. She screams out in pain and falls to the floor.

Good, I hope it really did sting like hell!

Blood gushes everywhere, causing Elijah to immediately rush towards the door and thud against the threshold because he had not been invited in. I race up onto the wooden deck and prepare to help, as Elena drops the knife on the floor and clutches at her stomach.

"Elena, you idiot!" I panicked, and attempted to stem the bleeding with my bare hands; despite Elena trying to push me away. Elijah attempts to help me.

"Alright, yes. Yes, you can have your deal. Let me heal you!" Elijah urges frantically.

"Give me your word!" Elena shouts through the pain she is obviously feeling.

"I give you my word." Elijah agrees without hesitation. Elena limps outside of the house and her legs promptly give out underneath her, causing Elijah to catch her in his arms. However, Elena stabs Elijah through the heart with the silver dagger and he falls to the ground, dead. I abandon Elena and immediately catch Elijah, and started to weep. Elena falls to the ground as well, weakened from the blood loss. Stefan rushes out of the house and throws me a scandalized glare for not helping Elena, and bites down on his wrist; feeding it to his girlfriend.

"What the hell, Grace!? Can't you see that Elena is bleeding out?" Stefan growls at me. I ignore him, still rocking Elijah's body in my arms. Damon walks out of the house and stands in the doorway.

"Shut up, Stefan. Go attend to Elena." He suggests, looking at me with sympathy. Stefan glowers at Damon before scooping up Elena into his arms and moving to head into the house. Damon stops him briefly, causing both Stefan and Elena to look at him questioningly. "Little tip: don't pull the dagger out." He reminds them.

* * *

Once Elena was sufficiently healed enough to be moved without bleeding profusely again (it was her own damn fault); we picked up Elijah's body and transported him back to the Boarding House, where he was carried downstairs by Damon and Stefan, and stashed for the time being in the basement. Elena and I followed them, and I immediately crouched down beside Elijah with Damon who began searching through his pockets, while Elena stood close by Stefan who wrapped a protective arm around his girlfriend's shoulders.

Damon suddenly gave a triumphant smirk.

"Uhh! What do we have here?" He called out, and pulled out the moonstone. "A little moonstone of soap. I'll hold on to this." Damon declared, but I brandished my hand in front of his face.

"Yeah, right. I'll take that." I insisted, and Damon reluctantly places the moonstone in my hand. I immediately shoved it into the back pocket of my jeans. Elena looked pensive.

"So, that's it?" We all looked at her, waiting for Elena to elaborate. "I mean, as long as we keep the dagger in there, then he stays dead?"

"Pretty much." I confirmed in a quiet voice, straightening up from my crouch beside my brother. Elena immediately pulled away from Stefan and went straight for the stairs.

"Okay, then … Good night." Elena goes to walk up, but pauses for a split second to turn and look back at us. "You know, you guys want me to fight, I'll fight…" Damon, Stefan and I had differing expressions on our faces as we observed Elena's mannerisms. Stefan looked concerned, Damon looked suspicious, and I was eying her with deep resentment. "But if we're gonna do this, you can't keep anything from me anymore. From this moment on, we're doing it my way." Elena stated firmly.

I snorted, drawing her attention almost immediately.

"Here's a better idea: how about we don't?" I drawled.

"Excuse me?" Elena blurted out. Both Damon and Stefan looked at us curiously.

"Did I stutter? Every plan you've come up with Elena, has either involved you running off to surrender yourself, or needlessly harming yourself to prove a point." I pointed out, indicating what happened earlier at the Lake House with Elijah. "If you want to kill yourself, be my guest. I won't be a part of it." I stated, before bending down to kiss Elijah on the forehead, and heading up the staircase.

"I'm with her." Damon declared, causing me to pause mid-step and look at him with astonishment. Damon had a look of disgust on his face that was directed towards Elena, who looked shocked that Damon had sided with me.

"But Damon…" Elena protested.

"But nothing. This is more than just you at stake Elena. Pissing off Klaus is probably the last thing we need right now." He stated.

"Since when have you been on Grace's side?" Elena wanted to know.

"Probably from the moment she confided with me with her past, and wasn't making an attempt to change me; unlike you." Damon stated, matter-of-factly. "Besides, you seem to continue to ignore the fact that Klaus is also looking for her as well." I discreetly looked over to see Elena stepping off the steps leading up to the first floor, and marching over to Damon with what I assumed was a determined, petulant expression on her face.

"But I'm the one whose life is in danger, not her!" Elena protested, angrily. I grinned when I saw Damon's eyes narrow dangerously at her, and Elena taking a cautious step away from him and back into an overprotective Stefan's arms.

"Your lack of faith is insulting, Elena." Damon stated. "Do you really think that we'd let that happen? I'm pretty sure that Klaus could probably be persuaded." Damon pointed out, and made his way to the staircase as I laughed sardonically underneath my breath and continued walking up as well.

 _Not a chance…_

The likelihood of Niklaus postponing the ritual the second he had Elena in his clutches, was slim to nil.

Not to mention laughable.

As a human he was as stubborn as a mule, and completely blinkered when he had a goal to accomplish. He also had a ferocious temper when he was pushed too far, when his plans were messed with and when somebody told him what to do when it wasn't needed or appreciated. Odds are, as a thousand year old vampire, Niklaus would not have changed, but probably gotten worse. I met Damon at the stop of the staircase, and smirked at the irritated expression on my best friend's face.

"Is Elena done acting like a three-year old?" I asked, falling into step with him when he started walking upstairs towards the second landing.

"Probably not." Damon responded, as we took a left in the hallway and continued walking toward his bedroom. However, when we got there; we could hear the shower running. Both of us froze and exchanged confused looks with each other. "What the hell?" Damon muttered. He indicated for me to stay where I was and went to investigate. I didn't argue. Damon walked over to the private luxury bathroom and once again froze when he looked inside.

"Damon? What's wrong?" I called out to him, concerned. He didn't respond as he was still surprised by what he was seeing.

"Hello, Damon." It was Katherine. I rushed over to Damon's side before he could stop me, and copped an eyeful of a completely naked Katherine. "Do you have a robe?" The cheeky vampire doppelgänger asked casually.

"How did you get out?" Damon finally demanded, discreetly stepping in front of me to shield me from her. Katherine shrugged nonchalantly.

"I knew that if I begged you not to kill Elijah, that's exactly what you'd do." Katherine replied.

"Wait, what?" I looked at Damon accusingly. He had visited the doppelbitch and had a discussion about my big brother? Was this before or after we had made our plan with Elijah? Katherine's feline brown eyes that were so uncannily like Elena's (except Elena's eyes were more doe-like and deceptively 'innocent') looked over and narrowed, as Damon sheepishly turned to look at me.

"Little known fact… Originals can compel vampires. But as soon as they die, the compulsion wears off." Katherine lectured at Damon, while not taking her eyes off me. Damon immediately refocused on Katherine.

"And you knew." He stated accusingly.

"And I'm still here. I didn't run." Katherine pointed out. "I meant what I said, Damon. I'm going to help you."

I snorted. "As long as you profit from it, I expect." I crossed my arms over my chest and fixed Katherine with a skeptical look. Without warning, Katherine immediately ran at me with the purpose of biting into my neck like a ripe apple. But I was ready for this and stabbed her calmly, but viciously in the stomach with my dagger. Apparently, she hadn't forgotten our last conversation back at the tomb when I introduced myself as being directly related to the Mikaelson Family, and taunted her. Katherine gagged, as her skin sizzled because of the vervain I had coated on the blade and handle.

While Katherine and Damon were talking, I discreetly unsheathed my dagger and hid it underneath the sleeve of my jacket; having suspected that I would have to defend myself against Katherine and her hip-jerk reaction when she possibly saw me again. Stabbing Katherine released all the frustration I was feeling towards Elena, and I felt oddly but pleasantly vindicated. I leaned down to whisper in Katherine's ear.

"Hello, Katerina. Nice to see you again." I greeted her, before ripping free the knife and examining it as Katherine dropped to the polished floorboards. "Walk it off, sweetheart." I added, stepping over her hunched over body and aiming for the bedroom door.

"Grace, wait!" I heard Damon call out. I looked over my shoulder at him.

"I'll talk to you tomorrow, Damon. You've got your hands full already." I said, indicating towards a fully healed, but still slightly weakened Katherine who was glaring at me from the floor. As I walked down the hallway towards the staircase, I overheard Katherine saying to Damon:

"So… How about that robe?"

* * *

At the ground floor of the Boarding House, I unexpectedly bumped into Stefan, who had just immerged from the basement. Elena was nowhere to be seen.

"Excuse me, Stefan." I apologized, politely. "Have a good night." I sidestepped him for the front door. But Stefan grabbed my wrist, stopping me in my tracks. I groaned, expecting to hear a lecture from Stefan about the situation revolving around Elena and her need to control everything remotely relating to her and the ritual.

"You're bleeding." Stefan unexpectedly said, and I blinked in astonishment. "Right here on your neck." Stefan indicated to his own neck, looking both concerned and angry. Cold air from a nearby open window, brushed by me and I winced at a sudden sting on my neck. Frowning, I reached up and felt a sudden wetness on my neck and when I pulled away, I saw blood coating my fingers.

"Oh, would you look at that?" I said, breezily. Not remotely concerned that Katherine had managed to actually sink her fangs into me before I skewered her. Stefan came over to inspect the wound.

"It's not too deep." He confirmed. "Did Damon do this?" Stefan looked outraged, but I immediately set things straight.

"No, this was Katherine's handy work." I corrected him, and Stefan immediately looked alarmed.

"Katherine's here?"

I nodded. "Yep. Watch your back." I advised, before opening the front door and leaving. "See you." I headed for my car. But Stefan followed me out.

"Wait, don't you want me to heal you?" He offered, but I shook my head.

"Nah, it's just a scratch. I'll take care of it when I get home." Stefan frowned, but nodded as I got into my car and headed to town.

I had just parked my car and gotten out, when for the second time that night I found myself colliding with another human being. I swore underneath my breath, as the impact had disturbed the bite mark on my neck and made it throb. I glanced up to swear at the person I had collided with and paused looking at him quizzically: he was tall and tanned, with a slightly muscular body that was dressed in a pair of smart, tight dark grey jeans, a dark button down shirt and a black leather jacket, with some black vans on his feet. The man had an oval-shaped face, with a cleft chin, full pink lips and a 'short, back and sides' hairstyle.

But it was the expression in his blue eyes that stopped me from cussing him out. They were shocked; and he was looking at me like he hadn't expected to see me standing here in front of him. It was the exact same expression Bonnie Bennett had when she had first made skin-contact with me and received a vision of my past life.

I was staring at a witch.

Wonderful. As if my life wasn't complicated already.

"Are you alright?" I asked him, frowning a little. The male witch recovered and offered me a disarming smile.

"Yeah, of course. Sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going." He apologized. "I'm Maddox." He introduced, offering me his hand to shake.

"Grace Williams." I returned the shake, smiling a little.

"What about you?"

"Come again?" I blinked, taking back my hand and looking at him with confusion. Maddox shoved a hand into his pocket, and indicated with his other to his neck.

"Your neck. What happened there?" He asked, mildly. I raised my defenses.

"Oh, that. I was careless with a tree branch." I brushed the topic aside dismissively. Maddox's eyes narrowed briefly before he recovered, and went back to looking concerned.

"It looks deep. Do you need help patching it up?" He offered.

"I've got it covered." I declined politely, and turned to head into my apartment. "Nice meeting you." I added, reaching for my keys.

"Uh, actually. I'm new to this town; would you be able to direct me to the nearest bar. I need a place to unwind from the trip." Maddox asked. I looked at him cautiously, then berated myself for becoming so suspicious. I smiled.

"Yeah, there's a little restaurant just across the road that has a decent bar." I came over to him and indicated to the Grill. Maddox smiled gratefully.

"Thanks." He replied.

"Don't mention it. Have a good night." I said, and turned for the apartment.

"Why don't you come and have a drink with me?" Maddox suggested. I turned and frowned at him.

"Look mate, if this is a line; I am not biting." I told him firmly. "I'm already spoken for." I added. The smile on Maddox's face heated up, like I had given him the answer he had been seeking.

 _What the…?_

"Don't worry. I've already got a girlfriend, this is just a friendly drink; to say thanks and to make up for walking into you just now." Maddox reassured me. I shrugged; what harm could a glass of coke do?

"Well, alright then. You're buying." I agreed, and fell into step with the male witch as we crossed the slightly busy road and across the courtyard towards the Grill. "So how long have you been a witch?" I asked casually. Maddox faltered a little, looking surprised that I had picked up on the fact that he was a witch.

"How'd you know that I was witch?" He asked, looking mildly impressed.

I chuckled.

"You had the same expression on your face that an acquaintance had on her face when she first shook hands with me." I responded. Maddox still looked a little wary, and I sighed.

"Relax. Your secret is safe with me. As long as you don't deliberately attack me and my friends without provocation, you have no qualms with me." I reassured him. Maddox relaxed a little.

"Well, I've been a witch my whole life." He explained, as he held the door open for me and I stepped through. I glanced about the Grill and noticed Alaric at his usual spot at the bar, and that Matt was busing the tables tonight. The latter smiled and waved at me before returning to kitchen. I navigated my way over to a nearby booth and sank down into it, Maddox sliding in in front of me.

"And how do you like it so far?" I prodded, curiously.

"It's been awesome. I've learnt so much, and met … quite a few people because of it." He acknowledged, hesitating a little halfway through the explanation and giving the expected short and to the point answers. I frowned slightly, but let it go; as everybody has separate experiences, and not everything is a conspiracy or a person plotting to kill you in your sleep.

"So what brings you to Mystic Falls? Business or pleasure?" I changed the subject quickly, so I didn't arouse suspicion in Maddox.

"Business. But it's classified; I'm not allowed to elaborate, sorry." Maddox responded, looking a little regretful. I shrugged.

"That's okay. I tend not to stick my nose into other people's business." I acknowledged, and flagged down Matt who was passing by with his ordering pad.

"Hey Grace! Having a good night?" Matt enquired professionally, but giving me a friendly smile and a polite one to Maddox.

"Semi. How's Caroline?" I asked, and immediately grew concerned when Matt's eyes tightened slightly and his smile turned into a grimace. "Not so good, huh?" I guessed, sympathetically. Matt shrugged.

"Caroline's been acting a little weird lately, and she won't tell me why." He stated, awkwardly. "I'm getting tired of being kept out of the loop, so I'm staying out of it until I get a proper explanation." Matt explained. I nodded; that was fair.

"Good luck with that, Matt." I told him. "Hope it goes in your favour." I added with a smile. Matt returned it.

"Thanks, Grace. Now what can I get the both of you?" Matt stood ready with the pen and pad.

"Just a coke, please. No ice, if possible?" I ordered.

"And I'll have a whisky straight." Maddox added. Matt scribbled down the order.

"Be right out." He promised.

"Could you also get me the First-Aid kit as well?" I requested, and Matt's head shot up immediately. He started looking for a wound and his eyes widened when he saw the obvious bite mark on my neck.

"What happened to you?" He demanded, with concern. I looked at Matt beseechingly.

"Nothing serious. Just a little accident." I told him. "May I have the First-Aid kit, please?" I repeated my request. Matt nodded and turned towards the bar to give in the order. Maddox made himself comfortable and eyed me curiously, as I grabbed a napkin and started dabbing away at Katherine's bite mark, wincing occasionally, trying to wipe away as much of my blood as I could that hadn't dried already.

"So tell me a bit about yourself, Grace?" Maddox asked, obviously trying to break the ice. I just looked at him, suddenly feeling like I was in the middle of a job interview.

"I was born in the UK, and lived there until I was ten. My parents decided to move to America for a job opportunity my Dad had gotten. When I started University, my parents went back to the UK and I decided to make a life for myself here in America. For the past four years, I've been undergoing a correspondence course to attain my Bachelor's and moving whenever my lease expired to a different location." I narrated, conversationally.

"And what inspired you to come to Mystic Falls?" Maddox probed, curiously.

"A friend of mine alerted me to an available apartment to lease here, and I decided to take him up on it." I responded. "Well, that and I'm a bit of history buff and I've always wanted to learn more about the Civil War." I added, grinning a little. Matt returned with my Coke and Maddox's whisky. A large white plastic First-Aid kit was clamped underneath his armpit, and he placed it on the table next to me.

"Here you go, Grace. Do you need any help?" Matt asked, indicating towards the bite mark. I shook my head.

"I'm good. Thanks for my drink." I said. Matt nodded, still looking concerned and moved on to the next customer.

"Oh! Before I forget." Matt backpedalled, causing Maddox and I to give him our undivided attention. "The Grill is hosting a band tomorrow night. They're gonna play a few local songs." He told both Maddox and I. "Feel free to come on down and check 'em out." Matt suggested, as he slid a flyer onto the table. I picked it up and scanned it curiously.

"I'll keep it in mind, Matt. Cheers." I smiled and Matt nodded before moving on. I noticed out of the corner of my eye Alaric looking over at Maddox curiously. I smiled and waved at him. He nodded, but that was it.

"Friend of yours?" Maddox asked, indicating to Alaric with his drink and took a healthy sip from the glass. I glanced over at Alaric briefly.

"Yeah. Great guy, one of the few friends I've made in this town; which says a lot since I find it difficult to find and keep friends nowadays." I confessed, as I pulled out an alcohol swab, a large square dressing and some white medical tape. Maddox nodded, and I noticed him putting something back on the table and I realised that it was his phone. Must've been checking the time.

"Do you travel?" I randomly asked Maddox, who blinked a little at the question.

"A bit. But mostly I go where I'm needed by my boss." Maddox responded, sounding slightly vague. Fair enough, I guess. We both barely know each other, and it's natural to be cautious and not to reveal too much in one sitting. You never really know who you could be talking to. I bit my bottom lip when the alcohol swab grazed my still tender wound. "Here. Let me." Maddox offered when he realised I was struggling, and got up from his side of the table, relieving me of the swab and wiping where I had apparently missed a bit of congealed blood crusting over on my neck.

"Thanks." I said gratefully, as I prepared the dressing to be put over the top of the wound.

"You know, it's okay to ask for help occasionally." Maddox reminded me, chiding a little. I grimaced slightly, as I held the dressing in place, while he tapped down the corners with the white tape.

"I don't like feeling vulnerable. I felt like that once in my life and I didn't like the feeling of being powerless and at the mercy of somebody else." I explained, unknowingly grabbing Maddox's interest. "So, I learned to be more independent." Maddox nodded.

"I hear ya, and I agree. How did you achieve this?" He asked out of interest.

"I studied karate, and different styles of sword-fighting." I replied. Maddox's eyes widened, as he put away the unused medical supplies back into the First-Aid kit.

"You're having me on." He insisted, and I frowned a little and withdrew my dagger, showing it to him. "You're not kidding." He took the dagger from me and let out a low whistle. "That's hot." He flirted, jokingly. I giggled, and re-sheathed my dagger and finished off my Coke.

"Don't start, please. You're gonna sound like my best friend." I pleaded. Maddox raised both hands into the surrender gesture.

"I promise." He laughed. I laughed along with him, before I checked the time on my phone and got to my feet.

"Well, it was nice meeting you, Maddox. But I gotta get home. I'm working on a project for Uni which I've gotta finish and post as soon as possible." I said. Maddox rose to his feet as well, and reached out to shake my hand.

"The pleasure is all mine. I look forward to seeing a lot more of you in the future." Maddox responded, seriously.

"Sounds great!" I agreed. "See you around." I walked towards the front door and out into the night.

* * *

 **~:MADDOX'S P.O.V:~**

I waited until this Grace girl completely left the place before I immediately picked up my phone and made an urgent phone call to Klaus.

I seriously didn't expect to find this when I came to this back end town; but when Klaus had gotten a tip off from a loyal follower of his that the doppelgänger he was searching for, was rumoured to be in Mystic Falls, Virginia; naturally, he sent me to investigate the possibilities.

Grace, was the first person I encountered in the Town Square; purely by accident, and on the first try as well. Although, I do suspect that it would make Klaus very pleased to learn that his lost lover was living right back in the town she and Klaus had been born in a thousand years before. I hadn't intended on snooping, but the last time I had seen an image of Grace, was on one of the rare occasions that Klaus allowed me into his private studio where he was attempting to unwind after his latest disappointment, by painting.

* * *

 _ **~:FLASHBACK:~**_

 _It was just sitting there, on his desk: a charcoal sketch of a beautiful girl with very long brunette hair, dressed in an old-fashioned medieval dress, smiling up out of the page with her large doe eyes wide and looking happy to see you._

 _I knew better than to ask._

 _"You wanted to see me?" I asked respectfully, as I watched Klaus paying the canvas he was working tirelessly at, his undivided attention._

 _"Ah, Maddox. Good to see you, mate." He greeted me cordially without looking away from the canvas. "I have a job for you." He got straight to the point, and I knew that it meant he wasn't taking any prisoners this time round; he was getting desperate. Not that he'd admit it either._

 _"What do you need?" I asked automatically. He grinned in approval._

 _"I need you to check out the town of Mystic Falls in Virginia." Klaus said. "There is a rumour floating around that my doppelgänger is currently residing there. I want you to confirm this." He ordered._

 _"Consider it done." I responded and bowed a little before turning and aiming to leave the room. But the girl in the picture was still bugging me, and I needed to know who she was. I turned back to Klaus and he eyed me curiously._

 _"Something on your mind?"_

 _I cleared my throat uncomfortably, and attempted to word my question carefully._

 _"May I speak candidly?" I asked, hesitantly. Klaus smirked at the question and set down the paintbrush he was using and stepped around the canvas to address me properly._

 _"Depends on the question." He responded, and leant on his desk wiping his fingers clean with an old rag._

So far so good… _I thought with relief._

" _Who is the girl in that sketch?" I asked, pointing towards the charcoal picture. Almost immediately, the smirk dropped from his face and was replaced with a frown. I immediately wanted to take back the question, but was surprised when I received an answer._

" _Her name was Graínne." Klaus responded, quietly. "She was my fiancé a thousand years ago." I was shocked by the raw pain in his voice. Klaus walked over and picked up the picture, staring almost tenderly at the image he had drawn, and I almost felt like I was intruding._

" _What happened to her?" I asked tentatively, hoping that I wasn't overstepping the mark. Klaus set aside the picture, and focused upon something in the distance; clearly reminiscing._

" _She was murdered in cold blood by Mikael." He answered, brooding a little. "I witnessed the entire thing after I tried to save her from being killed. The bastard had the audacity to say that her death was supposed to teach me some sort of lesson." He scoffed, and his eyes flashed a little. "What it really taught me, was that you can't take life for granted; not for a second. Or else, you could lose everything forever." I remained silent, and waited for Klaus to make the next move. He was unpredictable at the best of times, and lately; anything could set him off. Then he unexpectedly laughed; although I couldn't detect any trace of humour within it. "You know, it's funny. Mystic Falls, Virginia, is exactly where she, my younger siblings and I were born, and where all of us, also died. It would be fucking ironic if I managed to find her there as well." He commented._

 _I raised an eyebrow._ " _Find her?"_

" _The night she died, I promised both myself and Graínne that I would find her, no matter how long it took, and never let her go." He seemed realise that he had revealed too much, and he immediately straightened up and returned to his painting. "That'll be all, Maddox. Just go do your job." Klaus ordered._

 _I nodded and quickly left._

* * *

 _ **~REALITY~**_

The very second after I walked into Grace, I could've sworn I was looking at another doppelgänger; if I hadn't already known better. And if her appearance had not been convincing enough, the slideshow of images that invaded my head after I made skin-to-skin contact with her would've confirmed everything completely.

This was Klaus' Graínne all right.

Albeit a few years older, very street-smart and highly independent. Also went by the name 'Grace' instead. When I noticed that Grace was also wounded, I mentally cursed; particularly when the wound was an obvious vampire bite. Working for Klaus, I'd seen a lot of them; mostly caused by him when he lost his temper, or the victim had served their purpose for whatever Klaus needed them for. What pissed me off, wasn't the fact that Grace had been bitten - she was obviously one of the luckier victims. It was the fact that the girl tried to dismiss it as a scratch from a tree branch. Probably been compelled to say that.

All I knew is, that whoever the vamp was that bit into Grace, needed to get their affairs in order and quick; because they had just been unofficially marked by the Original soon-to-be-Hybrid.

 _"Hello, Maddox? Have you confirmed sighting already?"_ Klaus' cultured deep European voice sounded both impressed and slightly incredulous. Now was not the time to be smug.

"Not just yet. I've located something else that needs your attention." I explained, being careful not to say Klaus' name out loud. Something told me that I shouldn't trust anybody in this town. My theory was proven correct when I noticed that Alaric guy Grace pointed out to me earlier, looking at me suspiciously.

 _"And what might that be pray tell?"_

"Graínne." I replied succinctly, and held my breath for his reaction. I was not disappointed. There was silence for several minutes that made me wonder if I had accidentally disconnected the phone call by mistake. But then…

 _"That's not possible."_ Klaus murmured, sounding shocked.

"I can confirm it. I saw her with my own two eyes." I insisted. I heard Klaus growl inhumanly over the line, and I winced.

 _"If you are lying to me, I will personally pluck out both of your eyes and force feed them to you!"_ He snarled.

"I am 100% serious." I stated. "Stand by for the proof." I pulled the phone from my ear, and accessed my photo app and sent Klaus the photos I had taken of Grace without her knowledge: some from when she was getting out of her car and looping her purse over her shoulder, and one that I was reluctant to send that very obviously displayed the prominent bite mark on her neck that was still oozing blood.

 _"Is that a bite mark?"_ Klaus asked in cold inquiry.

"Yeah, it is. Don't worry, I helped her patch it up." I reassured him.

 _"You actually spoke to her?"_ Klaus sounded extremely interested in what I had to tell him. I smiled, happy that Klaus sounded happier than he did the last time I saw him.

"Yes. I did. She's a very fierce and very independent young woman, and she's got a lot of spunk." I confirmed. He didn't respond to that, but I knew he got the message.

 _"New plan, Maddox."_ I rolled my eyes, but this time I knew the reason why there was a new plan. _"Continue locating the doppelgänger, but keep an eye on Graínne as well."_ Klaus ordered.

"Yes, sir." I said.

 _"Good man. Let me know when you've confirmed the doppelgänger is there."_ Klaus hung up and I flipped shut my phone and stuck it into my pocket.

* * *

 **A/N: Klaus knows that Grace is in Mystic Falls! YES! He's almost here, boys and girls. Stay tuned!**

 **TTFN xx**


	28. Heads Will Roll

**A/N: Welcome back! Wow! We've reached 100 reviews! Thanks so much guys!**

 **Hope you liked the mini appearance of Klaus from the last chapter. I felt that it introduced him to the story a little quicker than just randomly showing up without warning.**

 **If you're enjoying the progress of the story so far, please review. No flames, please.**

 **I don't own** _ **The Vampire Diaries.**_ **All characters (except for Grace) are owned by author L.J. Smith.**

 **Happy reading :)**

* * *

 **HEADS WILL ROLL**

" _You must fall in order to grow, hurt in order to love, lose in order to gain. Because life's greatest lessons are learned through pain."  
_ _ **~Pein (Masashi Kishimoto: 'Naruto: Shippuden')**_

* * *

 _ **~:GRACE'S P.O.V:~**_

I woke the next morning feeling restless as I lay on my bed with my head at the foot, and my feet lying on my pillow. I felt that the chance meeting with Maddox last night was … odd. Like he had mysteriously come from out of nowhere. He had told me that he was in town on business, but I had the strangest feeling that there was something more to his story. Plus the way he reacted when he saw my face, freaked me out.

"How's your neck?" Henrik asked me, quietly. My poor baby brother looked ready to kill Katherine when I explained to him why I was wearing a dressing on my neck. I was just glad Elijah was currently inactive right now; his reaction would've been catastrophic.

"Sore still, but I've had worse." I replied, before looking back at the moonstone and watching the sunlight refract on the pearly white surface and creating rainbows with the light. Henrik's face peered over and he looked down at me with a worried frown on his face.

"Do you trust that Maddox guy?" I sighed heavily as I sat up and thought back to the guy – no, the male witch - I met last night on the street. I believed Maddox was, from my first impression, and from what I gathered, not an obvious threat. He _seemed_ like a nice guy; but then again looks could be deceiving, and I've met guys who seemed to be nice at first, but then turned out to be complete arses. There was an old saying my Mum used to tell me: if guys are too good to be true, they probably are.

"Too soon to tell." I responded, as I got up off my bed and started to greet the day. I was debating whether or not I should go and distract Damon from visiting ideas of killing or maiming Katherine at the Boarding House. I eventually decided to make an appearance; despite the fact that I was still slightly annoyed that Damon had gone and spoken with Katherine about Elijah, and the possibility that killing him could potentially break compulsion. It was also quite possible that she was probably pissing off Damon, and a part of me couldn't help but feel unsympathetic if it was the case.

He made his bed, now he had to lie in it.

"So what _are_ you going to do today?" Henrik wanted to know from where he was lounging on my couch. He glanced up automatically as I came out from my room. But one look at what I was wearing answered his question. "Never mind, I think I got the idea." He stated, looking at me from head to toe. I was wearing a pair of loose fitted black yoga pants with a slightly clingy white cotton tank top and my sneakers, and had combed back my hair into a severe ponytail. "You're going for a run?" Henrik guessed. I wordlessly reached for my duffel bag and heaved it onto my coffee table, where it made a loud, metallic clatter when I placed it down. Henrik raised an eyebrow. "Nope, sparring with a sword." He confirmed, dully. Lately there always seemed to be a vampire or a werewolf just waiting for the opportunity to rip me to shreds. It was better to be prepared than caught unawares.

"You make it sound like a bad thing." I pretended to sound wounded by Henrik's reaction to what I had planned on doing today. Henrik made a look as if to say: _I'm not falling for that again_ which caused me to giggle.

"Only because I can't join in. I missed out on that opportunity a thousand years ago, because Father believed I wasn't ready to use a real, proper sword yet." He grumbled. "So much for all that training…" He trailed off, looking resentful.

"You know you can still tag along, right? It can't be that exciting being stuck inside my apartment all day." I told him. Henrik shrugged.

"Why not. It'll remind me of when Niklaus and Elijah used to spar regularly, and then Rebekah, you and I would come along and observe." He stated.

I smiled sadly.

"It's just too bad Elijah's been daggered. Otherwise I'd invite him to come along and help me train and spar a little with me." I said, sounding a little miserable about that.

"That's really depressing, Grace. Please stop." Henrik whined. "What else are you gonna do today?" He asked, interestedly. I walked over to the window, and glanced up at the sky as I shrugged on my red hoodie; the one I usually wear when I went out for a jog around town or when I sparred with or without my weapons.

"I'm going to the Boarding House to see how Damon is faring against Katherine, and then I might go to the live band performance at the Grill tonight." I grinned. Henrik's eyes lit up at the idea. Despite being a child of the 11th century, I loved the fact that Henrik had embraced the idea of attending concerts and the like, and adapted to the times.

"That sounds great. May I come too?" He asked.

"It's not like I can stop you, you know." I reminded him, as I picked up my duffel bag full of weapons and started heading out of the door.

"Yeah, I know." Henrik smirked. I didn't like that mischievous little grin that appeared on his face at that moment.

"God, don't do that! You look so evil." I protested, giggling. Henrik just shrugged. "C'mon let's take a walk. Maybe we can find a meadow that's not overly populated to spar in?" I suggested, heaving my duffel bag over my shoulder and headed for the front door. Henrik heaved himself off the couch and fell into step beside me as I deadlocked my front door and we walked side-by-side down the stairs and out into the already busy town square.

* * *

 **~:MADDOX P.O.V:~**

I watched Grace walk out of her apartment from the shadows, and followed her at a discreet distance wherever she went, as per Klaus' orders. It looked like she was going for a run, so what was with the heavy looking duffel bag Grace was dragging around with her? Was it for weight training? Grace walked unhurriedly along the road, and seemed to be talking to herself.

Oh, shit.

If she was insane, Klaus would crack it big time and probably demand to know what was the hell was going on with her. But she sounded and seemed sane enough to me last night when I had that 'getting to know you' conversation with her. So maybe she was the one of those types of people who spoke out loud to sort out their thoughts? Nah, it's not important right now; gotta stay focused on the task at hand. Plus, I'd like to live another fifty or so years.

That won't happen if I'm careless.

Eventually, Grace walked into a mostly deserted grassy meadow and dumped her duffel bag on the ground. Shrugging off her red hoodie, she immediately started limbering up. But why exactly? I got my answer when she pulled out a sharp looking sword from within the duffel.

Oh, right; she did mention that she was a swordswoman. The sword itself was the kind you'd associate with knights in shining armour, Robin Hood, or even Vikings; which Grace's past life was, and Klaus himself, is. Come to think of it, I could've sworn that I had seen a similar sword hanging up in Klaus' study the last time I had set foot in there (with Klaus, obviously).

I watched from my hidden spot near some bushes, as Grace closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath and 'honored' her invisible opponent before attacking with an arching swipe and pretended to parry a defensive blow her 'opponent' returned.

This went on for several minutes before Grace stopped and pulled out a towel to wipe away sweat. I was no swordsman, but I could definitely tell that Grace knew what she was doing and I also knew that what I had just witnessed would be of interest to Klaus. I pulled out my phone and set it to record, so I could start when she resumed her practice. After I captured a good ten minutes of her executing some fancy swordplay, I stopped the video and immediately sent it to Klaus.

His reply was almost instantaneous.

" _Why are you sending me videos of girls swinging swords in meadows?_ " He demanded, sounding both confused and annoyed. " _Shouldn't you be looking for the doppelgänger and keeping an eye on Graínne?_ " He growled down the phone at me. I couldn't help but smirk with triumph.

"That is Graínne." I stated, confidently.

For the second time that I've known Klaus, who is a notorious member of the world's most prestigious, and affluent families; not to mention the strongest and most powerful Original vampire, I've managed to make him go silent. For all I know, he was probably shocked that the girl he once knew – whom was supposed to be the typical damsel-in-distress, or a submissive female (considered back in the 11th century to be weak and incapable of doing things men could do easily) – was now a completely independent and lethal looking badass; who knew how to defend herself without a man.

" _She's changed so much._ " Klaus commented.

"Isn't that a good thing?" I asked him, frowning slightly. Klaus let out a deep chuckle.

" _Absolutely_." He preened. " _Every King needs a strong Queen by his side._ " Klaus confirmed. I could practically picture the impressed smirk on his face, and hear the pride in his voice. " _Not to mention I have the opportunity to spar with her to see how good she really is._ " Klaus promised himself. " _Good work, Maddox._ " He thanked me.

"Don't mention it. Just doing my job." I reassured him. "I'll report back when I find the doppelgänger." I promised, and I heard the click of the phone call ending. As I slide my phone back into my pocket; I notice Grace packing away her sword, putting on her hoodie and chugging down a blue-flavoured Gatorade. She was on the move; time to resume following…

* * *

 **~:GRACE P.O.V:~**

Henrik and I went back home after my sword practice; both of us grinning from ear to ear. It had been so much fun, just reminiscing about the good times; particularly the memories revolving around Niklaus and Elijah, and the rare occasions where Mikael wouldn't burst in and ruin everything like the crotchety buzzkill he was (or probably still is. Elijah didn't say if Mikael was officially out of our lives yet). But part of the way through the training session, I could've sworn that I was being watched. Upon a quick inspection around the meadow I had commandeered for the session, I found nobody. But it didn't mean that nobody had been there; they were just probably very good at remaining unseen if they chose to be. I couldn't help but shudder. I felt a little like my privacy had been invaded a bit. After a quick shower and a snack, I hopped into my car and drove straight towards the Salvatore Boarding House.

"Hello? Anyone home?" I spoke out quietly, already knowing any vampire currently in the house would be able to hear my voice with their supernaturally enhanced hearing.

"Back so soon?"

I tensed up when I heard a voice I really didn't need to hear at that moment. I turned and saw a predatory Katherine come into view. She was wearing designer clothes, very high heels, and her long deep mahogany hair was in tight curls. Everything she was tight and immaculate; the complete opposite of Elena and how the teenager dressed. Elena wore mostly trendy but comfortable clothes such as jeans, Henley shirts and converse sneakers, and always flat ironed her hair stick straight. But the best way to tell them apart were their eyes: which were a deep dark brown. But Katherine's eyes were more feline and cunning, and Elena's were softer and more doe-like and innocent. But both held equal amounts of defiance when they didn't get their own way or were cornered.

I smirked.

"Shocking isn't it?" I responded, not at all concerned that I was standing in the presence of a volatile vampire, who was a notorious thorn in Niklaus' side. I casually walked by the vapid little bitch in search of my friend so I could lend help and spend some time with him. Damon seemed to be the only person I wanted to be around since Elijah was inactive at the moment, as he reminded me of Niklaus.

It brought me comfort.

"How's the neck?" Katherine taunted, and I automatically brought a hand up to my neck and winced a little.

"How's the gut?" I retorted, relishing the pout that I saw on Katherine's face when she realised she hadn't gotten to me. I found Damon in the living room, organizing some old looking journals. I came up behind him and threw my arms around his neck. "Hey Damon. How are you today?" I asked, pecking him on the cheek. Damon immediately brightened and turned towards me fully and gave me a warm smile.

"Better now that you're here." He responded. We both made a face at the clichéd line, and laughed. Katherine walked in, looking curious about our obvious friendship.

"What you up to?" She asked him. The smile immediately dropped from Damon's face as he went back to what he was doing.

"None of your business." He responded easily, and I looked between them, curiously, wondering what had been going on between them overnight and the earlier parts of this morning while I had been sparring with my sword with Henrik. Katherine rolled her eyes.

"We're pouting now? Are those the Gilbert journals?" She asked him. Damon remained mum on the subject; successfully infuriating her. "How am I supposed to help you if you won't tell me what you're up to?" Katherine bitched. Damon looked up at her from where he was sorting through journals.

"Can you tell me where a bunch of witches were massacred in this town a couple centuries ago?"

"No."

Damon turned back to his sorting. "Then you can't help." He hands me a stack of journals to sort through, muttering underneath his breath what he was up to. "We're trying to figure out why Elijah was searching for a massacre site."

I nodded. "Not sure how much help I'm gonna be, but I'll see what I can find." I replied. Katherine reaches for a journal, but Damon immediately slapped her hand. She retaliates by hitting his arm, and Damon pushes her down on a chair and towers over her. This earns a sultry smile from Katherine that makes me shudder.

"If it's any consolation, I'm glad that you're not dead." She tells him. I made a face: Petrova girls had no shame; manipulative to the bitter end. She gets to her feet. "Emily Bennett told me about the massacre. It was a big deal in witch folklore. When a witch dies violently, they release a mystical energy marking the place of their death with power." Damon nodded once.

"Elijah wanted to know the site of the massacre." He explained, making Katherine and I frown with confusion.

"What was he going to do when he found it?" I asked before Katherine had the chance to. Damon's face softened a little, looking a bit frustrated.

"I don't know." He admitted. Stefan walked into the room, giving me a very weak smile and a grimace in Katherine's direction. "What did papa witch and baby witch have to say?" Damon asked. Stefan was still focused on the fact that Katherine was here.

"Isn't she gone or dead yet?" He wanted to know. Katherine looked annoyed.

"For the last time, I'm here to help." She insisted. "Can we skip the secrets, hmm?" Both Damon and Stefan ignored her, as I farrowed my forehead with confusion.

"Uh, who is 'papa witch' and 'baby witch'?" I asked.

"Jonas Martin and his son. The witches Elijah has under his thumb." Damon replied distractedly. I nodded, and went back to my searching.

"Great. All caught up now." I confirmed. Damon and Stefan resumed their fact-finding conversation with each other.

"Elijah had no weapon to kill Klaus." I paused, listening in. "But he believed that if a witch could channel enough power … they wouldn't need one." Stefan reported back. Damon nodded, understanding.

"Like the power you get from a spot marked with a hundred dead witches?" He asked.

Stefan nodded. "We just need to find it."

"Good luck with that." I stated, earning twin glares from the brothers for my efforts. But I was concerned. What exactly was Elijah trying to achieve with taking down Niklaus? From what Henrik told me, Elijah, Rebekah and Niklaus had made a pact before they decided to explore what the world had in store for them. A decision that I hoped I would learn the reason and inspiration for eventually.

 _Family: always and forever..._ Had things really gotten that bad over the years we'd been apart, that Elijah saw no other alternative but to kill his brother to prevent something horrible from happening?

What exactly was going on here?

* * *

I was standing in the kitchen, getting a snack; when I heard the sound of creeping footsteps. Like someone or something was attempting to get through the house without being detected. I frowned; whoever it was (if there was someone there, and I wasn't finally cracking) wasn't being as sleuth-like as they thought. I decided to pretend that I hadn't heard anything, finished my snack, and went back to the parlour to resume the search through Johnathan Gilbert's old journals for information about a violent witch massacre site Elijah has been searching for, before he was daggered.

Damon was lying on one of the red couches flipping through one of the journals, and Katherine was sitting on an armchair next to the second couch doing the same thing. Neither of them seemed to have noticed or sensed an unfamiliar presence walking around the house.

"Hey, bunch up." I said to Damon, lightly nudging his legs to one side so I could sit down. He absently moved his feet to the ground, and I sat down … only to receive Damon's feet in my lap afterwards. I made an annoyed face at him. "Yeah, thanks for that." I grumbled.

Damon smirked. "Don't mention it."

I sighed and picked up the next journal and began flipping through it. Suddenly, I felt that same unfamiliar presence, and I looked up glancing around again. At the same time, Damon glanced up too and looked in Katherine's direction. She made a 'what?' face and Damon gestures 'don't worry about it'. I leaned over to Damon.

"You sense it too?" I whispered, urgently. Damon looked at me with surprise. He nods, and gestures with his eyes towards Katherine. I cotton on to what he is saying and resume reading the journal in my hand. But I keep a sharp ear out for more weird noises or cold shivers down my spine. Katherine eventually gets to her feet and comes over to look over Damon's shoulder at the journal he is reading.

"Can I help you?" Damon asked, using a cold tone.

"I'm bored." Katherine replied, simply. I didn't lift my gaze from the passage I was reading.

"That's his problem how?" I noticed Damon smirking out the corner of my eye. Katherine ignored me.

"‛Emily Bennett was taken by the Council today.'" She read, "‛They kidnapped her from her home and took her to the same location her ancestors were burned a hundred years ago.'" Katherine glances up at Damon, looking pensive. "So Emily died on the site of the massacre, too. Does it say where?" She goes to take the book from Damon, but he holds it out of reach.

"Nope." He replies, observing her critically. "You know this whole friendly, cooperative thing?"

"Mm-mmm?"

"I don't buy it." He states, matter-of-factly. Katherine looks irritated.

"I have no reason to lie to you, Damon."

"Lie." I sing-songed. Katherine turned to me with that same predatory glare in her eyes.

"I'm hungry. Care to oblige?" Katherine takes a single step towards me, and I just look at her unamused and not intimidated at all. Katherine was already on borrowed time; the evidence was on my neck covered with a dressing. Making a meal out of me would just seal the deal completely.

"Grace is not on the menu." Damon states casually, as he walks up to my side and touches my arm. Although, I couldn't work out if it was out of protection, or because he wanted to talk to me about something. "You're the unwanted house guest. Go feed yourself." He adds. Katherine rolled her eyes before heading for the basement. Stefan walks over with one of the journals in his hand, looking discouraged.

"Well, nothing in any of these. Find anything?" He asks Damon.

"Nope." Damon said; but it was weird. He was nodding his head instead of the standard negative shake of the head. Damon gestured towards the journal, and shows Stefan and I a passage he was reading. Both of us read it, and immediately understood. We played along with the charade.

"That's too bad." Stefan stated.

"Utter waste of time." I added.

"Yeah, bummer." Damon looked positively triumphant with his find, and I notice the basement door open slightly. Didn't Katherine close that on her way down there?

"Excuse me. I'm gonna pay a visit to Elijah real quick." I stated. Damon looked confused, but nodded and I walked briskly towards the basement and down towards the cellar. The door to Elijah's temporary prison is open ajar, and I quickly walk over to it to find out what's going on, and find Katherine pressing down on the silver dagger rather desperately. "What the hell are you doing?" I demanded, coming into the room. Katherine looked at me impatiently.

"Something or someone is trying to undagger Elijah." She explained. A wooden chair shatters by itself, making both Katherine and I looked over at it quizzically, before I feel something shove past me and knock me off my feet.

"Damon!" I shouted. Suddenly, an invisible presence drives a broken chair leg through Katherine's stomach, but manages to miss her heart. Damon bursts into the room, takes in the scene and comes over to my side to help me to my feet.

"Are you alright?" He asks me, and I nodded impatiently and indicated towards Katherine. "Katherine… what happened?" He asks his sire as he removes the stake from her stomach.

"Damon!" He jerks his head towards me again, and I frantically point towards Elijah's body. The silver dagger was slowly easing its way out. Immediately, Damon seizes a nearby flame gun and starts randomly shooting long tongues of white-hot flames around the dagger. Stefan bursts into the room, looking horrified.

"What are you doing?!" He shrieks at Damon.

"Some kind of crazy ass psychic witch attack! Get over there and do something about it." Damon orders Stefan, who doesn't immediately move. "Go!" He shouts. Stefan vamp-speeds away. Then Damon – begrudgingly – assists Katherine back upstairs. I checked the time on my phone and realised that I was meant to be at the Grill ages ago to check out the band that was playing there tonight. I sighed. What was happening at the moment was more important. "Grace, can you grab a blood bag for me, please?" Damon hollers at me from the parlour.

I went back into the basement and strode over to the cooler where Damon kept his stolen stash of blood, and plucked a blood bag from inside. I took one more look at Elijah, still lying there motionless; unaware of what could've happened if Katherine, Damon and I hadn't of interfered. I took my time getting back to the parlour, before I sauntered into the room, throwing and catching the blood bag into the air with one hand.

"Who ordered the Bloody Mary?" I quipped. Damon raised a hand into the air.

"Right here." He stated, playing along, and I handed him the blood bag. Damon turned towards Katherine, an unassuming smile on his face. "Here you go!" He said to Katherine, who takes the blood bag… then doubles over when Damon drives a stake into her stomach without warning. She looked at him, betrayed. "That's for not telling me the dagger would kill me." He explained. "Next time… it goes in your heart." Katherine grimaced.

"Is that how you treat someone who…" She grunts as she removes the stake from her stomach. "…is trying to help you?" She tosses the bloodied stake into the roaring fireplace. It spits out a wave of embers. Damon walks over to stand next to me.

"You wanna help? Start talking." He demands. Katherine glowers at the both of us.

Stubborn bitch.

"I'd love to, but you're not going to like it." She warns him.

"Try me." Damon challenges her.

"Fine." Katherine straightens up, taking a large sip of the blood before responding. "John Gilbert and Isobel want you and Stefan out of Elena's life." Katherine explains. Damon frowns, mostly out of annoyance.

"That's old news." He points out. Katherine gives him a sarcastic smile.

"Not the part where he offered me a deal." She stated, drinking some more from the blood bag. "He knew that killing Elijah would get me out of the tomb, so he gave me a choice." Wait! Now John Gilbert has a part in this? Clearly, by the look on Damon's face, he was less than impressed than I was. "Either I stay and help with Klaus, or he kills Stefan." Damon's frown deepened.

"But he still tried to have me killed."

Katherine nodded. "Right. That was part of the deal. I could only save one of you."

I piped up, grabbing both of their attention. "Damon has already accepted that Elena wouldn't ever choose him over Stefan ages ago and has moved on. Now that she's shown her true colours, of course." Katherine made a face.

"I know. He's fallen for you instead." She confirmed, causing me to frown. Katherine suddenly put on a condescending smirk. "Don't look at me like that. It's obvious that Damon has feelings for you. But it's a battle he's gonna lose against Klaus. He's had a thousand years on him to win your heart." Katherine pointed out and looking pointedly and tauntingly at Damon, who glared resentfully at her.

"Are you done?" I demanded, coldly. Katherine had a satisfied smile on her face.

"For now." She admitted.

"Good. I can't wait to see Niklaus tear out your throat, or even your heart when he sees you next." I mused thoughtfully. Katherine froze for a split second, before leaving the room. I glanced over at Damon, and while he had an amused smirk on his face, he also looked a bit concerned.

"Keep pushing it, and you might be killed." Damon warned me and I smiled calmly back at him.

"She won't touch me." I reassured him. Damon frowned.

"Did you have a vision?"

"Nah, but she picked the wrong girl to take a bite out of. Niklaus will take one look at the dressing on my neck and will be out for blood." I hinted, and Damon cottoned on. He chuckled humourlessly.

"You mean we'll soon have Katherine out of our hair?" He questioned. I shrugged; even I couldn't predict that. It was just a theory, and Damon grinned; obviously not caring. "That makes me almost glad that Klaus is coming to town." He commented. "Almost."

Damon made a beeline for the front door, almost bumping straight into Katherine who re-appeared.

"Where are you going?" She asked.

Damon sighed impatiently.

"Luka Martin's dead." He pointed out. "His father's going after Elena."

"How do you know that?" I asked, walking up beside him and frowning. Damon placed his hands on my shoulders to gently push me aside so he could get passed.

"It's what I would do if somebody I loved was suddenly and violently killed by my enemy." Damon stated, looking at me pointedly and I blushed. Katherine walked forward with a strangely determined expression on her face.

"I'm coming with you." She declared.

Damon snorted. "Uh no, you're not." I stepped into his path again, also looking and feeling determined as well.

"I'm afraid, you're out of luck, Damon. I'm going with or without you." I insisted. Damon sighed.

"Fine. But don't get in my way." He warned.

"Noted." I agreed without question. Katherine rushes over to us.

"Wait!" She yelled. Damon turned on her, irritated about being stopped once again.

"I don't need your help. I don't want it." He growled. Katherine looked at me with judgey eyes.

"Then why is _she_ going then if you don't need help?" She protested.

"Because unlike you, Grace doesn't have a hidden agenda. Plus, like you said before; I like her. Unlike you." Damon said, coldly. Katherine ignored the jab.

"I know what we can do, Damon. You have to let me do it." She insisted. Both Damon and I exchanged glances with each other, and reluctantly listened to what Katherine was proposing. "Let me masquerade as Elena. I can deal with the witch once and for all." She offered. There was silence for several minutes as we mulled this over. It wasn't a bad idea.

"It's not a bad idea. Go for it." I encouraged her. Damon looked stressed.

"She won't like it."

"Tough. The world doesn't revolve around Miss. Elena bloody Gilbert. What she likes or doesn't like has no standing right now." I replied shortly. "She's just gotta lump it." Katherine looked begrudgingly impressed.

"For once I agree with you." She spoke up. I headed for the front door. "Do you even know where you're going?"

"Wherever Elena is likely to be." I told her. "I vote for her house." Damon nodded and pulled his phone from his pocket and called Stefan and Elena. While he was talking on the phone with them, Katherine and I sized each other up; not saying anything to the other, just observing. Damon hung up and turned towards his sire with a suspicious expression on his face.

"She'll be here soon. You know what you're doing?" Damon asked her. Katherine threw him a patronising smirk.

"I'm not going to dignify that with an answer, Damon." She said, before sauntering away to prepare for Elena's arrival and to put our plan in motion.

* * *

Surprisingly, Elena was actually cooperative about our plan to protect her, and willingly loaned Katherine some of her clothes so she could play her part. Then Katherine headed back to the Grill with Stefan, and filled in Bonnie on the plan. The plan was that they were going to deal with (or at least provoke) Jonas before heading back to the Gilbert House. Which was where Damon and I were going to meet them shortly afterwards.

At the house, we waited in the Living Room with Elena, while Katherine, Bonnie and Stefan dealt with Jonas in Elena and Jeremy's Jack-n-Jill bathroom when Elijah's witch followed us back here. That was when Elena suddenly turns to the both of us with a confused frown on her face.

"So how did you guys convince her to do this?" Elena asked us from where she was perched on the couch with me, referring to Katherine upstairs. Damon was pacing, leaving me to answer the question.

"Actually, we didn't. It was her idea." I explained, feeling a little surprised myself. Elena blinked.

"Wow. That's… not good."

"That's the polite way of saying it." I agreed. The three of us spin round to face Stefan and Katherine who come downstairs.

"Everything's taken care of." Stefan announces, wrapping his arms around Elena's shoulders when she goes towards him. Katherine immediately removes Elena's vervain necklace from her neck and hands it to me, since I was the nearest person to her at that moment.

"Your pretty little outfit, is going to need a good dry clean." Katherine reports to Elena, who makes a disgusted face.

I accept the necklace from Katherine and curiously examined it. This was the second time I had actually seen this necklace up close; and there was definitely something alarmingly familiar about it. I just couldn't put my finger on what it was. I brushed my fingers over the actual locket and got an immediate and very brief flashback of a rustic house with large windows, a well-scrubbed wooden table with supernatural items strewn across it, dried herbs hanging from the ceiling, talismans and necklaces dangling from the large window; allowing bright, beautiful sunshine to filter through; and a small delicate hand reaching for the exact same necklace I was holding in my hand.

It was Rebekah!

I was rudely brought back out of the vision when Elena stormed over to me and snatched her necklace ( _no, not hers..._ ) from my hand, and fastens it around her neck. "Rude much?" Katherine spat at Elena, who ignored her and threw me a dirty look for not giving her back her necklace immediately. Boo freaking hoo. But I barely acknowledge the both of them. I was still reeling over the fact that Elena was currently wearing Rebekah's necklace; the same one Rebekah had admired back in Ayana's house a thousand years before.

Damon came over to me, and pulled me aside; obviously recognising that I had had a vision.

"You had a vision didn't you?" He stated, seriously. I nodded, turning to focus on the necklace back around Elena's neck.

"Yeah, and it's not gonna be good." I told him, ending the discussion before he could ask me to elaborate. Damon took the hint. I knew fully well that the moment Rebekah learns that the doppelgänger had and was wearing her mother's necklace, there was going to be hell to pay. Question was: how did Elena get it in the first place?

"You're going to have to get her out of here before Jenna gets home." I overheard Elena muttering to Stefan about Katherine, and I look at Elena with complete disgust. Katherine was definitely not my favourite person either; but she did do us a favour. The least Elena could do was be grateful.

"Is that all you have to say to me?" Katherine spat.

"How about 'thank you for sticking your neck out for me, even though you didn't have to'?" I questioned her. Elena gave us both a blank look.

"This doesn't change the way I feel about you." She tells Katherine, who scoffs.

"Yeah. I don't much like you either." Katherine admits, just as bluntly as Elena. "If we're going to be open and frank, I'd be happy to see you dead. But if we're going to try and take on Klaus, we kinda need you to be alive." She points out.

"Accept that she's not currently a huge threat towards you, Elena. I know that it's an incredibly difficult task for you to manage." Elena throws the both of us a look that could melt steel. "But just believe it, and deal with it. Because all this bullshit, is for your benefit." I then spun on my heel, and walked out of the house; feeling both Elena and Stefan's eyes burrowing into my back. But surprisingly there was less heat coming from Stefan.

Katherine and Damon weren't too far behind me, and neither said a word to me as we got into Damon's car and drove back to the Boarding House.

* * *

By the time we get back to the Boarding House, it was night; but I decided to stay the night, rather than take my car and wrap myself around a tree or a telephone pole. Damon offered to keep me company when I slept. However, about a half an hour in, I stirred grabbing Damon's attention as I got up off his bed and headed groggily for the bedroom door.

"Where're you going?" He asked, not looking away from the journal he was reading from. I yawned deeply.

"Just getting some water. Quit fussing." I grumbled, and disappeared downstairs towards the Salvatore's immaculate kitchen. After having a couple of large glasses of water, I grumpily stomped my way back up the stairs. I was halfway back to Damon's room when I saw Katherine sneak in wearing skimpy lingerie. I rolled my eyes and continued walking, fully intending on bursting Katherine's bubble and ruining her night.

"Do you know what I can't figure out?" I froze when I heard Damon addressing Katherine as she stepped into the room.

"What's that?" Katherine asked. I heard Damon carefully turn the pages of the old journal.

"How the town knew Emily Bennett was a witch." He mused thoughtfully. "I mean, because according to Johnathan Gilbert, he was the only one who knew. I know he didn't turn her in." Katherine never responded, but her silence spoke a thousand volumes. Damon snorted. "Mmm, I should've figured as much." I craned my head around the doorframe and saw Katherine climb up onto Damon's bed and crawl closer to him, who eyed her cautiously but calmly.

"She was a loose end. I like mine tied up." She admitted. Katherine then frowned, wrinkling her nose delicately. "You know what I can't figure out?"

"Do I care?" Damon asked, immediately. Katherine ignored him.

"Why you won't tell me where to find the site of the witch massacre." She continued. Damon pretended to really think about his answer before sighing and replying.

"Because I have no clue." He said. Katherine didn't look like she bought that answer for a moment. Nevertheless, she continued with her attempts to seduce him by creeping closer, to the point that she was practically sitting on his lap.

"You knew that Emily Bennett was the key to getting me out of that tomb and something tells me that you did everything in your power to make sure that she was safe, yet you have no idea where she was killed." Katherine smirked tauntingly at him. "Who's the liar now?" Damon flicks her an annoyed glance. "You hurt me today." She pouted. Damon shrugged, and I was amazed that I managed to keep down the two glasses of water I had just consumed.

"Tit for tat." He stated, nonchalantly. Katherine straddles him, causing Damon to set aside the journal in his hands and look at her with mild interest.

"You were mean and very rough and monstrous." She whined. Damon smirked.

"You deserved it." He said, talking down at her like she was a toddler having a temper tantrum. Katherine grinned coquettishly, getting even closer to him; to the point that they were practically kissing.

"I like this, Damon." She purred. Damon rubbed her upper thighs with his free hand, causing her to moan and I made a face. Was he seriously giving in to Katherine's slutty display?

"Katherine. Katherine, there are six other bedrooms in this house." Damon reminded her, both of them so close to kissing they were practically breathing the same air as each other. "Go find one." He shoves her off his lap, and Katherine falls off the bed with a surprised little yelp. She sits up, looking upset before getting to her feet and leaving; throwing me an ugly sneer when she walked passed me.

"Harsh. What was that desperate display about?" I grinned, walking over to Damon's bed and flopping down on it causing the bed to bounce a little. Damon sighed exasperatedly and I turned to face him, supporting my head with my hand as I balanced on it.

"She's restless, bored and horny, and has nobody to play with. This is Katherine at her weak point." Damon explained. I yawned once again.

"Well, that's pathetic." I commented, making myself comfortable. Damon chuckled.

"She just growled at you." He pointed out, indicating the opposite wall. I cracked open an eye at him, and gave him an even stare.

"Do I care?" I repeated his words from before. Damon looked shocked before he smirked and turned towards me as well.

"You were eavesdropping again, weren't you?" He guessed. I shrugged. Damon leaned over and kissed my forehead. "Get some sleep." He urged. I nodded, and shut my eyes. The last thing I was aware of was Damon shuffling closer and feeling his body warmth against my back.

* * *

 **~:MADDOX P.O.V:~**

I thought I was screwed when Grace failed to show up at the Mystic Grill tonight. It meant two things: either she decided not to come tonight, or she had been kidnapped. But judging by the band that was playing tonight, and the fact that they were so easily manipulated by this blonde vampire chick who compelled them to allow her to sing _'Eternal Flame'_ by the Bangles to her boyfriend; I concluded that she had made the decision to give the night a miss.

I honestly wished that I had chosen the same.

But apparently, the night wasn't entirely wasted. It turned out that the rumours were 100% true, and the Petrova Doppelgänger Klaus was searching for, was indeed in Mystic Falls.

Klaus was going to be most pleased with this discovery. He is one step away from breaking the curse that had been placed upon him. But there was another downside; there was another witch sniffing around. It turned out to be Jonas Martin, one of Elijah's witches; and from the looks of it, he was pissed off about something. Probably relating to the doppelgänger (whose name was apparently Elena Gilbert; a member of one of Mystic Falls' founding families). For the rest of the night, I trailed after her – she appeared to be a selfish little bitch, with a manipulative side – and her friends. Following Ms. Gilbert to where she lived, I was very surprised to learn that Grace was among them, and was amused to learn that she wasn't a fan of her either.

Perfect! That would make things a whole lot easier when the time came to collect her for the ritual. At least there would most likely be no objections from the 'future Queen'.

When I followed Grace towards a large Tudor-style estate, and realised that her vampire companion (who reminded me uncomfortably of Klaus himself) was protecting her and watching over her as she slept; I decided to retreat for now, since it was now time to bring Klaus to Mystic Falls and implement the plan he had made. I pulled out my phone.

 _"Impress me, Maddox."_ Klaus ordered, sounding impatient.

"I give positive confirmation that the Petrova Doppelgänger is indeed alive and living in Mystic Falls." I told him.

 _"Excellent."_ Klaus responded, sounding triumphant. _"Go ahead with our plans, Maddox."_ He ordered.

"Very good." I said. I was about to hang up and head back to my motel room to regroup and prepare when Klaus unexpectedly spoke again.

 _"Oh, and Maddox? Expect an overnight package to arrive."_ He tells me, and I frowned with confusion. _"Once you get it, deliver it to Graínne."_

"Understood." I replied, raising an eyebrow at the unusual request. Then heard the click from the other line.

Now to find the perfect candidate to host Klaus' spirit…

* * *

 **A/N: Klaus arrives in the next chapter! BE EXCITED!**

 **Until then xx**


	29. Who's Afraid Of The Big Bad Wolf?

**A/N: "** **Ladies and gents, this is the moment you've waited for…"**

 **This is the chapter where we finally meet Klaus … in an 'Alaric suit'. But still, he's finally here! I hope that you'll enjoy this chapter. It's taken this long to get here, and I thank you for your patience.**

 **If you enjoy this chapter, please provide a review! :D But no flames!**

 **I don't own** _ **The Vampire Diaries.**_ **All characters are the property of L.J. Smith, with the exception of Grace who belongs to me.**

 **I also don't own the first line of '** _ **The Greatest Show',**_ **sung by Hugh Jackman and from the movie** _ **The Greatest Showman.**_ **That belongs to Twentieth Century Fox.**

 **Happy Reading! ;)**

* * *

 **WHO'S AFRAID OF THE BIG BAD WOLF?**

" _Arriving at one goal is the starting point to another."_ _ **~John Dewey.**_

* * *

 **~:GRACE P.O.V:~**

I woke up the next morning, feeling well rested and ready to face the next bag of tricks that this bloody town had to throw at me. I was also aware that I was presently lying in a massive, very comfortable, very soft bed, and was being used as Damon's personal human-sized teddy-bear again. Worse, I really needed to use the loo.

"Damon, let go of me, please?" I requested, making an attempt to pull free from his grip. Damon moaned in his sleep and instinctively tightened his grip and intertwined his legs with mine. My eyes widened in panic, and immediately changed tactics. "Not kidding, Damon! Let me go, I need to use the loo!" I pleaded, trying to pry Damon's arms away from my waist. On cue, Stefan burst through the bedroom door, startling Damon awake and thus freeing me from his arms. I sagged with relief and quickly used the opportunity to escape. "Thanks, Stef!" I hollered and charged towards the sanctuary of the bathroom. Damon blinked at me in astonishment, and then at Stefan in annoyance before he stands up and yawns.

"Try knocking next time?" I heard Damon admonish his baby brother. I managed to catch Stefan rolling his eyes, as I walked back out into the bedroom and walked over to where I had put my shoes to pull them on.

"Sorry."

"Now what is so urgent that you had to barge into my room and wake us all up?" Damon wanted to know. I yawned and scowled at Damon, then blanched when I saw my reflection in the mirror and retreated back towards my purse to pull free my hairbrush to tame the tangled, frizzy mess my hair had become overnight.

"The Gilberts received an unwelcomed guest at their house earlier this morning." Stefan explained. This morning? Exactly what time was it? I pulled my phone from its charger and checked the time. Turns out that it was only 10:30am in the morning, so I relaxed a little. Who knew the Gilberts were early risers?

"That can't seriously be it." Damon now looked peeved. Stefan looked deceptively innocent. That made everybody both nervous and suspicious.

"Did I forget to mention that it was Isobel?" He asked. Damon paused mid-stretch and looked at Stefan with surprise.

"Elena's biological mum?" I commented, throwing my hairbrush back into my purse, and watching it bounce off the moonstone inside. I momentarily stared at the worthless hunk of rubble that had Niklaus' curse imbued within it, and momentarily realised that I had intended on giving it to Damon; since I had no place to hide it at my apartment.

"Unfortunately." Damon grumbled, pulling on one of his John Varvatos T-shirts and following Stefan downstairs. I followed closely, interested in how the conversation would turn out.

"Isobel just showed up at their front doorstep." Stefan filled Damon in.

"What's she doing here?" Damon demanded.

Stefan shrugged. "I don't know. That's what I'm going to find out." Katherine sashayed her way downstairs, brushing past me in the process. The second she heard the name 'Isobel' she made a pained face.

"I don't think that you should tell her that I'm here." She advised.

"Why?" I asked, before either of the brothers could. I was surprised when Katherine merely answered the question without a fuss.

"It's better if she and John not know that I stayed in town after I got out of the tomb." Katherine responded, matter-of-factly.

"You're the one in cahoots with them. You made a deal with John that almost got me killed." Damon pointed out, sounding accusatory. Katherine didn't look fazed by his complaint.

"I did what I had to, to get out of the tomb. Now I'm reconsidering my alliance." Katherine turns around to leave, but Stefan verbally intercepts her.

"What do you know?"

Katherine smiled. "I know that I want Klaus dead, which puts me squarely on team you." I scowled at her. "Or rather, Team Salvatore. I'm sure warrior princess over here would rather protest against Klaus dying." Katherine indicates towards me.

She thought correctly.

"Besides, if you three ever need me to swap places with Elena again, the less people know that I'm here, the better." Katherine pointed out. Stefan looked thoroughly annoyed with her. "Think about it, Stefan. Come on. Be smart." She urged. Stefan strides towards the front door.

"Tell you what." He focuses on Katherine. "Why don't you, uh… Call Alaric and let him know that his wife just showed up on his girlfriend's doorstep." He suggested, looking between Damon and Katherine, and then abruptly leaving.

"Someone's pissed." I muttered, heading for the kitchen to grab something to drink before I headed home to shower and change. Heavy footsteps follow me, and I turned in time to see Damon following me in. Katherine had obviously gone off on her own to do her own thing.

"You doing anything today?" Damon asked me, abruptly. I just threw him a look.

"I think due to the imminent arrival of Niklaus; my days have been booked up solid either trying to keep myself alive long enough to greet the following day, or racing off somewhere to save or prevent Elena from doing something stupid." I was quick to respond. "Why? What did you have in mind?" I asked, mildly curious. Damon chuckled at my flippant attitude.

"I'm going to the Martin's apartment to do some investigations. Wanna come with?" He asked, casually. I pretended to really give the answer some thought. Since it was almost highly likely I'd ultimately be tagging along anyhow.

"When you ask me so sincerely, how could I ever pass it up?" I responded. "Just give me an hour or so to head home and freshen up. I don't really relish the thought of offending myself or others." I stated.

"Fair enough." Damon responded, smirking a little. "Meet back here in a couple of hours?" I grabbed a mug and set it down beside the kettle which I had just filled during our conversation and clicked on.

"It's a date." I agreed. Damon went to leave the kitchen to make his own plans before I remembered the moonstone lying around in my purse. "Oh, before I forget." I reached in and grabbed the stone, pressing it into Damon's hand. He blinked down at it, with confusion. "Hide this." I instructed. Damon frowned at me.

"I thought you wanted this?" He stated, holding the moonstone in the air at eye level.

"I haven't got any good hiding spots. It's better off hidden here in this large house." I explained to him. Damon shrugged and pocketed the moonstone in his jeans.

"See ya in a couple of hours." He ordered, before leaving the kitchen.

* * *

I drove back to my apartment, desperately seeking a shower and a fresh change in clothes. I climbed up the staircase to the residential area, when somebody I hadn't been expecting so soon called out to me.

"Grace! Hey!" I paused and turned to see Maddox of all people jogging up across the vestibule and towards the stairs, coming to rest in front of me. I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Hey, Maddox. Everything alright?" I enquired, cautiously. He gave me a pleasant smile that I tentatively returned since I knew that there wasn't any reason for this witch to hurt me.

"Great actually. A friend of mine is coming to town soon." He tells me, and I couldn't help but broaden the smile on my face to match his contagious one.

"That's awesome. Is…?"

"He." Maddox supplied.

"He staying in town long?" I asked, out of curiosity. Maddox nodded.

"Yeah, indefinitely as far as I'm aware." He responded. "Although, he might travel a little. It's part of his career." I nodded.

"Are you work colleagues?" I asked, as we both continued walking up the staircase towards the residential area. Maddox looked a little sheepish.

"He's my boss actually." He confessed. I blinked in surprise.

"Wow, you're friends with your boss?"

"Is that so strange?" He frowned, looking standoffish. I smiled quickly as to not offend him.

"No, my father had a good rapport with his boss. I was just surprised." I answered, as we got to the top of the stairs. "So what did you need to talk to me about?" I asked, getting back to the reason he stopped me on my way to freshen up. Maddox looked confused for a split second before a look of realisation passed over his eyes.

"Oh, right. I came by to invite you for a morning jog this morning, and I saw this fall out of your mailbox." Maddox handed me a small, flat brown package about the size of a small book. "I didn't think you'd want somebody to steal it so I picked it up with the intention of handing it to you later on." He explained.

"Thanks. That's weird, I wonder who sent it?" I mused out loud, then put it in my purse to look at later. An apartment door opened nearby, and out stepped a stressed looking Alaric; who immediately deadlocked his door and walked briskly our way. I winced sympathetically, apparently grabbing Maddox's attention. "Hey Alaric." I greeted my neighbour and friend, who glanced up and smiled weakly at me.

"Oh, hey Grace. Who's your friend?" Alaric asked politely.

"Oh, this is Maddox; he just got into town a couple days ago. Maddox this is Alaric Saltzman; he's the local High School History teacher." I introduced both men to each other.

"Hey, nice to meet you." Alaric greeted Maddox, distractedly. It was obvious that he needed to be somewhere, but his manners were forcing him to remain where he was.

"Hi." Maddox shook hands with Alaric politely, and fixing him with a scrutinizing stare. I assumed it was probably because of Alaric's agitated state. I turned to Maddox.

"Hey, I'll be right back. Just gotta run something by Alaric." I told Maddox, who nodded.

"Sure, no rush." The witch replied nonchalantly. I indicated for Alaric to continue going downstairs, and he took the hint.

"Good to meet you." Alaric said to Maddox before hurrying away, with me close behind.

"Have you spoken to Jenna yet?" I asked, cautiously. Alaric winced.

"Yeah, she's pretty pissed off right now." Alaric admitted, then frowned at me curiously. "How'd you find out?" He asked.

"Stefan woke both Damon and I up, and revealed all." I explained. "So, what's the next move?" I enquired. Alaric sighed and raked a hand through his hair.

"Gonna confront Isobel and get an explanation about why she just appeared on the Gilbert's doorstep. It was a pretty rude awakening for Jenna to find out like that." Alaric sounded pissed, and I didn't blame him. It seemed that Isobel and Elena were born with the tactless gene.

"Damon and I are gonna do some investigating at the Martin's." I shared with Alaric who nodded, looking concerned.

"Watch your back." He suggested and I nodded.

"Absolutely." I responded. "See you later." I went back upstairs towards where I had left Maddox. He looked concerned.

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah, of course. He's just dealing with some problems." I replied vaguely. Maddox nodded, but said nothing. "Well, I got places to be so I'm gonna love ya and leave ya." I told him, and Maddox smiled once again.

"Yeah, me too. The boss has asked to run a few errands for him before he gets here, so gotta get on that." Maddox told me, before heading for the stairs. "See you later."

"Later." I called. I headed straight for my apartment and let myself in.

"Hey Grace!" Henrik greeted me, brightly. "Doing the walk of shame?" I scowled at him for the cheeky comment.

"Nice to see you too, kid. I don't even want to know how you learned that term." I stated, toeing off my shoes and putting down both my purse and keys on the island bench. Then I remembered the package Maddox had given me from before.

"What's that?" Henrik asked as I pulled it from my purse and frowned at it curiously.

"No idea. I'll take a better look at it after I get out of the shower." I replied, placing it down beside my purse and making a beeline for my bedroom. I immediately peeled off my clothes and popped them into the hamper before shoving my hair up into a messy bun, peeling off the dressing on my neck to expose the bite mark, and stepping into the shower. I took my time underneath the hot spray, working out the kinks and soothing my sore muscles. I winced when the water glided across the bite mark, and paused wondering why it was taking so long to heal. Eventually, I shut off the water and stepped out to towel myself off.

"Did Maddox give you that package?" Henrik called out from behind the bedroom door. I frowned; sometimes my brother was just too observant. It was just a little freaky at times.

"Yeah, he did. Why?" I called back, as I walked over to my wardrobe to select what I wanted to wear today. I figured comfortable and easy-to-move-in was probably the safest option considering I was helping to gather information in a former witch's apartment today. We might need to move quickly.

"Just a bad feeling that I'm having." Henrik explained. "It just seemed too convenient that he happened to be there with a package addressed to you." Henrik theorised. "I mean, did you order something online lately?" He added, rhetorically, already knowing the answer.

Henrik did have a valid point. I finished getting dressed: matching lacy black bra and thong, blue jeans, short-sleeved black button up, ankle boots and a blazer jacket. I opened the door and stepped from the room.

"Well, let's see if I can put those bad feelings to rest." I said, and walked over to the package; not recognising the handwriting that had written down my address. I flipped it over to check the return address, only to find none. That was slightly suspicious. I tugged on the red string to tear open the package and found a neatly wrapped present inside with a little card taped to the top. I set aside the card to read later, and opened the box.

"What is it?" Henrik asked, sounding slightly impatient as he looked over my shoulder at what was inside the box. It was a necklace: to be more precise, a simple but very valuable looking silver wolf's tooth hanging from a thin but sturdy black cord. I pulled it out of the box and let it dangle in front of my face as I blinked at it in astonishment.

"What the hell?" I muttered.

"Who sent you that?" Henrik wanted to know, also looking extremely confused. I reached for the card and opened it.

I froze.

I recognised that handwriting.

But it's not possible. Henrik was alarmed by my reaction.

"Grace, what's wrong? You've gone pale." I didn't answer him. Instead, I read the short but precisely worded message:

' _My beloved Graínne,_

 _I am counting the hours until I can hold you in my arms once again._

 _Yours always and forever,_

 _Nik.'_

 _Niklaus…_ I gasped with shock and cupped a hand over my mouth as I stared incredulously at the necklace, and joyful tears welled up in my eyes. "What is it?" Henrik demanded, getting very impatient and I held the card up so that he could read it. It took less than thirty seconds for Henrik to recognise his older brother's handwriting and he yelled out in triumph. "He's nearly here!" He crowed. I immediately fastened the necklace around my neck as a salty tear trailed down my cheek.

 _Hurry up and get here, Nik!_

* * *

I felt like I was floating on air as I drove myself back to the Boarding House, and Damon looked at me strangely when I knocked, and waited for him to immerge so we could head over to Jonas Martin's apartment to commence our investigation. However, my bliss was short-lived when the strange expression on his face vanished, and his ice blue eyes narrowed the second they clapped onto my neck.

"Who the fuck did that?!" Damon demanded, pointing towards the exposed vampire bite that in my excitement of getting Niklaus' necklace, I had neglected to cover up again. But then again, I was surprised Damon had even noticed to be perfectly honest. It wasn't exactly inconspicuous.

"Not now, Damon. It's not exactly important, I just forgot to put a fresh dressing on after I bathed." I responded, dismissively. Damon stepped into my personal space, causing me to take an uncertain step back. Even more so when I saw the furious expression in his eyes.

"You didn't answer my question: Who. The fuck. Did that?" Damon demanded, a second time. I rolled my eyes as I sidestepped him and entered the Boarding House to put a fresh dressing over the bite so it didn't get infected.

"Katherine. The night we found her showering in your bathroom." I responded with irritation. Damon's eyes widened when he remembered that night.

"You mean when she attacked you, and you retaliated by nearly gutting her with your dagger?" I taped down the square cotton dressing.

"That's correct." I confirmed. Damon clenched his fists in his anger.

"I'm going to kill her." He declared, but I grabbed his arm.

"Don't bother. Leave it to Niklaus when he arrives." I suggested, looping my purse over my shoulder.

"Why?" Damon exclaimed.

"Why do you think, Damon? Put yourself in his shoes; if Katherine had taken a bite out of somebody you cared about, what would your first reaction be if you discovered that it was her doing?" I pointed out. Damon backed down after thinking about it for several minutes. Albeit begrudgingly. "Now let's get this over with, okay?" I suggested, heading for Damon's car and sliding in.

Damon turned over the engine and drove straight into town. I had been expecting that we would be driving straight there; but apparently, we weren't the only visitors going to the apartment today. I glanced at Damon for an explanation when he pulled up in front of the Gilbert House. He avoided eye contact; and from what I had heard from Stefan about what happened this morning, I seriously doubted that any of the Gilberts involved would be up to helping us. But as I opened my mouth to point this out to Damon, the front door opened and both Jeremy and Bonnie hastily ran for the car and jumped in.

"Thanks for the lift." Jeremy said. Damon looked at him through the rear view mirror.

"Don't mention it … ever." He responded, before driving off. Both teenagers rolled their eyes or glared at him as Damon took off towards the Martin's apartment. I noticed Jeremy's attention shift towards my neck; or more specifically, what was dangling from it.

"Nice necklace." He commented.

"Thanks!" I said cheerfully, earning a weird look from Bonnie. Damon reached over and picked it up, momentarily taking his eyes off the road to glance at it.

"Never seen you wear that before." He observed, frowning a little. I gently but abruptly took it away from him before he could do something unfortunate (or deliberate) and yank it from my neck.

"Probably because I just got it today?" I stated, feeling slightly defensive at my best friend's reaction. Damon didn't appear fazed.

"It looks like a wolf's tooth." Jeremy observed, sitting forward a little from the backseat.

"That's exactly what it is." I confirmed. I was pleased that I was wearing something that represents Niklaus, and could be worn close to my heart. Damon didn't look amused.

"So after all you've been through, you're choosing to wear something that represents the thing that attacked you?" He indicates the permanent reminder gruesomely displayed on my shoulder.

"That's not what it represents." I said quietly and firmly, wrapping my hand around the tooth tightly. Both Jeremy and Bonnie looked confused.

"Something attacked you?" Bonnie looked right at me, speaking up for the first time since she got into Damon's car.

"Yeah, unfortunately." Damon confirmed, and I pulled back my blazer and pulled down my shirt to reveal the werewolf bite Jules had given me when she had attacked both Rose and I about a month ago. Both teens look horrified.

"What the hell is that?" Jeremy demanded, looking a little sick.

"A werewolf bite." I confirmed, pulling my shirt back over my shoulder to cover up the wound. "I got it from Jules, the werewolf that Tyler hung out with before he ditched town. She was also responsible for kidnapping both Caroline and I in her bid to liberate Tyler." I added, feeling a little bitter. Damon pulls up to an apartment block and cuts the engine.

"Let's get this over with." He muttered, getting out of the car and leading the way inside. When we reached the correct apartment, Damon opened the door. Bonnie, Jeremy and I had no problems getting inside; but with Damon it was a grey area. It could go either way. Cautiously, Damon raises his leg and moves forward to test if he could step over the threshold. To our surprise, his foot passed through without any hassle. "Yep. Everybody's dead." Damon declared, indicating to a charred, blackened corpse in the living room.

"We should pack up the grimoires." Bonnie suggested. "They spent years collecting them. I wanna make sure they're safe." We all nodded and moved about to collect our bounty. Damon takes another look at the corpse, whom Bonnie identified as Luka Martin. I felt a pang of sympathy towards Bonnie who looked saddened. Naturally, Damon had a less than tactful comment to say on the matter.

"You know, we could just get another match and cremate him." He suggested wily. Both Bonnie and I threw him dagger glares at the mere suggestion.

"Try it, and I'll do the same to you, Damon." I warned him.

"Yeah, don't be disrespectful. Not to him." Bonnie agreed.

"Fine. I'll bury him." Damon sighed, before wrapping Luka's body up with the rug. Jeremy piped up from where he was searching some nearby bookshelves.

"What exactly are we looking for?" He asked, curiously. Bonnie scanned through the Martins' collection of tomes and grimoires.

"According to Luka's dad, one of these contains a spell that'll let me harness the energy that's left behind when a witch dies violently." She explained.

"You were close to Jonas?" I asked, surprised.

"We weren't but when he gave me my powers back, he gave me a message. If I can find the spot in town, where the old Salem witches were burned, I can harness their energy to use when I need it." Bonnie insisted. Damon rolled his eyes.

"Great. We'll have to put that on our list of things to do today." He grumbled. "Harness ancient dead-witch power." Bonnie stopped what she was doing and turned to look at Damon with shock.

"You know where the witches were burned?" She demanded, sounding a little accusatory. Damon was sheepish.

"Did I forget to mention that?" He asked, rhetorically. Jeremy groaned, as he looked at the pile of grimoires we had to look at and sort through.

"Are we gonna have to read through every one of these books till we find the right spell?" Jeremy asked. Bonnie shook her head, allowing all of us to sigh with obvious relief.

"Not exactly." She said, before looking at the shelf and closing her eyes. Before any of us could ask her what the hell was going on, Bonnie raises her hands. Almost immediately all the books fall to the ground, and one of them opens right in front of her. She smiles triumphantly as she bends over to pick it up. "It's this one."

"Excellent. One last thing we have to do today." I stated. Damon nodded in agreement, and started heading for the front door.

"Great. Grab the rest. Let's go." He ordered and we immediately leave; loaded down with practically every book the Martins once owned.

* * *

After dropping Bonnie and Jeremy back to the Gilbert House, Damon and I headed back to my home away from home: the Boarding House. Elena and Stefan were already there, deep in discussion about Isobel, and Elena looking like a dark cloud had descended over her.

"Where have you two been?" Elena wanted to know. Damon and I didn't bother sarcastically greeting her; by now, there wasn't really any point. When it came to Elena Gilbert, as stubborn and defiant as she was, it was really too much of an effort.

"Helping Bonnie and Jeremy find Jonas Martin's grimoire. It has information regard a specific witch massacre." I replied to her question dully.

"We would've asked the both of you to come help, but it seemed like you already had your hands full with the 'Isobel' thing." Damon added, smirking when Elena tensed up the second her vampire mother had been mentioned. From there on, the conversation immediately focused on Isobel's random return.

"Do you really think that Isobel's telling the truth that word's gotten out about the doppelgänger?" Elena queried, fretfully. Stefan shook his head.

"Look, I don't trust a word that she says, but I think we'd be stupid to ignore the warning." Stefan explained to her. I felt completely lost, since I obviously hadn't been there when Elena and Isobel had their confrontation at the Gilbert House in front of a probably seething Jenna. Damon took up the conversation from there.

"You know, you should just stay here." He suggested to a thoroughly annoyed Elena. "It's better for us to keep an eye on you." Damon pointed out. "And by 'us' I mean Stefan and myself. Grace has her own problems to deal with." I smiled at him gratefully as Stefan scoffed.

"What, in the house that any vampire can enter?" He pointed out. "No. Her house is safer." Stefan insisted.

"Fine, then we'll stay there." Damon suggested. Elena looked about ready to break something.

"So is that the plan? Neither of you will let me out of your sight again?" She bitched. I smirked from my perch on one of the Salvatore's couches.

"If you come up with a better plan, let the boys know." I suggested, earning a scathing glare from Elena. "After all your current plans are working so well right now." I shrugged, but Elena relented. But I'd bet you $50 it was a begrudging mood on her part.

"Fine. Then one of you bodyguards is gonna have to come with me to the Lockwood Mansion." Elena pointed out. Stefan immediately strode over to his girlfriend's side.

"That's me." He stated.

"Not me. I have some witch stuff to attend to with Bonnie. So does Grace." Damon reported. I looked at him incredulously.

"I do?"

"You want to leave me there all alone with only Bonnie as company?" Damon questioned, as though asking me if I had lost my mind.

I shrugged. "Fair enough."

"Does that mean that you're taking her to the…" Elena started to say, but was immediately shushed by Damon as Katherine walked into the room. The Vampire Doppelgänger raised an eyebrow.

"Don't get quiet on my account. If you have a plan to combat the impending vampire doom, please do tell." She insisted. Nobody moves or responds, and Damon glances at his brother. Katherine shifts into a serious 'let's just level with me on this' face. "Seriously. What is the plan to get us out of this mess, hmmm? I delivered you a moonstone, a werewolf…" _Werewolf? Who?_ "… and the dagger to lure and kill Klaus, and right now all you have is a moonstone. Or so you tell me." Katherine lists the current facts.

"No, we have it." Damon confirms, looking over at me. I didn't return the gaze.

"Where is it?" Katherine immediately demanded, looking alert. Damon smirked.

"It's in a _very_ safe place." He insists vaguely. Katherine narrows her eyes at us all.

"I've been honest with you. Time to return the favour." She insists.

"Honest? With you?" I blurted out dubiously. "Please, you're lucky we haven't set you on fire while you were sleeping." Elena looks at Katherine and smiles an insincere sweet smile. Katherine glowers.

"Fine. Be that way." She sneers before turning and leaving. I frowned; call me crazy but I think that Katherine is gonna have the last laugh somehow. It was a nagging feeling that wouldn't let up, not even when Elena and Stefan set off for the Lockwood Mansion for the soiree Elena was supposed to be attending for whatever reason, and when Damon and I went off to wherever we were supposed to meet Bonnie and Jeremy on our continued investigation into the witch massacre site.

* * *

Damon, Bonnie, Jeremy and I were walking through the woods, searching for the site of the witch massacre. But it was a silent, tense and awkward exercise and all I really wanted to do was bang Bonnie and Damon's heads together for behaving like squabbling children. They didn't like each other: noted, now shake hands and get over yourselves, we have a more pressing matter to attend to than your pointless 'witches are the servants of nature, therefore vampires are abominations and we must protect each other as a result' debate.

I noticed, much to my amusement and curiosity, how close Jeremy seemed to be standing next to Bonnie who didn't seem to be objecting, despite how tense and distracted the witch appeared to be. I was pleased for him, the poor kid had suffered way too much for his age and deserved a little love and happiness … even if the object of his affection happened to be a couple of years older than he was, and one of his sister's best friends.

"Is this the spot Emily Bennett was killed, too?" Jeremy asked warily. Damon nodded.

"Founders thought it was poetic burning her where the other witches burned." He explained. Bonnie narrowed her eyes at him.

"How do you know where the witches were burned?" She asked, suspiciously. I rolled my eyes, gathering up my patience.

See what I have to deal with?

I noticed Damon narrowing his eyes at Bonnie, warningly.

"‛Cause I tried to save her." Damon retorted. "Emily was just my key to getting Katherine back before I knew what a nasty little bitch she was." Both Jeremy and I laughed as we stopped in front of an abandoned and run-down house the witches must've probably lived in when they were alive.

I instantly shivered, sensing the presence of hundreds of dead witches. Sometimes it sucked to be a medium. At least Henrik had a warmer presence; these witches were not too happy that we had come here and summoned them, even more so because Damon was with us. Jeremy glanced about doubtfully.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Both Damon and I nodded, and I earned a weird look from Jeremy and Bonnie; Damon wasn't looking in my direction at that point. "How would you know?" He asked me.

"Just a feeling." I replied absently, as we walked into the house. Then I froze, and felt my eyes widen in both horror and shock when I immediately saw a large group of witches surrounding us. All of them were wearing Victorian Era clothing, and glaring at Damon. "Wait, stop!" I said to one of them without thinking when they raised their hand and aimed it at my best friend. They all looked up at me in astonishment; Bonnie, Damon and Jeremy included.

"What is it?" Damon asked, looking alert and eying me with concern.

"You can see us?" A young mocha skinned witch who looked similar to Bonnie spoke up. I nodded subtly at her, before responding to Damon's question.

"The witches have surrounded us." I explained. Damon was immediately alert. Bonnie and Jeremy looked spooked.

"You can see them?" Jeremy blurted out.

"It's one of my abilities." I confirmed, still looking at the witches with narrowed eyes. Jeremy looked shocked.

"Are you a witch too?"

"I'm a Medium." I corrected him. "I have the ability to see and talk to ghosts." Bonnie and Jeremy looked like they were on the brink of freaking out, but Damon – who already knew this about me – groaned and continued walking through the house.

"How long have you been a Medium?" Jeremy asked, walking over to me.

"Since I was a baby. I thought that my baby brother-in-law was my imaginary friend for a long time, before I eventually realised that he was real when he didn't disappear when my peers stopped seeing theirs." I explained. Suddenly, Damon stopped mid-step.

"Whatever witchy prank you're playing, don't. It's not funny." Damon was not amused, and Bonnie looked confused.

"I'm not doing anything." She insisted. I glanced around at the spirits of the dead witches accusingly.

"What are you doing?" I said angrily. Damon was getting increasingly agitated.

"I can't move." He insisted, impatiently. Then his skin started burning. "Oh, my ring's not working. Do something!" I spun on them all.

"Stop this right now!" I growled. The witches ignored me, forcing Bonnie to close her eyes and concentrate. Almost immediately, Damon could move again.

"I don't think the witches like you being here." Bonnie suggested.

"I guess this is the right place." Jeremy commented, going off what I told him (which looked like it freaked him out a bit) and what Bonnie had done. I continued staring down these defiant witches.

"Who do you think you are?" I demanded. One of the witches stepped forward and stared me down.

"You may be a medium, my dear, but you certainly do not have any authority over us. You have no power over what we do." She told me.

"Don't ever do that again!" I warned them, coldly.

"Or you'll what?" The witch gave me a cocky smirk, convinced that I was powerless to stop them all torturing Damon. But before I could respond, Henrik burst in from out of nowhere.

"Get away from my sister!" He yelled angrily at the witches who locked eyes on him.

"Henrik?" I blurted out, grabbing Damon's attention.

"Your brother's here?" He asked, grabbing Bonnie and Jeremy's attention.

"You knew about this?" Bonnie said accusingly. Damon ignored her in favour of focusing upon me and my invisible assailants. The witches looked at Henrik unamused.

"And who are you?" One of the cockier witches sneered. Henrik rose to his full height, looking irritated and protective.

"Henrik Mikaelson." He responded. The very second Henrik verbalised his name, all the witches stiffen with shock.

"Mikaelson? You're Esther's boy?" One of the older witches exclaimed. "How are you associated with the Mikaelsons?" The same witch demanded of me. I knew that this entire conversation was probably extremely confusing to Bonnie, Damon and Jeremy, but I could care less if it meant that Damon would not be subjected to being burned by some holler-than-thou witches with megalomaniac delusions of grandeur.

"Grace is my brother, Niklaus Mikaelson's intended a thousand years ago. My mother approved of their engagement." Henrik confirmed.

"And you got on well with Esther?" Another witch asked. Both Henrik and I frowned at that odd question.

"Is there a reason to suggest that I shouldn't have a positive relationship with my soon to be mother-in-law?" I enquired. The witches gave each other furtive glances, and that immediately caught my interest. What was going on the other side?

"We don't have time for this. We're here for a reason." Bonnie exclaimed, impatiently. The witches and I focused on Bonnie before getting back to the point.

"Damon Salvatore is not welcomed here." The cocky witch declared. I sighed and turned my attention towards Damon.

"Damon…" I said, resigned. He got the hint.

"I'm gonna go wait outside." Damon leaves the abandoned house, leaving me with Bonnie and Jeremy. Bonnie walks deeper into the house followed closely by Jeremy, and I lagged behind with Henrik. The dead witches followed Bonnie and Jeremy, giving me the opportunity to talk with my brother.

"What are you doing here, Henrik? This is dangerous." I scolded him.

"I sensed that you were in danger." Henrik answered. "Why wouldn't I come and protect you? Elijah, Nik and Rebekah would never forgive me if anything happened to you that I could've prevented." Henrik insisted.

"You're alright, kid." I thanked him. We followed Bonnie through the house, wondering where she was going when suddenly we hear Damon call out from outside.

"Wanna hurry it up in there?" Damon complained. The response was the door closing by itself. I turned and noticed the lead witch; the one that looked similar to Bonnie physically had her hand in the air, narrowing her eyes at the front door.

"Seriously?" I called her out on her rather childish gesture. She ignored me.

"Screw you too, Emily." Damon retaliated. "You're all on your own in there. Be careful, Grace!" He yelled.

"Would you relax, Damon?" I shouted back. I heard him grumbling underneath his breath as he retreated.

"Can you hand me the grimoire?" Bonnie spoke up from behind me and I turned to see Jeremy handing Bonnie the grimoire she had liberated from the Martins' apartment; the one that stayed open when she dumped the large collection on the floor.

"Are you sure about this?" He asked, warily. Bonnie looked at him curiously.

"Are you worried about me?" Bonnie asked him. Jeremy smiled warmly at her.

"Yeah, of course I am." He responded, confidently. Bonnie takes the grimoire from him and kisses him. Henrik sniggers and I turn to give them some privacy while I swung my hand instinctively to hit Henrik, even though my hand fazed right through him.

"I'm sure." Bonnie whispers to Jeremy tenderly. The grimoire is opened and immediately a letter is revealed. Bonnie looks surprised and opens the letter, reading it. I heard whispers coming from the group of witches surrounding us the moment they saw what Bonnie was up to. This made Jeremy nervous.

"What is that?" He asked.

"The spirits of the witches who died here. I can feel them." Bonnie announced.

"That letter you discovered has gotten them talking." I added, thumbing over my shoulder at the motley crew of witches still whispering and glancing over at us from time to time.

"Alright. What are they saying?" Jeremy asks both of us.

I shrugged. "Beats me."

"I can't tell either." Bonnie admitted, looking a little dejected. She walks out of the room and down into the basement with Jeremy, Henrik and I following closely.

"Where are you going?" He asks her. Bonnie doesn't respond to Jeremy's question and eventually stops in the basement, looking confident.

"Here." She confirms. "This is it. Help me set the candles." She tells the both of us. While Jeremy and I obey her, the witches seemed to have followed us from the upper floors. Their whispering getting louder and louder, and my suspicions rising higher and higher. Even Henrik looked cautious. Jeremy places a hand on my shoulder, grabbing my attention.

"What the hell are they saying?" He asks. I feel helpless; which is something that I hate.

"They're whispering too low and too fast for me to lip read." I explained, frustrated. "Which is probably their intention. I don't think they trust me because I'm associated with Henrik's mother." I added. "Which is stupid, because I haven't seen the bloody woman for a thousand years!" I stated loud enough for the proud, scheming witches to hear. Jeremy turns back to Bonnie and nudges me. I glance over and see her concentrating again and closing her eyes. After a couple of minutes, Bonnie reopens her eyes. A determined look had settled in them.

"What is it?" Jeremy immediately asked.

"Nothing." Bonnie responded distractedly. Suddenly all the candles light up at the same time; alarming Jeremy, Henrik and me. I let out a startled yelp, and instinctively grab Niklaus' necklace for comfort. "They're ready." Bonnie confirmed. She then closes her eyes and starts chanting along with the witches who are now surrounding the four of us in a large circle, causing Henrik to stand protectively in front of me. As the spell progresses, the voices continue getting louder and louder, and before our eyes Bonnie starts to cry alarming Jeremy.

"Bonnie? You're starting to scare us." I warned her. Then Bonnie lets out an anguished scream that scares all of us. Jeremy moves towards her.

"Bonnie!" He almost reaches her but is thrown against the wall by an invisible force. I swore colourfully and rush over to Jeremy's side to help him sit up.

"Are you alright?" I asked him, urgently. He nods, still cringing as Bonnie's screaming increases in volume, causing Jeremy to persist in his attempts to get to his feet. Then just as abruptly as they started, the voices of the surrounding witches stop. Jeremy manages to get up and rushes over to Bonnie who is crying.

"You okay?" He asks Bonnie, worriedly.

"I did it." Bonnie declared, both triumphant and relieved before promptly fainting into Jeremy's arms. He wraps his arms tightly around her.

"It's okay." Jeremy promises. Both Henrik and I stare at them and each other, thoroughly freaked out by what we had just witnessed. From what I could recall, none of the spells Esther had cast had ever been this dramatic or nerve-wreaking. There was definitely something strange going on here.

* * *

After making sure that Bonnie and Jeremy were okay, since it seemed that the second the spell that Bonnie had cast had finished, the witches vanished without a trace; I headed back to the Boarding House to see what else needed to be done before I headed back to my apartment. I was still recreating my sketches onto canvas, but the constant happenings surrounding Elena and Niklaus' ritual were putting it on hold. I cursed underneath my breath when I realised that Damon had ditched me here, but thankfully I had the good sense to memorise how we got here so I retraced my steps back to the Boarding House and let myself in, finding nobody home at that point.

"Might as well wait for Damon or Stefan to return." I mumbled out loud and both Henrik and I curled up on a couch together. I pulled out my novel and continued from where I had left off while waiting for somebody to return. I didn't have to wait long, when Damon breezed on in carrying John Gilbert's dead body over his shoulder. "What the hell happened to him?" I blurted out loud as Damon dumped John on the floor. There was blood on his hands and shirt.

"Good question. Stefan, Carol Lockwood and Sheriff Forbes found him at that party Elena had to go to at the Lockwood Mansion." Damon stated brusquely, and made his way upstairs to go wash up. I bit my bottom lip; it was obvious he was in a foul mood.

Lovely.

I follow him upstairs.

"So one of them called you to deal with John's body." I stated.

"Yep." Damon responded, peeling off his shirt and throwing it in the clothes hamper to be washed as he went into his walk-in closet to grab a fresh shirt. I sat down on Damon's bed as Henrik sauntered in, listening in on the conversation as well with a raised eyebrow. "But Stefan and Elena had split before I got there. Unfortunately, John's death isn't permanent." He tells me.

I frowned at this.

"Excuse me?"

"I checked his hand when I saw him. John was wearing the same ring as Alaric. He'll recover, then we'll attempt to get an explanation from him." Damon explained.

I snorted. "Yeah, doubtful. He's just as stubborn as Elena." I said. Just then Damon's phone rang, and he swaggers out and plucks his phone out from his jacket pocket.

"Stefan?" Damon frowns with confusion. "How'd I beat you and Elena home?" He asks his brother, then listens for a few minutes to what Stefan had to tell him. "What?" Damon's eyes widen in realisation and he disappears back into his bathroom after hanging up his phone. I hopped off the bed and wondered over to the doorway of the bathroom.

"What's wrong?" I asked Damon as I watched sift through his soap bowl. This is weird, but then it occurs to me why he is doing this and I nearly face-palm. The moonstone; he hid that bloody stone in the soap dish?

"It's not there!" Damon snarls and throws the bowl on the ground, making me jump and retreat back into the bedroom away from the rampaging Damon. He storms out of the bathroom and I eyed him warily as Henrik comes over to my side to provide reassurance, while also eying Damon warningly. "Katherine took the moonstone." Damon translated his violent reaction to me. I normally would've responded with a cheeky answer, but realised that he wouldn't appreciate the gesture.

"So I gathered. Where do you think she's likely to have gone?" I asked.

"Who the hell knows?" Damon ranted. "Probably wherever Isobel is." He eventually suggests.

"So what's happening now? We're obviously going to find her…" I trailed off, waiting for Damon to fill in the blanks. I wasn't disappointed.

"Stefan's coming back here, then all three of us are going to find out where Isobel is likely to be." Damon told me.

"Fine. I'll help out where I can." I promised, using a calm tone. Damon relaxed a little, realising that he was scaring me a little and came over to wrap me up in a hug.

"Sorry if I scared you before." He said, sincerely. I shrugged.

"You wouldn't be you, if you didn't do that once in a while." I waved away his concerns and eventually pulled away from the embrace. Damon's head tilted upwards, indicating that he had just heard something that I wouldn't have been able to hear with my human ears.

"Stefan's here." He shrugs on his jacket and seizes my hand. "Let's go." He said and tugs me downstairs, Henrik following in quick pursuit. We both greet Stefan briefly downstairs and almost instantly jumped into Damon's car and speed off.

"Where are you looking first?" I asked, curiously. Damon glanced at me through the rear-view mirror.

"Isobel likes to live in luxury. We're most likely to find her in the most expensive and trendiest foreclosed house in town." He explains. Henrik snorts from where he was sitting beside me in the backseat.

"Sounds like she and Rebekah would probably get along; if it wasn't for the fact that Isobel is probably working against Niklaus." Henrik commented, and a secretive little smile spread across my face at this observation. Clearly, Rebekah hasn't really changed much over the last thousand years. I was going to enjoy reuniting with her eventually. Her personality will keep me on my toes. Eventually, Damon pulls up outside of a large tasteful looking estate. A large foreclosure sign had been hammered against the security gate.

"Think this is the house?" Stefan asked.

"Better be. It's the nicest foreclosure in town." Damon replied, getting out of the car and striding towards the front double doors.

"I swear to God if she's not here…" Stefan growled. Both Damon and I roll our eyes at the melodramatics.

"Don't be such a pessimist." Damon scolds Stefan as we entered the house; both brothers standing either side of me for protection in case we weren't alone. The place seemed bereft of people, but there was a burnished black baby grand piano in an adjoining room. Stefan makes his way towards the spiralling staircase.

"I got upstairs." He announces, charging up the stairs.

"Be my guest." Damon replies absently, as he and I look at the rest of the house.

"This is a close approximation of what Niklaus would probably live in … except a little less girly." Henrik relays to me, and my eyes widen with surprise. It seems my beloved has some expensive taste. Go figure. Damon and I continue searching for a few minutes longer before we come to the conclusion that nobody is squatting here. I notice some large designer suitcases standing beside the staircase that none of us had noticed before and nudge Damon to get his attention.

"Are those likely to be Isobel's stuff, or some unfortunate's?" I asked him. Damon walked over to inspect the luggage and made a face as Stefan comes back down the stairs, also empty handed.

"This is Isobel's stuff. We've definitely got the right place." I rolled my eyes. Couldn't he have just said 'yes' to my question? Stefan looks frustrated.

"Where are they?" He frets. It's obvious that he is worried about something. It was then that I realised what might've happened and mentally kicked myself for not thinking about this sooner. Elena had obviously been kidnapped, yet again.

"I don't know, Stefan." Damon replies, truthfully. He also looked a bit worried. We head out and back to the Boarding House to regroup and figure out our next move.

* * *

It turned out that Isobel _had_ kidnapped Elena with Katherine's help. But Katherine had promptly disappeared off the face of the Earth shortly afterwards, and Isobel, after taking Elena to the cemetery where she was 'buried', promptly removed her Lapis Lazuli necklace and burned herself alive in front of her only daughter after receiving a mysterious phone call. Stefan, Damon, Henrik and I were halfway back to the Boarding House when Elena called Stefan, in tears.

So Damon had to turn the car back around and drive to the location Elena had given, to pick her up. When we got to the cemetery; Stefan immediately got out of the car to embrace his distraught girlfriend, and I politely and wordlessly got out of the backseat and into the front seat with Damon so that Stefan could sit in the back with Elena and comfort her. Henrik decided to go back to my apartment and wait for me to return. For once, I felt sympathy for the poor girl. Nobody deserves to watch their parent incinerate themselves with the sunlight, no matter how much of a bitch she was or how much she lacked in the mothering department.

A mother and child's bond was forever, no matter if said parent was a vampire, or even a deadbeat.

Once we got back to the Boarding House, Elena immediately ran upstairs and shut herself in Stefan's bedroom. Stefan didn't follow, wisely deciding to give Elena the chance to grieve on her own. But eventually he wondered up to check on her. A few minutes later, Damon and I followed.

"We need to take some precautions." Damon said to both Elena and me. "‛Cause we got played, all of us." He hands some documents to me, and I frowned and started scanning the contents of the page.

"You can't be serious." I stated, looking at both brothers disbelievingly. Elena hopped up from Stefan's bed and wondered to me.

"What's that?" She asked, curiously.

"It's the deed to our house." Stefan explained. "It's in Zach's name." I looked up in confusion.

"Who's Zach?" I asked.

"He was our nephew, before Damon killed him." Stefan told me, glaring at Damon who looked martyred. I pretended that I hadn't heard the 'Damon killed him' part.

"It's complicated. Suffice it to say, Daddy Dearest had an affair with one of the maids in our home; she produced a son, and that's how the Salvatore bloodline continued." Damon explained dismissively.

"The point is, as soon as both you and Elena sign that." Stefan indicated to the deed. "It'll be in both your names." He concluded. I was mystified by their thinking. I already had a place that most vampires couldn't enter, why did I need a second?

"You're giving us your house?" Elena sounded dubious.

"Isobel had the right idea with the safe house. You'll just stay here till it's all over. That way, you can control who gets invited and who doesn't." Stefan explained further. Damon came over and hooked an arm around my shoulders.

"Although, I'll be super pissed if you lock me out." Damon murmured into my ear, and I smirked and rolled my eyes; bumping him with my hip. Both Damon and Stefan suddenly jerked their heads towards the doorway and Damon vamp sped downstairs.

"What the hell?" I blurted out, as Stefan also blurred downstairs; leaving Elena and I to follow. We found Damon holding a reanimated John by the lapels in the air, with Stefan trying to calm Damon down. John looked super freaked out.

"I swear I had no idea what she was gonna do. I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry." He insisted sincerely. Elena strode over to Damon and placed a calming hand on his arm.

"Damon, let him go. He and I need to talk." Elena stated, looking sternly at John who nodded. She leads him towards the parlour, while the rest of us regroup in the library. Damon pours himself a glass of scotch and offers one to Stefan who nods.

"You want one, Grace?" I glanced over and shook my head.

"Driving." I walked over to the black couch directly in front of the fireplace and took a seat on it, pulling my legs up to my chest and hugging them to me. I listen in on the conversation between Damon and Stefan behind me.

"Hey, Bonnie said the spell worked. She's locked and loaded." Damon tells Stefan. I snorted.

"You bet your arse it worked. Scared the living hell out of Jeremy and me in the process." I stated. Stefan made an approving grunt.

"At least something went right today. Katherine has no idea that Bonnie got her powers back."

 _And then some…_ I thought, sardonically.

"And Isobel had no idea what you, Grace and Jeremy took Bonnie to do today?" Stefan asked Damon.

"Uh-uh." Damon replied.

"Now I do." Isobel appeared from out of nowhere, causing me to jump in shock. She looked sombre and fearful. I frowned, feeling dread.

"We're the only ones who know." Stefan confirmed.

"Do you agree with that, Grace?" Damon called out to me. I glanced back at him, with a pained smile on my face.

"More or less." I agreed before turning back to the look at the fireplace and Isobel who was standing beside it, looking directly at me. That answer seemed satisfactory to Damon.

"That literally makes Bonnie our secret weapon." Damon and Stefan raise their glasses of scotch and clink them together before drinking. Isobel glowers at the brothers as she comes over and sits down beside me on the couch, fixing me with an extremely sympathetic smile.

"Watch your back. What's coming next is not gonna be easy." She tells me ominously, before Elena's mother faded from view.

* * *

 **~:KATHERINE'S P.O.V:~**

I woke up feeling disoriented and confused. What the hell just happened? I remembered seeing a warlock standing on the front door step of Isobel's house. He was smirking at me; like he knew something I didn't. I didn't like that so I charged at him, aiming to kill when it suddenly felt like a thousand knives were stabbing into my brain and I lost consciousness.

I glanced around the room, trying to figure out where I was; and realised that I was in somebody's studio apartment. I spied two vases just out of reach from where I was. One was filled with blood by the smell of it, and the other one was empty and lying on its side. That same warlock from before is standing on the other side of the room, chanting, with another person sitting on a chair with their back to me. I see the apartment door in my peripheral vision and I get to my feet, momentarily realising that Elena's necklace had disappeared from around my neck.

Suddenly, I realise that the person in the chair is the Salvatore Brothers' friend Alaric – at least I think that's what his name was – with his eyes closed, like he was meditating. I freeze when his eyes unexpectedly open and Alaric stands up from the chair. The warlock bows reverently before him, and I frown in utter confusion.

 _What's happening here?_ I slowly rise to my feet, and freeze once again when Alaric turns around and sees me.

" _Somno Ritum Per Dax Ritum, Somno Ritum Per Dax Ritum, Somno Ritum Per Dax Ritum…_ " The warlock chants over and over again.

"Alaric?" I cautiously question the man in front of me. He smiles, and I immediately sense danger. I rushed over to the door and thud into an invisible force that stops me from any attempt to leave. I have no choice but to turn and face Alaric. But at the same time, I know that that is not Alaric walking towards me with a deceptively kind smile on his ragged face.

" _Zdravei_ , Katerina."("Hello, Katerina.") 'Alaric' speaks to me in perfect Bulgarian. My eyes widen in horror; it can't be. 'Alaric' reaches out and takes my face into his hands, and I'm too stunned to react or get away from him. "I have missed you."

I feel myself trembling with fear.

"Klaus!" I whispered.

Klaus' only response was to smile widely at me.

* * *

 **A/N: Ta da! Welcome to the story, Klaus! Finally!**

 **Please review ;)**


	30. I Only Have Eyes For You (Part One)

**A/N: Now we get to the fun part of the story; the chapter where Grace and Klaus finally reunite – albeit in Alaric's body.**

 **Also going to add a dance scene between Damon and Grace during the 60s Decade Dance. Hope that it turns out the way I want it to.**

 **I already know that you will review, so please do so and remember no flames!**

 **I don't own The Vampire Diaries. All characters except for Grace belong to author L.J. Smith.**

 **Enjoy xx**

* * *

 **I ONLY HAVE EYES FOR YOU**

" _I fell in love with you because you loved me when I couldn't love myself."_ **~Unknown Author.**

* * *

 **~:KLAUS P.O.V:~**

I woke up this morning, in a rather pleasant mood. Today was the day that I am going to catch a glimpse of the doppelgänger for the first time at the High School. There was only one downside to this plan: the fact that I had to pose as this sorry excuse for a man. Alaric Saltzman? What sort of name is that exactly?

I was also hoping for the opportunity to reunite with Graínne for the first time in a thousand years. From what Maddox reported back to me since he first arrived in this backend town, Graínne has been seen on and off around the doppelgänger. When she wasn't around her, she could be found associating with Damon Salvatore, the older brother of my former best friend, one of the most gifted and notorious rippers this world has ever seen in a long time; Stefan Salvatore, whom was now the current boyfriend of the doppelgänger.

I hate to be him, when my dear sister finds out about that.

 _If_ she finds out, that is.

I walked over to Alaric's closet and made a face at what I saw inside, before I pulled out two plaid shirts.

"Oh! Who is this guy, Safari Sam?" I commented out loud, and turned towards Katerina who was sitting across the room, tied down into a chair. She was looking at me with trepidation; and I couldn't help but smirk. "Okay, bad?" I held one shirt against myself. "Or badder?" I held the other up. Katerina only takes a second to glance at both shirts before answering.

"The dark colors suit you better." She responds obediently. I smiled at her.

"Oh, thank you, honey." I toss aside the lighter of the two shirts, and proceed to pull on the darker shirt. "Okay, pop quiz." I turned back to her as I button up the shirt. "The dagger and white ash are in the Salvatores' possession, correct?" I asked her.

"The dagger was used to kill Elijah. You'll find him in the basement of the Salvatore house." Katerina reports, succinctly. I raised an eyebrow at this little fact. Elijah was craftier than I thought, I'll give him that. I wonder if he knows that Graínne is in this town?

"Okay, that dagger needs to stay _exactly_ where it is." I stated, conversationally. "The last thing I need to do is resurrect Elijah. That guy is a buzzkill." I checked the time on the wall clock, and realized that I needed to be at the High School as soon as possible. I picked up Alaric's keys and his backpack, before turning towards Katerina for any more information she could give me. Like clockwork, she revealed more.

"Don't forget that you're on the outs with your girlfriend, Jenna." Katerina reveals.

"Right. Elena's aunt." I remembered. "For all the lies about Isobel." I nodded, and gestured for more. "What else?" Katerina shook her head.

"That's it." She confirmed. I walked over to her and touched her face. She flinches and I rolled my eyes, feeling slightly insulted.

"Oh, so jumpy." I observed, then couldn't help but smirk. Katerina offers me a pleading expression on her lovely face.

"Please, just… kill me. I've told you everything that I know." She insisted. I placed my hands on the armrests on Katerina's chair and looked her right in the face. I did not believe that she was telling me everything I needed to know.

"You see, I believe that you believe that, but what would you not know? What could they be keeping from you? Hmm? Anything?" Katerina remained silent. I didn't like that. "Tell me." I compelled her.

"They were trying to see if Bonnie could find a way to kill an Original without a dagger." Katerina replied in monotone. I frowned.

"Bonnie the best friend? I thought you said she didn't have her powers anymore."

"She doesn't or didn't. I don't know. You kidnapped me, remember? I'm kinda out of the loop." Katerina pointed out, sounding a little hysterical.

"Well, we'll have to get to the bottom of that." I mused.

"Please, just kill me, Klaus, and be done with it." I just looked her. She truly sounded pathetic with her begging and pleading. She wanted to me to give her a merciful death? No. Not going to happen.

"And show you kindness?" I had to laugh at the thought. It was just too priceless. "I've searched for you for over 500 years. Your death is going to last at least half that long." I promised her. I reached into my pocket and withdrew a switchblade pocket knife. I opened it, and held it up for Katerina to see. "I want you to take this knife … and stab yourself." I ordered her. She gives me a defiant glare before taking the knife and stabbing her thigh. She takes it out and we both watched as the wound heals almost instantaneously. "Now while I'm gone, I want you to do that over and over and over again and if you get bored, switch legs." Katerina reluctantly nods, and I straighten up from my crouch and head for the door.

"Where are you going?" She asks me. I pause mid-step and turned back to her, smiling pleasantly.

"I'm gonna go lay eyes on my precious doppelgänger, and my dearly missed fiancé." I replied before leaning over to kiss her on the forehead. She looked revolted. "Oh, don't look so glum, Katerina. The fun is just beginning. Again." I turned on my heel and exited the studio apartment.

* * *

 **~:GRACE P.O.V:~**

Elena and I sat at a table with Bonnie and the Salvatore Brothers' attorney, Mr. Henry; signing papers that would transfer ownership of the deed over to us. Damon and Stefan were outside of the house waiting for us to finish signing away our lives.

"Would the both of you, please sign here and here." The lawyer asked, pointing in random places on the stapled document. Elena took the offered pen from him.

"Okay." She signs, then pushes the papers towards me and hands me the pen. I picked it up and signed also, before getting to my feet and walking over to the couch and sinking down on to it. I still thought that it was unnecessary to have my name on the deed as well.

It was pointless.

"So this place is all yours? They just gave it to you?" Bonnie sounded incredulous.

"They gave it to _both_ of us, Bonnie." I spoke up from where I was on the couch, feeling irritated. Seriously, was I invisible? Both teens ignored me. Typical.

"For now. Grace and I can only invite a certain type of person in here, if you know what I mean." Elena explained.

Bonnie grinned. "Your own personal safe house."

Elena grinned back. "That's the idea."

"Wouldn't want to clean it." Bonnie mused jokingly, and I rolled my eyes as she and Elena both dissolved into laughter. I got to my feet; heading outside to stand with Damon and Stefan. They were both in the middle of a conversation with each other.

"You really think Bonnie can take on Klaus?" Damon asked Stefan, curiously. Stefan shrugged.

"She said she could channel enough witch's power to kill him." I came over and sat beside Damon on the brick wall, thanking him when he shuffled over so I could. "Elijah thought that would work and he was an Original, so…" I didn't bother making any comment. There was no chance that Bonnie could take on Niklaus; not if she had to harness extra powers to do so.

"We just need to find him." Damon pointed out.

"Yeah." Stefan agreed.

"Or, you could just wait until he shows up in town?" I offered an alternative suggestion to them. Both brothers looked at me like I had sprouted a new head. I shrugged. "Just a thought." I pointed out. Predictably, both of them ignored what I said.

"Could she do one of those witch tracking spells?" Damon asked.

"Nope. Not without something that belongs to Klaus." My eyes widened and I pushed off the brick wall, and decided to pace. I _was_ wearing something that belonged to Niklaus around my neck, and I didn't want to draw attention towards that. "Believe me, I already asked." Stefan added, much to Damon's annoyance.

"Do you think he killed Katherine?" Damon asked, sounding hopeful.

"Here's hoping." I muttered underneath my breath, earning a smirk from Stefan and a dark, slightly amused chuckle from Damon. "Not like she doesn't deserve it for fucking up everybody's lives." I added. The front door re-opens, revealing Elena and Mr. Henry. I give them both my undivided attention; wanting this entire exercise to be over and done with already.

"Thank you, Mr. Henry." Elena bids the lawyer farewell. Mr. Henry smiles politely at Elena and walks away.

"Miss. Williams?" I raise a hand and wave.

Once the lawyer was in his car and had driven away, Damon and Stefan walk towards the threshold to enter the house. But almost immediately they thud into the invisible barrier. I had to bite down on my tongue to stop myself from laughing at how quickly they both had forgotten that they now needed either Elena or my permission to enter their home.

"I'm sorry. I completely forgot." Elena said apologetically. She looked right at Stefan. "Stefan. Would you like to come inside my house?" Elena asked him, sweetly.

" _Our_ house, you mean?" I didn't hesitate to remind her; mostly because I knew that it would irritate her the most. The nauseating lovebirds ignored me completely.

"I would love to. Thank you." Stefan replied promptly, smiling at Elena flirtatiously. He takes a deliberate step over the threshold and enters the house. Elena just looks at Damon, who rolls his eyes at her immaturity.

"What are we, twelve?" Damon stated, wearily. Elena shrugged at the question.

"One of us is." She replied, folding her arms across her chest. Damon narrowed his eyes at her for the insult. "If I let you in, do you promise to obey the owner of this house?" Elena enquired, innocently.

"Please come in, Damon." I automatically spoke up, smirking when Elena and Stefan glared at me. I shrugged. "I'm co-owner." I reminded them. Damon smirked triumphantly at Elena and then he too took a deliberate step over the threshold.

"Why yes, Elena. I do promise to obey _one_ of the owners of this house. Thank you." Damon responded, extending a hand towards me and I immediately accepted it and allowed Damon to tug me inside the house. He playfully twirled me on the spot and then hooked an arm around my shoulders, leading me deeper into the house. Elena shuts the door behind us as Bonnie walks in from another room and gives Elena her jacket.

"Thanks." Elena tells Bonnie. Stefan blinked at her with confusion.

"Wait, where are you going?" He demanded. Elena and Bonnie turned to look at him, returning the confused look.

"To school?"

"Huh?" Stefan looked speechless. Damon immediately comes back over to the two girls, and I followed calmly; knowing exactly what was about to happen.

"No, no, no. We didn't create a safe house for you to leave it." Damon protested.

"Yeah. Klaus is out there. We know that." Stefan added. Elena gave them both a flat look.

"Right. But where? No one knows." She pointed out. "Look, I really appreciate what you guys are doing, and I'll be able to sleep at night knowing that I'll be safe here." Elena smiled at them both. "But I'm not going to be a prisoner." She insisted, firmly and looking mostly at Damon for emphasis. Damon scowled at her.

"Tsk. Whatever, it's your neck on the chopping block." He says dismissively. Bonnie stepped forward to back Elena up.

"Don't worry, I'm ready." She insisted. "If he shows his face, I can take him. Know how." Bonnie bragged.

"Or die trying…" I said pointedly, skeptical that she had enough power to take down Nik. He wasn't an all-powerful, thousand year old vampire for nothing. He'd have to be excessively vulnerable for Bonnie to even remotely immobilize him. Bonnie glared at me, and I stared her down; not even remotely intimidated.

"The way I see it, next to Bonnie is the safest place that I can be." Elena insisted, before linking arms with Bonnie and steering her away from the house. "Come on." Both of them leave, and Stefan looks helplessly at Damon who gives him a blank look. He vamp-speeds up to his room and returns carrying his schoolbooks.

"Wait, um, coming." Stefan calls, and follows after the girls swiftly. I scoffed unsympathetically.

"Fools." I muttered and turned to retreat back into the safety of the Boarding House with Damon.

* * *

 **~:KLAUS P.O.V:~**

Every second I spend in this high school, makes me glad that I was born a thousand years ago and was homeschooled by my mother, Finn and Elijah. Finding the correct classroom I walk straight in.

"Hello, class." I greeted Alaric's students cheerfully, immediately locating my doppelgänger sitting right beside Stefan Salvatore of all people. "What are we learning today?" I asked. A hand shoots up into the air, belonging to one of the female students, and I briefly glance down at the seating chart to locate her name: Dana.

"With the decade dance tonight, we've been covering the sixties all week." Dana tells me helpfully. I smiled at her. She will be most helpful later on.

"Right. The sixties." I muttered. Great. I could do without remembering this particular decade. It was a thoroughly boring period of my existence that I'll never get back. The only good part of it was the Beatles and landing on the moon. I turned to the blackboard and picked up a piece of chalk. "The, uh, ahem…" I wrote 'the Sixties' on the board, before turning and pretending to really give a shit about this. "I wish there was something good I could say about the sixties, but… actually, they kind of sucked." I told the students honestly. "Except for the Beatles, of course." I conceded, chuckling a little. "They made it bearable." The students look at each other and then me with confusion. "Uh, what else was there? The Cuban Missile thing, the … we walked on the moon. There was Watergate…"

"Watergate was the seventies, Ric." I glanced over at Elena in astonishment. Does she really address her teachers by their first names? "I-I mean, Mr. Saltzman." She stammered, and flushed with embarrassment. I looked at her with amusement.

"Right. It all kind of mushes together up here. The sixties, seventies." I cleared my throat. "Thank you, Elena." I said, before getting on with the lesson plan Alaric had prepared. I groaned inwardly. Why had Maddox chosen this body specifically again? Eventually, it was lunch time. I smirked; time to begin the first phase of my plan. I casually intercept that 'Dana' girl from earlier and pulled her aside.

She looked at me, nervously.

"Is something wrong, Mr. Saltzman?" Dana asked me, half-nervous, half-curious. I smiled politely at her.

"No, nothing is wrong. I would just like you to deliver a message to Elena Gilbert for me. If you would?" I requested. Dana relaxed a little, but at the same time kept her guard up. Smart girl.

"Sure. What do you want me to say?" She asked. I leaned forward slightly and deliberately looked her directly in the eyes.

"Just this: 'This is going to sound freaky, but this totally hot guy just asked me to ask you if you're going to the dance tonight.'" I said, slowly. "If she or her friends try to persuade you otherwise, respond with this: 'You could at least meet him. He'll be at the dance tonight. Look for him. His name is Klaus.' Do you understand?" Dana nodded slowly.

"I understand."

I smiled approvingly. "Excellent. Oh! One more thing to add: let her know that ' _I_ want to know if she'll save me the last dance.' Off you go then." I tell her and Dana wonders over to where Elena was sitting with her friends.

This is just too easy.

All I needed to do right now, was to sit back and watch the fun begin. Dana approaches Elena and her friends who were sitting not too far away at a nearby table; oblivious to the attention they were being paid.

"Hey, Elena, there you are." Dana started to say, and I grinned. Thank you enhanced hearing! "Okay. This is going to sound freaky, but this totally hot guy just asked me to ask you if you're going to the dance tonight." Perfect! I watched as Elena and her little witch friend Bonnie look at Dana with a combination of confusion and annoyance.

"Tell him she has a boyfriend." Bonnie told Dana dismissively. Ouch! That's harsh; if I was truly sincere with my feelings that would've hurt. For shame girls, for shame!

"You could at least meet him." Dana retorted, puckering her lips into a disapproving pout. "He'll be at the dance tonight. Look for him. His name is Klaus." Both girls froze and looked at Dana with shock.

"I'm sorry, what did you just say?" Elena whispered. Dana brightened almost immediately.

"His name's Klaus. I know the name's stupid, but I swear he's hot." I was slightly taken aback; I could've sworn I didn't compel her to say that. Did this girl have a crush on her teacher? I did a brief scan of Alaric's body, and questioned the girl's sanity. Bonnie looks around, trying to catch a glimpse of me.

Good luck, love.

"Where is he? Is he here?" Bonnie immediately demanded. Dana looked confused.

"I don't know." She looked puzzled. I smirked.

"She's been compelled." Elena guesses.

"But he wants to know if you'll save him the last dance. How cute is that?" Cute? Uh, I probably wouldn't have described it like that. Girls these days. I straightened up from my perch against the wall in the shadows and left the cafeteria, pleased with what I had accomplished. I couldn't wait to see what I would discover at the Salvatore Boarding House this afternoon.

* * *

 **~:GRACE P.O.V:~**

After the fiasco revolving around signing over the deed of the Boarding House to Elena and myself, I went back to my apartment to continue painting my canvas sketching. I was part of the way through the painting of Nik and me gazing down with awe at our little miracle. I still wasn't entirely sure if this vision truly was a confirmed premonition of what was to come in our future, or if it was a prediction or pipe dream. Either way, it brought me hope. ( **A/N: Wink wink, nudge** **nudge**.)

"Don't you have to go to the Boarding House right about now?" Henrik piped up from where he was lounging on my couch, staring at the TV show I had turned on for background white noise. I glanced at my wall clock and grimaced; time to go and listen to the plans Damon and Stefan had cooked up about catching Nik.

"Wish you hadn't reminded me, but thanks Henrik." I told him sincerely. Henrik grinned.

"Just doing my part." He stated.

I yawned and stretched before placing down my paintbrush and headed for my room to change out of my paint spattered shirt and jeans and into a pair of comfortable smoky grey jeans, a loose white sleeveless shirt, a royal blue sweater and peep toe high heeled boots. I tugged my hair out of its bun and brushed it out before smearing some lip balm over my lips. I came out of my room and picked up my purse and keys.

"You wanna come with?" I asked Henrik; expecting him to say 'no'.

"Sure." Henrik said, hopping up from the couch and walking over. I blinked, not expecting that answer from him and reached over for the remote, clicking off the TV.

"Let's go then. Hope the plan Damon and Stefan came up with isn't ridiculous." I prayed. Henrik shrugged, but didn't say anything. The trip to the Boarding House took a little longer than expected, due to road works; but by the time we actually got there; Damon, Stefan, Bonnie and Elena were already deep in discussion. I rapped my knuckles on the polished wood of the front door. "Knock knock?" I called out, dryly.

"It's open!" Damon yelled back, and both Henrik and I rolled our eyes and sauntered casually down the hallway and followed the voices coming from the living room. Damon was in the middle of his own brand of persuasion.

"So we go to the dance, we find him." Damon stated, causing Stefan to look at him skeptically.

"Really? How are we going to do that? We don't even know what he looks like." He pointed out.

"Something tells me he's not going to be sixteen and pimply." Damon stated the obvious. Henrik snorted with laughter at the mental image Damon had given him as we chose that moment to step into the room while Stefan continued ranting.

"He could be anywhere at any time. He compelled somebody at school." I raised an eyebrow. Seriously? Way to remain inconspicuous Nik.

"He did, huh? Interesting tactic." I commented, earning suspicious looks from Elena and Bonnie. Stefan eyed me momentarily and nodded in greeting before making his point clearer:

"I guess it's not as safe as you guys thought, huh?" I had to agree with him on that. Then Elena suddenly got the 'lightbulb over the head' expression.

"Wait, Grace would know what Klaus looks like." Elena pointed out excitedly, and literally pointed at me. I scowled at her, and Henrik looked taken aback by the expectation Elena had handed me. Everybody in my family (with the exception of Henrik and Elijah) were blurred to me, and until I reunited with them; they would remain this way.

However, I decided to humour Elena.

"Hmmm? What Niklaus looks like? Let's see if I remember?" I verbalized my thoughts, sarcastically and I scrutinized Damon for a memory jog. "He's taller than Damon, probably about the same height as Elijah." Damon scowled at the fact that I used him in my description of my fiancée. "Svelte, and muscular. But not grossly oversized. And has short curly hair." I listed sounding deliberately vague.

Elena gave me flat look, as did Bonnie.

"Well that was useless. You just described most of the jocks at school." Bonnie bitched. I gave her a dark smirk.

"Exactly. It's kinda hard to describe a man you haven't seen for a thousand years. If you'd bother to even ask me, I'd have told you that my memories about Niklaus have been vague, and his face has been blurred to me." I stated. Somebody knocked at the door, and we all looked around in confusion. Who wasn't here that should be here?

"Come in, doors open!" Damon shouted to the unknown visitor. I opened my mouth to rebuke him for not checking who the visitor was, before remembering that Elena and I owned the property now and it was up to us to not invite the unfriendlies in. Somebody walked up behind me, and paused there. "There you are." Damon greeted the person, warmly.

"Sorry I'm late." It was Alaric. I turned to look at him, and smiled brightly.

"Oh, hey Alaric! How you been?" I greeted him, and walked over to give him our standard hug. When I pulled away, I noticed something weird about him: He was staring at me like I was some sort of miracle, and he didn't immediately let go of my waist. If anything, he attempted to pull me closer; like he was afraid I was going to run or vanish into thin air. I frowned at him with concern. "Are you alright? You've gone a bit pale." I touched his face and felt his forehead, looking for a temperature.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm fine, thanks. How have you been?" He asked me, still giving me that look. I shrugged, not deeming it important at that moment.

"Things could be better. But I'm not expecting miracles right now." I responded honestly, and started fiddling with Nik's necklace absently. Alaric's eyes zeroed in on it, and he reached for it.

"That's an interesting necklace. Where did you get it?" He asked curiously, examining the silver wolf's tooth with an intrigued smile. I grinned.

"A very close friend of mine sent it to me. I miss him very much." I responded, smiling at him; and felt a strange connection towards Alaric, which had never happened before. Alaric opened his mouth to say something else, before Damon intercepted earning dagger eyes from him. That wasn't like Alaric at all.

"Hey, I need you to put both Grace and I down as chaperones at the dance tonight." Damon requested. "Klaus made his first move." Alaric raised an eyebrow.

"Grace?" He asked, looking confused. I smiled apologetically.

"Yeah, I know. Unfortunately, Damon got it into his head that he and I need to be there to help protect Elena from Niklaus." I explained. "I'm not sure how much sway _I'm_ gonna have with him. Niklaus isn't going to _be_ swayed; if anything it's just going to encourage him to make his move." I pointed out to them all.

Damon rolled his eyes.

"Doesn't mean you can't try." He retorted, impatiently. I just gave him a look.

"Yeah, can't see that blowing up in our faces." I bit back, dryly. I missed the admiring smile that spread on Alaric's face; but Damon hadn't.

"Don't tell me that you agree with Grace, Ric." Damon pleaded. To my surprise, Alaric shrugged and moved past me heading for the wet bar, fixing himself a drink.

"You have to admit, it doesn't sound very likely." Alaric agreed with me, sipping from some scotch. Elena decided to change the subject.

"Okay, so we find him and then what, hmm? What's our plan of attack?" She wanted to know. Bonnie stood up, looking confident and determined.

"Me. I'm the plan." Bonnie declared. "He has no idea how much power I can channel. If you can find him, I can kill him."

"That's not going to be that easy." Alaric pointed out, looking concerned. "I mean, he is the biggest, baddest vampire around." He said, looking directly at Bonnie. However, I noticed that while his face looked 'concerned' his eyes told a different story: they looked narrowed and focused; almost calculating.

"Alaric has a point. I mean, what if he…" Damon charged without warning at Bonnie. But she retaliated by throwing him on the other side of the room with her powers, all without touching him. I snorted with laughter.

"And what did that accomplish?" I asked him, smirking down at him as I walked over to help him up.

"Well, I was impressed." Stefan begged to differ. Bonnie didn't miss a beat.

"It doesn't matter if he's an Original. I can take down anyone who comes at me." Bonnie insisted, sounding a little arrogant now that she had this extra power boost. "I can kill him, Elena. I know I can."

I headed for the kitchen, glancing over at Henrik to see if wanted to come with. He declined.

"Don't get cocky, Bonnie. The last thing we need is for you to let all that extra power to go to your head, and give you a bad case of the egos." I warned her. As I walked towards the kitchen, I got the feeling that I was being followed. Thinking it was Damon, I paid it no mind but decided to get an explanation from him. "Mind explaining to me why you volunteered me for a chaperoning gig without asking me first?" I asked him, feeling a bit annoyed as I clicked on the kettle and reached for a mug in the cabinet to make myself a drink.

"Your guess is as good as mine, Grace." I nearly jumped out of my skin and spun round to face Alaric who was looking at me with amusement. "Don't do that." I scolded him. He chuckled.

"Sorry." He apologized. I winced a little as the jump had caused me to pull on the bite mark on my neck. I clapped a hand on it, drawing Alaric's attention towards it. "Ouch, how'd you do that?" He asked, wincing sympathetically. I blinked at him, the question not quite registering until I realised that he was referring to the dressing on my neck.

"Oh, that's right. You don't know." I mentally face-palmed. "Katherine attacked me." I explained. Alaric stiffened almost immediately, and his eyes flashed. I felt touched by his reaction.

"Did she now?" His voice was low and dangerous.

"Yeah, but I stabbed her in the stomach with my dagger before she could do any real damage." I reassured him, earning a look of impressed shock from Alaric. But then I frowned.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"I am slightly concerned though. I would've thought that the bite mark would've healed up at least a little bit by now." I confided in him. Alaric came over to my side.

"May I take a look at it?" He asked politely. I nodded and tilted my head slightly so he could peel away the dressing. Alaric gingerly reached out and carefully took off the dressing, revealing the two puncture marks. He used his fingers to inspect the wound gently, before pulling back and smiling softly. "It's healing nicely. Just leave the dressing off for a while, let the air get at it." He suggested. I nodded and moved to pour hot water into my mug. "Or, get Damon or Stefan to heal you." Alaric gave me the other option that I considered then dismissed just as quickly. I shook my head.

"I'd prefer to restrict drinking vampire blood for the more serious cases. This was just a scratch." I insisted. Alaric frowned once again.

"I beg to differ. You must've bled quite a bit at the time."

I smiled, warmly.

"I did, yes. But thankfully, Maddox helped me patch it up." I reminded Alaric of my friend. Alaric finally smiled, accepting my decision.

"Sounds like you've made a good friend." He realized.

"He's still an acquaintance right now. But he still could be in the future." I agreed. I finished making my tea and took a sip. "You going to stick around help with the plans?" I asked. Alaric shook his head.

"I better get going. I still have a couple of things to take care of before I have chaperoning duties at the school." Alaric looked less than enthused about the very idea, and I giggled.

"Well, I'll see you tonight then, apparently." I told him. I put down my mug and came over to give him another hug, pleased that he seemed to be in better spirits than he did yesterday. Perhaps Jenna and he were able to sort out their differences? Once again, Alaric seemed extremely reluctant to let go, and fixed me with a look so tender that I immediately felt uncomfortable. "Okay, well see you later." I said, picking up my mug and heading back out of the kitchen.

* * *

 **~:KLAUS P.O.V:~**

To say that I learnt more than I bargained for this afternoon was an understatement. On the positive side; I was finally reunited with Graínne again. Although apparently, she went by the similar sounding name of 'Grace' instead. Very apt name; she is everything that Maddox described her and more. The conversation I heard the first few minutes after I had arrived there, was amusing to say the least. These fools truly believe that they can stop the inevitable; and I was highly impressed when Graínne … no, sorry _Grace_ , attempted to steer them all in another direction; accurately predicting my response to their pointless requests.

She still knows me so well.

That witch Bonnie could prove to a bit of a problem too; a little too cocky to be honest. But it was what Grace revealed to me about that vampire bite Maddox had discovered when he found her, that made me see red. It took all my willpower not to immediately leave that Boarding House and return to Alaric's apartment to rip Katerina apart with my bare hands.

Still, no matter. It seems that I've found the vampire I am looking for to help break my curse. This time, Katerina will not escape me. Like it or not, she will be part of this ritual like she should've been 500 years ago. I let myself into the apartment, and found Katerina where I had left her: sitting in the chair I had tied her to, still stabbing herself over and over again in the thigh. Blood was pooled all around her in thick puddles.

I felt a satisfied smirk spread across my face.

"Ah, you're right. This witch is all juiced up and aiming to kill." I revealed, just barely holding back my anger upon seeing her. Katerina winced when the blade cut through her thigh for the umpteenth time.

"That's terrible." She said, sarcastically. I ignored her tone. Maddox entered the room from the kitchen, and I smiled a little at him; pleased that he had followed my orders and helped to protect Grace while I wasn't here.

"We're gonna have to kill her, Maddox." I reported. I opened up a nearby drawer, and grimaced at the items of clothing I found inside. "Do you think this Alaric guy has anything vintage?" I asked Maddox, not really expecting an answer. I looked at the shirts and saw that there was something hidden underneath the piles of clothes. Curiously, I opened it and saw lots of weapons designed to kill vampires. I raised an eyebrow. "Crossbows, wooden bullets and automatics?" I glanced up at Maddox, feeling mildly incredulous. "Who is this guy, again?"

"He's the local vampire hunter." Katerina piped up from across the room. I snorted.

"Ahh. Well, that explains the clothing." I responded, unimpressed. I reached for a glass of bourbon Maddox offered to me.

"All I could find. Guy likes his bourbon." He stated. I grinned.

"I knew there was something about him I liked." I took a generous sip. "Well done, by the way. Grace is everything you described to me and more." I thanked him. Maddox offered me a crooked smile.

"So, you found her. I'm happy for you." Maddox told me. "By the way, her apartment is a couple of doors down from here." He reported to me. My eyes widened with delight. I decided to file that little piece of information away for a rainy day.

"There's a high school dance and I'm gonna need you to take out witch bitch." I requested. Maddox looked doubtful, I frowned.

"If she has that much power, she can sense me coming from a mile away. I won't be able to get near her." He pointed out to me. This was most annoying. "You have to do it."

Seriously?

"In this body? I'm a haggard history teacher. She can easily hurt me. I mean, not me, Klaus me, but you know what I mean." I protested.

Maddox sighed. "No witch could handle channeling that much power. It'll kill her. It would kill me. You just have to make her use it." He suggested.

"You mean like provoking her to death?" I asked. Maddox nodded.

"Won't take long. Just keep attacking her until it kills her. 'His' body, Alaric's, will last longer than hers will." He reassured me.

"How? He's human." I said, doubtfully. Maddox offered me a confident smile that immediately had me on alert.

"I can help in that department. I can do a spell to protect you." He promised. A slow smile spread across my face.

Everything was falling into place.

* * *

 **~:GRACE P.O.V:~**

I was standing facing the mirror in the bathroom, deep in contemplation while just absently blow-drying and adding the finishing touches to my chosen 60s hairstyle, before killing an entire rainforest with the amount of hairspray I layered on to it to keep everything in place. I managed to find the appropriate hairstyle that suited the black and white checkered high collared, and very thigh high mini-dress I had hired at the last minute from the town's costume shop.

To describe it: well, let's just say if I bent over _too_ far, you'd probably get a view of my underwear. Let's just hope I don't trip over on my high heeled go-go boots (left boot black, right boot white). My mum, who was in her early teens during the 60s, would've called my chosen hairstyle as the half-up bouffant (think The Ronettes); which required several of my hair extensions to make it work. The result was actually an odd combination of striking and 'why would these women put so much time and effort into their hair?' But somehow, I managed to pull it off; mum would be proud.

As for the make-up, I applied fake eyelashes (with a few layers of mascara), thick heavy eyeliner (to resemble Elizabeth Taylor's _Cleopatra_ ), smokey eyeshadow (making sure that I wasn't too heavy with the darker colours, otherwise I'd resemble a glamourous panda or raccoon, or that somebody had punched me in both eyes), and frosted very pale pink lipstick. The only accessory items I had on hand were a small, swinging clutch that matched the dress (also borrowed from the costume shop) and I had my wallet, phone, lipstick and dagger stashed inside it, and some heart shaped white sunglasses. I fastened on Nik's necklace and my vervain/wolfsbane bracelet, before I finally deemed myself ready to look the part at the Decade Dance and help Damon, Alaric and the other teachers chaperone a large group of hormonal ticking time bombs.

Damon better make this night worthwhile, or I'll force feed him vervain until he gags. A knock at the front door, grabs my attention and I reluctantly flip off the light in my bathroom and hurry out from my bedroom into the main part of my studio apartment. Henrik's eyes widened the second I walked into the room.

"Woah…" He blurted out, and I looked at him with concern.

"What's wrong?" I asked, worried that I had forgotten something, and glanced around for the missing item. Finding nothing missing, I looked at him for an explanation.

"You look great." Henrik said, giving me the thumbs up. I smiled.

"Thanks. I'll see you later tonight." I promised before heading for the front door. Opening it, I found Damon standing there with his back to me; checking for danger. I reached over and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hey, you ready to go?" Damon asked, before finally turning to face me and his mouth dropped open. I rolled my eyes, as he gave me an appreciative eye sweep. "Wow, you look like you just literally stepped forward in time from the 60s." Damon complimented me and I laughed, slipping on my heart-shaped sunglasses to complete the look. "That just confirms it." He added.

"I bet you say that to all your dates." I chided him, as I pulled the door closed behind me and deadlocked the door. Damon grinned.

"Well yeah, I do. Only because I'm attempting to lull them into a false sense of security before I eventually eat them. But this time I'm actually being sincere." He admitted, and I made a face.

"Well, thanks. I suppose." I accepted the kudos and took Damon's arm when he offered it to me. "Are Stefan and Elena meeting us there?" I asked. Damon shook his head.

"Nope. They're waiting in the car downstairs." He told me.

"Oh." I responded and then took my turn to check out what Damon had chosen to wear as his 60s look. Disappointingly, he didn't look different. "Where's your costume?" I asked him, confused. Damon looked mildly offended by the question.

"This was the latest fashion back in the 60s I'll have you know." Damon teased me. I took a step back from him and took a proper look. Okay, scratch what I said before: Damon looked a little bit like Jim Morrison of _The Doors_ , right down to the tight black leather pants and black boots. I grinned flirtatiously.

"Well, well, well. Jim Morrison; eat your heart out." I complimented him. Damon smirked and reached out to pull me back into his arms, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Jim Morrison had nothing on me, baby." He told me. I giggled.

"I don't doubt that for a minute." I disentangled myself from his arms and continued walking downstairs and outside to Damon's baby blue convertible. In the backseat I saw Elena sitting impatiently. It wasn't completely obvious what she was wearing, but from a quick glance; the teenager was wearing a mini-dress like I was, only it was purple with a tiny jip flower pattern and a very plungey neckline. Her long brown hair had been pulled back into a high ponytail and had purple peace-sign earrings in her lobes. Her mouth dropped open when she turned her head and looked at me.

"Wow, Grace. Is that authentic?" Elena's first words to me, when she slid over so I could get into the car. Elena's ensemble was completed by a pair of white go-go boots and a simple white belt made up of white circles. I shook my head, smiling at her.

"Nope. I got this last minute at a costume shop this afternoon." I explained, as Damon got into the driver's side and immediately took off towards the high school. "The woman who served me said I was lucky to get this dress on such short notice." I explained. Elena looked mystified.

"Lucky? That's an understatement." She muttered. I rolled my eyes and glanced over at Stefan, who was looking back at the both of us. He smiled politely at me, not at all fazed by my costume.

"Hello, Grace. You look nice." He complimented. I nodded back.

"Thanks, Stef. That's sweet." I replied.

For once the atmosphere in Damon's car wasn't frosty, tense or an argument just waiting to break out. The four of us had a lovely conversation about what the 60s were like for the two vampires, and both Elena and I were nearly in stitches when Damon described one occasion where he went to Woodstock and accidentally ate some food laced with hemp, and remained completely tanked and paranoid for several hours afterwards. Damon scowled at the both of us through the rear view mirror.

"It's not funny. That was the one and only time I actually managed to get high, and it wasn't an enjoyable experience." He complained. I carefully wiped away some tears of mirth from my eye so I didn't smudge my mascara.

"We're laughing with you, Damon. I promise. It's just picturing you high as a kite is so funny." I giggled. Elena looked over at her boyfriend.

"What did you get up to, Stefan?" She asked, interestedly. Stefan thought for a moment, before smiling and turning back to face the both of us.

"I saw the first moon launch at Cape Canaveral." He replied. Elena's eyes went wide.

"Wow." I commented.

"What was that like?" Elena added.

"Loud." Stefan admitted. "But also very memorable. I remember sitting in the stands surrounded by a sea of colors just watching the Apollo 11 spacecraft in the distance preparing to take off. I was fascinated and amazed about how far mankind had come at that point. That we were actually making our first attempt at putting a man on the moon." Stefan smiled nostalgically. "Just looking around at all these faces of people in complete awe and anxiety for the astronauts bravely attempting the trip." I nodded. It was obvious that Damon and Stefan were very different people; but both of their stories were precious memories of a slightly questionable decade, but nevertheless memories.

"Look there's Bonnie and Jeremy." Elena exclaimed. We all turned to see Bonnie dressed a loud mini-dress and red go-go boots hugging Jeremy in the parking lot, and Damon turned into a parking space and cut the engine. Both Bonnie and Jeremy immediately broke the embrace as we stepped from the car.

I smile brightly at them.

"Hey guys!" I chirped.

"Hi, Grace." Bonnie greeted me, and scowled slightly at Jeremy's reaction to my costume. Damon sidled up beside me, and smiled at both teens. "Damon." Bonnie greeted him, coolly.

"Evenin'" Damon replied, before grinning at me. "Shall we?" He leered. I smirked and rolled my eyes, shaking my head at his typical bad boy behavior.

"If we must." I sighed, and allowed Damon to escort me inside. Stefan, Elena, Bonnie and Jeremy following.

* * *

 **~:KLAUS P.O.V:~**

The dance was well and truly begun when I set foot inside. The gymnasium was a sea of multicolored students dancing together to a passable 60s song, and I nodded to a couple of Alaric's colleagues as I paused momentarily to take in the crowd, searching for a specific person. Once I spot her, I danced my way through the crowd and stopped before Dana and her date. Dana gives me an appreciative eye-sweep.

"Nice outfit, Mr. Saltzman. Totally far out." Dana complimented me, using the slang of the sixties time period. I mentally rolled my eyes before offering her a pleasant smile.

"Thank you, Dana. Thank you. Now who is your date?" I asked her, politely. The young man frowned at me with confusion.

"It's Chad, Mr. Saltzman. From third period?" 'Chad' speaks up. I feigned absentmindedness.

"Chad, of course." I clapped a friendly hand on his shoulder. "How would you and your friends like to earn a little extra credit?" I asked them. Both Chad and Dana instantly look eager to help me with my plan. I smirked, as I gave both of them instructions to immediately act upon the very second Elena Gilbert stepped into the gymnasium. I didn't have to wait long as nearly a couple minutes later, Ms. Gilbert walked through the main entrance followed by her little entourage; which also included Grace, much to my surprise and absolute delight.

"Thanks for being here, everybody." Dana! Right on time. Knew I could count on you! "We have a special shout-out tonight." I watched as Elena, Grace, the Salvatore Brothers, Bonnie and a teenage boy (who painfully reminded me of Henrik) whom I vaguely recall was named Jeremy stopped in front of the stage. "This is for Elena. From Klaus." Dana finished relaying exactly what I wanted her to say, then stepped down from the stage. I grinned when I saw Elena looking stunned, and Grace immediately started scanning the crowd. To my joy, she looked hopeful; but at the same time, worried. Damon on the other hand, looked furious.

"That was a lame, cheap shot." Thank you. _I_ thought so.

"He's just trying to bait us." Grace attempts to reassure Elena, who doesn't look comforted. Well, my darling. If we're going to be technical, I'm mostly just baiting both you and Elena.

"I know everybody here." Elena murmured, looking scared. Stefan comes up beside her, bringing her focus on to him.

"Maybe he's not here." He suggested. "Just wants us to believe that he is." Damon stepped forward, looking exasperated. It appears that he is the most logical out of them all.

"It's a party, people. Blend. Let him come to us." Damon advises. Witch bitch agrees.

"Good idea." She turns towards Jeremy and tugs on his arm. He immediately protests.

"No, no. I really don't feel like dancing." He insists.

"Too bad." Bonnie responds and pulls him out to the dancefloor. I straighten up from my perch beside the punch bowl and fix a 'disturbed' and 'worried' expression on my face as Damon spots me. He turns towards Grace and whispers into her ear.

"There's Ric. I'll be back." She nods, and I bristle when I see him peck my Grace on the cheek before making his way through the crowd to stand by my side. Every part of me feels the familiar sensation of jealousy, but I manage to keep it at bay as I address Damon.

"Special dedication, huh? This guy's a little twisted." I observe, laughing inwardly.

"I'm not impressed." Damon stated, darkly. I looked at him with disappointment.

Oh, lighten up, man.

"No?" I question him. Damon doesn't reply.

"Let me know if you see anything out of whack." He instructs me, before disappearing back into the crowd. I watch him go, and casually take a sip of the punch.

* * *

 **~:GRACE P.O.V:~**

I stood on the sidelines of the dance floor, multitasking between making sure the students kept their dancing and their behavior PG-13, and looking for anything that seemed suspicious and an indication that Nik was nearby. I watched as Damon briefly spoke with a concerned looking Alaric before breaking away again two seconds later and disappearing into the crowd. I was just about to turn away and continue my chaperoning duties, when Alaric caught my eye and winked; saluting me with his glass of punch. Pleasantly surprised and mildly puzzled, I smiled back and waved before turning and continuing to pace the sidelines. I passed by Elena and Stefan, and suddenly overheard Elena.

"Caroline's here." I glanced up and scanned the crowd for a glimpse of the bubbly blonde, and spotted her walking into the room on the arm of Matt Donovan, all smiles. She was dressed up as a blonde Jackie O. Elena started fretting. "They don't know what's going on. We have to tell her." Stefan nodded.

"I'm on it." I immediately come over at the same time that Stefan glances pointedly at Damon. Damon pulls the both of us to the dancefloor and we dance, as Stefan dashes off.

"How are you two doing?" He asks us, casually. I shrugged, nonchalantly.

"Peachy keen." I responded.

"Um, freaking out a bit. You?" Elena answers. Damon grabs both our hands and spins us out and back towards him.

"Cool as a cucumber." I smiled, and Elena nodded, looking a little bit calmer. "Come on, remember the last decade dance?" Damon reminded Elena as he performed some flashy sixties dance steps. "The vampires were all, "arghh!" And you were all, "aahh!"" Elena giggled.

"Right. And you won." She remembered.

"Yes! We did." Damon agreed. He spins us around again.

"You're good at this." Elena observed, sounding surprised. Damon wiggled his eyebrows.

"I've got moves you've never seen." He bragged and I snorted in amusement, while Elena laughed. Then something catches Damon's eye. "Excuse me, ladies." He said, before breaking away from us and moving off through the crowd again. Elena and I continued dancing together, waiting for Stefan to return.

"Where do you suppose he's going?" Elena wondered.

"To talk to Bonnie about something I suspect." I told her. Elena frowned.

"How do you know?" She asked. I led Elena away from the dance floor, and towards the punch bowl – absently wondering where Alaric had disappeared off to - and pointed across the room to where Damon had approached Bonnie and Jeremy.

"I wouldn't worry too much about it. I suspect Damon's just asking Bonnie if she noticed anything unusual." I improvised. In truth, I had absolutely no idea what Damon was up to. I watched as Damon asked to cut in while a relieved but at the same time annoyed Jeremy abruptly leaves. Before our eyes, Damon begins dancing with a wary and cautious Bonnie. Jeremy approaches us.

"What are they up to?" Elena asks, suspiciously. Jeremy shrugs.

"Who knows?" He responded.

I excused myself from the brother and sister duo, and continued my chaperoning duties while at the same time keeping a sharp eye and ear out for anything remotely 'Nik' related. About an hour later, I was standing not too far away from the stage, watching the students dance when Damon unexpectedly appears by my side.

"Having fun?" Damon asks me, light-heartedly. I grinned and turned to look at him.

"Surprisingly, yes I am. Thanks for volunteering me for this. It's nothing like what I did in High School." I thanked him. Damon grinned back, before standing in front and extending a hand towards me. I blinked down at it.

"What?"

"May I have this dance?" Damon asked me, very formally, causing students either side of us to snigger. We ignored them. Suddenly, The Contour's _'Do You Love Me (Now That I Can Dance)'_ started playing and I groaned and looked at Damon, hoping that he hadn't requested or compelled the DJ to play this song on purpose. I sighed and nodded, taking his hand.

"I guess. But keep it PG-13. No dirty dancing in front of the impressionable youth." I warned him. Damon pouted; realizing that I was referencing one of the dancing scenes from the movie _Dirty Dancing._

"Buzzkill." He teased before spinning me on the spot and then leading me towards the middle of the dancefloor.

 _"…And now I'm back to let you know I can really shake 'em down."_

Damon faced me and released my hands. We immediately started doing the twist, before fluidly shifting into the swim and then go-go danced. Damon grabbed my hands and launched us into a bit of swing dancing, and after a minute or so of that grabbed me up so that I clung to him like a baby koala.

"Go limp and trust me…" He whispered hastily into my ear, before he guided my upper body around in a figure eight. Luckily, I'm a fast learner and cottoned on to what he was doing almost immediately. Students all around us cheered and eventually started dancing too. I scanned the sidelines, and noticed Alaric observing us curiously and I flushed a little in embarrassment. At the end of the song, Damon led me off to the sidelines. "Where'd you learn how to dance like that?" Damon asked, curiously.

"A thousand years ago, if you were from a wealthy family (Viking or not), the very moment you could walk, run, skip etc. you were taught how to dance. It was basically a chore." I admitted. Damon made a face. "I'm sure you probably understand, considering you were born during the 1800s." I guessed.

Damon nodded. "Unfortunately."

"Dancing is like riding a bike; once you learn it, you're stuck with it for life." I stated. I glanced over at Damon and realised that he wasn't completely paying attention anymore. He was focusing on Stefan who was making his way over to us.

"Why don't you get some punch?" Damon suggested. I nodded and walked away, but then I spotted Bonnie and Elena having a disagreement and I followed to dissolve it. The argument moved into the school hallway. Thankfully, the emptiness of the hall made everything echo, so it was easy to listen in to the conversation:

"How could you not tell me?" Elena was saying to Bonnie.

"‛Cause I knew how'd you react." Bonnie responded, calmly. I paused, hearing the outraged tone in Elena's voice.

"No. No way, it's not an option."

"It's our only option." Bonnie insisted. I looked around the corner and saw Elena clutch her friend's arms, trying to stop her from retreating. Bonnie didn't look like she appreciated this.

"We'll find another way, okay? You're not dying to save my life." Elena protested.

"I have the power to save you!" Bonnie was stubborn. "If I don't use it and something happens, that would kill me more." Elena was practically in tears by the time I was within cooee of them.

"I can't let you." Elena pleaded. Finally, Bonnie gave Elena an ultimatum.

"Just answer one question… if the situation was reversed, would you do it for me?" Elena doesn't respond, and Bonnie nodded confirming her suspicions. "So you know why I have to." She turns and continues walking, presumably to go find Nik.

"No. No!" Elena yelled, and I jogged over to them.

"What's going on?!" I demanded. Bonnie turned to look at me, pleadingly.

"Grace, I need to do this. Please help me." She beseeched and Elena immediately spun on me, angrily.

"You're in on this?" She snarled. I raised my hands, feeling bewildered and just as in the dark as Elena did. Thankfully, Bonnie defended me.

"No, she's not Elena. Grace has no idea what's going on." We suddenly hear the sound of approaching footsteps and we turned to see Alaric running up to us. He looked extremely concerned, and we immediately thought the worst.

"Elena!" Alaric called out.

"What is it?" Elena asked, coming over to him. Alaric raked a hand through his hair, looking stressed.

"He has Jeremy." He reported, reluctantly. My blood ran cold.

"What?"

"What?!" Both girls exclaim fearfully. I groaned, exasperatedly.

 _Nik, what are you doing!?_ I reached out and grabbed both Bonnie and Elena before they could do something stupid, like charge off and get snagged by Nik. They wriggled and struggled like fish on a line.

"Yeah, Klaus has Jeremy." Alaric turns towards a side door. "Come on." He urged, and takes off. Elena was a close second, followed by Bonnie and I took up the rear. But I frowned. If this were true, how come neither Damon nor Stefan or both were here with him to report this? We followed Alaric into a hallway.

"Okay, so where are you taking us?" Elena asked, frantically looking around for any sign of her brother. She ran ahead of Alaric, who slowed down from a run to a casual walk; like he was strolling through a moonlit park at night. Something definitely didn't add up.

"Just a little further." Alaric insisted. Bonnie caught up to Elena; and I was extremely disappointed that the girls hasn't caught on yet that something didn't ring true.

"Wait…" Or, I could be mistaken. Elena turned and eyed Alaric suspiciously. "Something's not right."

 _Duh…_

Bonnie looked at Alaric for a hint.

"Where's Jeremy?" She demanded. Alaric, or the imposter wearing Alaric's face suddenly stops walking and laughs.

"I just had to get away from that dance." He said. "The sixties, ugh. Not my decade." He shudders with disgust, before laughing once again. "I mean, whose call was that, anyway? I much prefer the twenties. The style, the parties, the jazz." Elena stepped towards him cautiously.

Bloody idiot!

"Alaric. Are you on vervain?" She asked him, worriedly. 'Alaric' raises an eyebrow at her question.

"Now why would you ask me that question, Elena?" He asked. Elena's eyes widened, and she turned to Bonnie.

"He's being compelled."

"Nope. Try again." 'Alaric' chirped. Then it hit me, and I berated myself for not figuring it out sooner.

"Niklaus…" I whispered. He turned and gave me a smile that could melt chocolate.

"Surprise!"

* * *

 **A/N: This concludes part one. Part two comes next chapter followed by a bit of drama. Thanks for reading :)**


	31. My Boyfriend's Back (Part Two)

**A/N: Welcome back! Now on with part two!**

 **Please review and no flames, guys!**

 **I don't own** _ **The Vampire Diaries.**_ **All characters (except for Grace) are owned by author L.J. Smith.**

 **Please note: the title of this chapter was inspired by the 1963 song:** _ **'My Boyfriend's Back'**_ **by the Angels.**

 **Hurry up, you'll miss what happens next!**

* * *

 **MY BOYFRIEND'S BACK**

" _In the end you always go back to the people that were there in the beginning."  
_ _ **~Unknown Author.**_

* * *

Nobody moved.

Nik and I just stared at each other like we feared either one of us would suddenly fade away from the other's view, or we'd wake up and realise that this was just another cruel and nasty dream.

"Is it really you?" I finally broke the silence. He nods, smiling and (as cliché as it sounds) my heart practically broke my ribcage. But then Elena's horrified voice burst our little bubble of joy like a pin piercing its fragile outer casing.

"Oh, no. No, it's not possible." She shouted. Nik answered her without looking away from me.

"Oh but it is, love." He confirmed, then addressed me. "I'll be just a moment, darling." He promises me. "Hold onto that thought, tightly." Then he turns and looks directly at Elena, a devilish smirk on his face. Elena takes an uncertain step away from him. "Just relax, Elena. I'm not here to hurt you. You're not on my hit list tonight." He promises, before turning his attention towards Bonnie. "But you are." Bonnie tenses, and Nik starts towards her.

However, Bonnie throws him against the wall with her powers.

"Nik!" I screamed, and ran towards him. But Elena runs at me, and restrains me. "Let go of me!" Nik gets to his feet, unperturbed by Bonnie's show of force.

"Now, did I mention that I knew a witch?" He asks, rhetorically. "You're gonna have to hit me a lot harder than that." Then he charges full pelt towards Bonnie and she throws him against a display case, smashing the glass. He gets to his feet, still laughing. "By all means… Fire away!" He encourages her, as he gets to his feet. "If you kill this body, I'll just get a new one. Maybe Jeremy." He mused, thoughtfully. I struggled violently against Elena, even resorting to stepping on her foot. Elena yelled out in pain and released me. I took the chance to rush at Nik and Bonnie, but the witch threw her hand in my direction and I thudded against an invisible barrier.

"NO!" I snarled and thudded against it with my fists.

"Go. Run. Run!" Bonnie urged. Suddenly, small but strong arms wrapped around my waist and started dragging me away.

"Elena! Let go of me!" I protested, as Elena rushes us away from the fight with Bonnie following behind at the rear. The amused smirk on Nik's face drops when he sees that I'm being restrained and taken against my will.

"Let go of her now!" He snarled. But neither Bonnie nor Elena pay heed to his warning, and Bonnie slams the doors with her powers; blocking Nik's path. Damon runs through another pair of doors and Elena and I nearly collide with him.

"What happened?" Damon exclaimed. Elena tightens her grip around my wrist as she answers Damon's question.

"Klaus is in Alaric's body."

"What?" Damon was now extremely alert.

"He's possessing it or something." Bonnie added, keeping an eye out for Nik. Damon looked over at me.

"Does Grace know?" He asked.

"She recognized him straight away." Elena told him. I manage to wrench my wrist free from her grip and charged back down the hallway to where we last left Nik. However, Damon vamp-speeds in front of me and catches me easily.

"No, Damon! Let go of me!" I growled at him. But Damon ignores me and turns towards Elena.

"Go find Stefan. Now." He orders her.

Elena nodded. "Okay."

"Now!" Elena leaves. Now only Damon, Bonnie and I were alone in the hallway. I twisted in Damon's arms, desperate tears falling down my face. Nik had been inches away from me (albeit possessing Alaric's body) but it still counted.

"Damon, please. Let go!" I begged. He ignored in favor of focusing on Bonnie, intently. He locked his arms around me.

"Can you kill him?" He asked her. Bonnie hesitated.

"He's got some kind of protection spell on him." She reported. Damon frowned.

"You have the power of a hundred witches. Break it." He tells her, angrily. Bonnie glared at him.

"I'm trying! If I kill Alaric, he'll just possess someone else." Damon swore underneath his breath. "He knows I have my power, Damon. He's trying to kill me." Bonnie insisted. Damon's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"No. Klaus does not get to win tonight, no way." He vowed. "You still willing to do whatever it takes to kill him?"

* * *

 **~:KLAUS P.O.V:~**

After being magically cut off from my attempts to rescue Grace from Elena's clutches, I went to the cafeteria to await the arrival of little miss witch, who was bound to return to take another shot at me. I was willing to play along with their pointless attempts take me down; I even went as far as to remind them of the consequences of killing this body. But the very moment they restrained Grace from coming to me, they went too far. I was sitting in a chair, playing with a knife in between my fingers when Bonnie suddenly enters the cafeteria.

"What took you so long?" I asked, calmly. But I was far from being calm. "Now, do you want to do this the easy way or the hard way?" Bonnie reaches out with her powers and breaks my wrist. My hand drops the knife and I winced only slightly from the pain as I rolled my eyes. Sighing, I grabbed my hand and twisted it with a jerk back into place. Alaric should have normal function of his hand by the time I'm through dealing with this insolent witch. "The hard way. Got it." I confirmed and got to my feet. Bonnie breaks my shoulder with her powers, and I groaned from the searing pain. "What? You'd kill your favorite history teacher?" I mocked her.

She doesn't blink.

"It's what Alaric would want. And he'd want you to suffer first." She told me, confidently. I smirked.

"That's not a problem for me, I've got all the time in the world." I noticed some blood dripping from one of Bonnie's nostrils. It seemed that Maddox was right about her new powers killing her. "Look at you." Bonnie raises a hand to her nose and wipes away the blood. "Is that all you got?" I taunted her.

"Let's find out." Bonnie retorted.

Game on!

* * *

 **~:GRACE P.O.V:~**

Still stuck in Damon's custody, but having no choice but to follow him, we come across Elena and Stefan running down the hallway.

"There you are." Damon said, relieved. Elena glanced at both Damon and me, and realised that somebody was missing. I knew that Elena was not going to like what Damon had to tell her next.

"What are you doing? Where's Bonnie?" She demanded.

"She's doing what she has to do." Damon responded, giving me a warning look not to say a word. I wasn't an idiot, there was nothing any of us could do to stop Bonnie. She was determined to do whatever it took to protect Elena, even if what she was doing was suicidal. Elena was practically beside herself when she realised what Damon meant.

"What?" Elena yelled.

"Where is she?" Stefan demanded, urgently. When Damon didn't respond, he moved to go find Bonnie. But by the time he would find her, it would be too late. That was exactly the way Damon and Bonnie had planned it.

"Stefan, let her do this." Damon insisted. Stefan turned and got right in his brother's face.

"Damn it, Damon, where is she?!" Stefan growled.

Nobody responds, deliberately. Elena takes off with Stefan following close behind, while Damon and I follow at a more sedate pace. Now that it was confirmed that Nik was likely to survive this, I had calmed down. But I was still angry with Damon and Elena for preventing me to have a proper reunion with my lover. By the time we get to the cafeteria, Bonnie was still fighting Nik. Elena and Stefan arrive at the doors, but Bonnie shuts them with her powers so nobody can come in to disturb the fight.

"Bonnie, no!" Elena shrieks, banging her fists against the doors.

I look over Nik and examined the damage Bonnie had inflicted upon him: his leg and his foot were broken, and he was currently crumpled on the floor. However, it was Bonnie who was in the worst shape. Her nose was gushing blood, and it was obvious the amount of strain she was under from the power overload she was exhibiting. Before our eyes, Nik crawls on the floor towards Bonnie and both of them start fighting, which causes a shower of sparks to rain down upon them both. Elena screams, and Stefan tries to open the doors but fails.

Bonnie looks up at us, and smiles. Nik gets up, and Bonnie faces him before her body bends back with a jerk and she falls to the floor. Finally, Elena and Stefan open the doors and burst into the room. I stay where I am, looking on the scene with sorrowful eyes.

"No!" Elena sobbed. "Oh! Bonnie! Bonnie, Bonnie! Bonnie! Hey, hey." She doesn't respond, and Elena pulls Bonnie up into her arms. Damon distractedly steps into the room, leaving me unguarded, and I turn away unable to continue watching. Nik had somehow disappeared from the room. "Stefan, she's not breathing!" Elena was inconsolable.

Suddenly, the world around me blurs and when it refocuses, I find myself standing with my back against the wall and face-to-face with a fully healed Nik looking at me tenderly and holding me like I was precious cargo … and this would've been extremely romantic, if it wasn't for the fact that I was, in reality, staring in the eyes of Alaric instead of Nik. Now it was just awkward, because I couldn't do what I really wanted to do.

"Hello, love." Nik whispered, in Alaric's Bostonian accent. I immediately wrapped my arms around his neck and started sobbing into his shoulder.

"I can't believe you're finally here, Nik." I whispered back.

"Believe it, sweetheart. I'm never letting you go again." He promised me, and hugged me tighter before we reluctantly broke the embrace. "I've got to go, darling. But the next time we see each other; I will be in my own body." He kissed my forehead and in the next blink he was gone. I allowed myself to slide down the wall, and I buried my head into my knees.

A few minutes later, another body slides down beside me; and I instinctively know that it's Damon. I sit up and lean against his shoulder, hugging his arm for comfort. He pulls away from me and I feel hurt, before I realized that he was only moving his arm so he could wrap it around my shoulders and pull me closer.

"How are you holding up?" Damon muttered.

"I'll live." I told him, truthfully. "But apart from what just happened before with Bonnie, Nik's finally here." I grinned from ear to ear. Damon didn't share my enthusiasm. Eventually, he got to his feet and pulled me to mine.

"C'mon. I've got to deliver Bonnie's body to the place we agreed upon, then we've got to get back to the Boarding House to fill Elena in on our plan." Damon told me. I nodded, and followed Damon to the cafeteria where somebody had re-positioned Bonnie's body in a more comfortable position so she wouldn't feel it when she eventually reawakened.

"Did you let Jeremy know that his girlfriend isn't dead, yet?" I asked Damon. He shook his head.

"No, that's the next thing on my list after transferring Bonnie to the trunk of my car." Damon explained. I nodded and watched Damon gently scoop up Bonnie's body into his arms, and followed him outside. After safely and gently putting Bonnie's body in the trunk and closing it, Jeremy runs up to us, looking frantic.

"Damon! Hey, I got your message, I can't find anyone." I avoided direct eye contact with Jeremy which made him narrow his eyes at me. "Where's Elena, where's Bonnie?" He demanded. I moved for the front seat of Damon's car and got in just as Damon answered Jeremy's question. I wound down the window, so I could still hear the conversation; despite it being technically Damon's job to explain it all to Jeremy.

"We need to have a little talk." Damon told him. Jeremy frowned.

"Alright, I'm listening." Damon drew in a deep breath to steady himself.

"First all, it turned out that Klaus is possessing Alaric's body." Damon began the explanation. Jeremy's eyes nearly bugged out of his head.

"What are you serious!?"

"Yeah, completely." Damon confirmed. "Which kinda messed up the plans we had made earlier. So Bonnie had to change them a little." Damon said, obviously trying to be delicate; which was clearly something he had never had to do before, since he had become a vampire. Jeremy was getting suspicious.

"What sort of changes?" Without a word, Damon popped the trunk and revealed Bonnie's semi-comatose body lying within. Jeremy's reaction was instantaneous.

"Bonnie! What the hell did you do to her?" Jeremy seized Damon's lapels and I got out of the car to intervene before Damon could do something unfortunate, like instinctively maim Jeremy.

"Woah, woah, woah. You need to calm down and take a couple of deep breaths, Jeremy." I told him firmly.

"Bonnie is fine. She just cast a spell on herself to make it look like she had died. Instead, she merely went into a death-like state to fool Klaus into thinking she had just committed suicide." Damon laid down the facts. Jeremy calmed down, but still fixed Damon with a territorial glare.

"So what happens now?" Jeremy asked.

* * *

Damon, Jeremy and I worked together to safely deliver Bonnie to our designated hideout: the old witch house. However, it was up to both Jeremy and I to get her _inside_ , since the bloody witches who haunted this dilapidated deathtrap still refused to allow Damon inside.

"You know, you're not winning any favors with this attitude." I loudly told the witches who surrounded Jeremy and me, looking at Bonnie with concern. They ignored me, as Jeremy carried Bonnie bridal-style downstairs to the basement, and laid her down on some pillows that I had hastily arranged. He tenderly removed a stray piece of hair from her face, before straightening up and turning towards me. I fixed him with a concerned look. "You gonna be okay waiting here for Bonnie to wake up?" I asked him.

Jeremy nodded.

"Yeah, I'm good. Thanks, Grace." I hugged him briefly before heading back upstairs and out to Damon's car.

"All good?" Damon asked.

"Yeah." I replied. "Let's go put Elena out of her misery." I stated, and Damon smiled.

* * *

We both found Stefan trying his best to comfort a clearly not coping Elena, who was sitting next to the fireplace with tears still streaming down her face. Elena was immediately on her feet the very second Damon stepped into the room, and in his face. She completely ignored me.

"What did you do with her?!" She screamed at him. Damon merely glanced at his brother, looking slightly annoyed as he side stepped her and headed straight for the wet bar.

"Will you please calm her down?" He suggested, calmly. However, Elena didn't like that.

"Don't talk like I'm not standing right in front of you." She snapped. I walked over to her and grabbed her attention.

"Elena, you need to calm down." I told her, using soothing tones. But Elena was far from being calm, instead she turned breaking away from me and stormed right over to Damon.

"You knew! Didn't you?" Elena snarled, and Damon didn't reply. "You knew that if she harnessed all that power, that she would die, didn't you?" She pressed him for an answer, before Damon eventually sighed and told her the truth.

"Yes. Yes, I knew." He confessed. Elena hauled off and slapped him hard across the face. The second she did that, I lost what remained of my patience.

"HEY! That's enough, Elena. You are out of line!" I yelled at her, angrily. I walked over and grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her over, making her sit down on the couch.

"If you would calm the fuck down for one second, then maybe Damon and I would be able to give you the answer you need." Damon paused for a moment, before downing his drink and walking over to squat down in front of Elena; a steely gaze in his eyes told us all that he was just barely reigning in his temper.

"You need to listen to me, and prepare for what I'm about to say." He told her, firmly and articulately. "Bonnie had to die. Klaus using Alaric's body was a total surprise. She wasn't prepared for that, and he wasn't going to stop." Elena flinched. "We weren't going to be able to stop him until he knew she was dead. He had to believe it." Damon explained.

Finally, Elena stopped glaring at him, and stared with confusion.

"Bonnie cast a spell. She's gonna be fine." I confirmed, and Elena sighed with relief. I turned towards Damon and smiled sadly. "I'm gonna need a lift home, Damon." I requested. My best friend nodded, before making his way towards the stairs. However, Stefan intercepted him. He had a furious expression on his face.

"You know you could have told me." He insisted. Damon merely glared at him.

"How do I know when you're going to go blabbing things to your girlfriend?" Damon retorted, and continued walking. But Stefan hadn't finished yet.

"You understand what you put her through?" He indicated to a very relieved Elena, who was now sitting calmly and peacefully on the couch sipping from whatever was in a nearby cup. Damon shook his head, looking and sounding irritated.

"See, that's why I didn't tell you." He stated. Stefan looked confused. "You would have never been able to do it. Don't get me wrong, Stefan. I don't mind being the bad guy. I'll make all the life and death decisions while you continue busying yourself with the collateral damages. I don't mind if she hates me for it. But I'll be the one who will keep her alive." Stefan looks pensive, as Damon goes upstairs to deal with whatever he needed to do before he came back down, draped his arm around my shoulders and escorted me to his car, to take me home. "Well, that was fun. Let's _not_ do it again." He quipped.

* * *

I was in the process of removing all the makeup on my face, and the hairspray in my hair; when it dawned on me, just exactly what had happened this evening and the conclusions that resulted from it. Damon, Stefan, Elena and Bonnie were seriously kidding themselves they truly believed that Nik was fooled by what they had done.

He wasn't a fool.

He was most likely humoring them into thinking that they were going to be having the last laugh when the time came for Elena to be sacrificed in his ritual. But there _is_ no weapon; human or otherwise, that can kill Nik or any of his siblings permanently, except for the white oak stake. And that specific wood was exceedingly rare, if not extinct by now.

Nik will laugh in their faces; and I'm sorry to say, that I would be chortling alongside him. Because they really didn't think this through enough. And I'll be damned if they expect me to help them figure out a foolproof plan to kill the man I have waited a thousand years for. I finished getting ready for bed and walked out of my bedroom; only to find Henrik sitting on the couch patiently waiting for me.

"So, how'd it go?" He asked, curiously, and looking slightly worried about my melancholy face. I came over and sat down beside him, snuggling down into one of the couch cushions.

"Fantastic, actually." I admitted. Henrik frowned with confusion.

"That's the word you're gonna label this as?" He sounded dubious. "What pray tell made it as _fantastic_ as you say?" Henrik wanted to know.

"Nik." I replied, trying and failing to stop the enormous grin that threatened to split apart my face. Henrik froze and looked at me with disbelief.

"He's here? He's finally here?!" I nodded, and Henrik yelled out in triumph. "YES!" I giggled and spent what remained of the evening telling him everything and ended up falling asleep on the couch together, huddled together like we used to long ago. I was rudely awakened by my phone trilling loudly in my ear. I groped around blindly for the infernal thing and answered it, jamming the device to my head.

"Whoever this is, you've got ten seconds to state your business before I cuss you out and hang up on you for disturbing my sleep." I mumbled angrily into the phone.

 _"Hey Grace, uh, this is Elena."_ I paused for several moments before sighing.

"What's up, Elena. Is something the matter?" I droned, still half asleep.

 _"Elijah is awake."_ Elena got straight to the point. I sat up and looked at the phone with surprise. I had disturbed Henrik, who muttered choice words at me in his sleep. I ignored him.

"I beg your pardon?" I said.

 _"Elijah is awake. I removed the dagger last night."_ She told me. I got up from the couch, and walked towards the kitchen. I seriously needed a cup of tea if I was going to be dealing with this.

"What on earth possessed you to do that?" I demanded, grabbing my favourite mug and adding a teabag to it. Elena sighed heavily over the line.

 _"I had some questions I needed answers to, and the only person that I knew had those answers was Elijah. But he won't answer any of my questions unless you're here to hear them as well."_ Elena explained. I glanced at the wall clock and groaned at the time. It was way too early for this shit.

"Really, Elijah?" I groaned.

 _"Yes really, Grace."_ I heard Elijah's voice appear over the line. _"Please don't whine like that, it is really most unbecoming of a woman of your age."_ Elijah scolded me, and I couldn't help but grin. I had missed hearing his voice for a while now. Part of me wondered how he'd react when he learned that Nik was now in town. (Although, until I see him in his actual body, none of the memories I have of him will return.)

"If you insist on me being there with you and Elena, then I guess I can make an appearance." I pretended that this was a great hardship. "Where am I meeting the both of you?" I asked. Elena rattled off the destination as the Lockwood Mansion, and I immediately agreed. "Alright. I'll see you soon." I hung up. I was about to put my phone down and go and get ready when it started buzzing again.

Boy I was popular this morning.

I glanced down at the caller ID: it was Damon. I hit accept. "Hey Damon, didn't you already say what you needed to say last night when you dropped me home?" I asked quizzically.

" _Elena's disappeared, and so has Elijah."_ He gets straight to the point.

 _Fuck…_

"Holy shit. How did that happen?" I improvised.

" _Who knows why Elena does anything. The point is, has she contacted you?"_ Damon wanted to know.

 _Yes._ "No, I was sleeping up until right this second. But I'll keep an eye and an ear out for her." I promised. It wasn't technically a lie, but I highly doubted once I got to the Lockwood Mansion that she and Elijah were at, that I'd be able to make phone calls.

" _Great. Thanks, Grace. I'll talk to you soon."_ Damon said before hanging up.

 _Shit._

* * *

 **~:KLAUS P.O.V:~**

I was quite literally ready to crawl out of my skin. I needed to get my body back as soon as possible, because Alaric's body (as was proven the night before) was too fragile for what I needed to do, and what I wanted to with Grace would not be acceptable either. If anything, it would make us both uncomfortable as this body was already belonged to somebody else.

"I'll be back as soon as I can." Maddox told me from the front door. I scowled at him.

"Yes, do hurry. I'm anxious to get out of this body. And if you get hung up, call me. You know how impatient I get." I instructed him. Maddox nods and walks down the hall towards the staircase. I pause momentarily in the act of closing the door to look down the row of apartment doors; trying to pin point which one Maddox had claimed was Grace's before eventually closing the door. Katerina looked up from where she was making coffee in Alaric's tiny kitchen.

"Where is he going?" She asked, as she hands me a mug of freshly brewed coffee. I accept it without looking at her, taking a sip.

"To retrieve me. So I can get out of this bad hair-do." I replied flippantly. She pauses, staring at me pensively. Almost to the point that I was starting to get annoyed.

"Are you sure that is a good idea, Klaus?" She asks me, at which point I throw her a warning look. But then just as quickly smiled.

"Well, the full moon is almost upon us." I replied, placing the moonstone on the table. "I've killed the witch." At least, that's what I want those fools to think I believed. I know full well that she is still alive, and I intend on playing along to throw them off kilter. "I have the moonstone, and the doppelgänger is waiting in the wings. Ooh, I am ready to break this curse." I declared. Katerina shuddered, presumably remembering back to when it was almost her that broke the curse.

"And why would you do that here? There's so many people that would try to stop you." I shrugged like it was obvious.

"Because I have to. It's the birthplace of the doppelgänger." I replied shortly. Katerina looked surprised at this fact.

"I didn't realise that was a requirement." She muttered. I chuckled at her cluelessness.

"Well, how could you? You betrayed me and fled England before I could give you the details, Katerina. But I did find your birthplace and I slaughtered your family." Katerina bristled. "So I guess we're cool. Let's just hope that Elena isn't as stupid as you were." I mused thoughtfully.

"She won't run." Katerina reassured me, needlessly. "She'll die before she lets anyone she loves get hurt." She stated, as she sits down and looked bored.

I grinned.

"And that's exactly what I'm counting on." I told her before leaning in and compelling her. "You can't leave until I tell you to." I commanded, as I left the room.

* * *

 **~:GRACE P.O.V:~**

I drove along the highway, car window down and blowing cool air into the car, and I was bopping along with the music on the car radio as I mused about what Elijah was likely to be revealing to both Elena and me. Clearly, it was important if my brother felt that my presence was required. I eventually came up to the Lockwood Mansion and saw Elena's SVU parked on the expansive driveway. I pulled up behind the car and cut the engine, before grabbing my purse and hopped out of my car. I looped the strap over my head and settled it on my shoulder before taking off down the driveway. It did not take long to locate Elijah and Elena; mostly because they were talking rather loudly.

"You look better." Elena commented.

"How long did you say Grace was going to be?" Elijah ignored Elena's comment on his current wellbeing. I heard more than saw Elena sigh.

"Hopefully not too long, depending on the traffic." Elena reassures him.

"Where did you get the dagger?" Elijah demanded, coldly. I flinched at the memory of Elena shoving the silver dagger into Elijah's heart.

"I'll tell you everything. But we have to work together, Elijah. I need your word." Elena urged.

"Your ability to make demands has long passed." Elijah pointed out. I turned the corner and saw Elena standing before Elijah who was eyeing Elena suspiciously. His expensive suit was tattered and dirty, and looked like he had been thoroughly burned. I frowned at this before I remembered seeing a flame-thrower back in the basement when Katherine and I had been attempting to sabotage the efforts of an invisible witch (who turned out to be Luka Martin) to free Elijah prematurely.

 _Damon…_ I thought in annoyance. I plastered on a pleasant smile.

"That won't stop her from trying." I reminded Elijah, causing both of them to turn towards me; both with different reactions: Elijah immediately warmed up and smiled, and Elena nodded in greeting and crossed her arms over her chest in the standard defensive posture.

"Hello, Grace." Elijah greeted me, and I removed my aviator sunglasses and perched them on my head as I walked over to Elijah and wrapped my arms around his neck as he pulled me into a hug. As I pulled back, I noticed something red at the corner of his mouth.

"You've got a little…" I reached for his face with my thumb and wiped away a little bit of blood from his lip. Elijah immediately straightened up and removed his handkerchief from his pocket to wipe at his mouth. Elena looked at him placating.

"I'm not making demands, I'm offering you my help." She insisted. "In return, I want yours." Elijah replaced his handkerchief into his pocket.

"And why should I even consider this?" He asked, guardedly. Elena looked a bit impatient.

"The same reason that you haven't killed me. You need my help to kill Klaus, and I need you." She insisted. Almost immediately, her phone started buzzing and she answers it. "Stefan?" Elijah and I watch Elena as she walks away a short distance to talk to her overprotective, smothering boyfriend. Elijah turns his attention back to me.

"I see a lot of things have happened since I've been absent." Elijah observed, eying the puncture wounds on my neck and Nik's necklace dangling from around my neck. "So, Niklaus has finally arrived, I see." Elijah reached for the necklace, and gently picks it up to examine it for himself. I smiled.

"Yeah, he has."

"Reeking his havoc already?" He indicated the visibly agitated Elena still talking on the phone with Stefan. I winced.

"He somehow possessed Alaric's body and terrorized us at the High School during the Decade Dance." I told him, truthfully. Elijah rolled his eyes, not looking at all surprised by this.

"Of course he has. One of his favorite tricks." He groaned. "And how did this happen?" Elijah indicated to the bite mark. I sighed exasperatedly; this would have to be the fourth time I had to give an explanation about Katherine's moment of rabid behavior.

"After you were daggered for the second time." I explained. Elijah looked alarmed, and he examined the _finally_ healing wound. "Turns out that Katherine was able to break free of the tomb when you were daggered the first time by Alaric." I told him, questioning if he knew that.

"Yes, I suspected that she would have been released from my compulsion when I died." Elijah confirmed. I nodded and continued.

"So she decided to take a shower at the Boarding House, in Damon's bathroom no less. Damon and I stumbled upon her and Katherine – in retaliation for taunting her about the fact that I knew you and Nik, and making a comparison between her and Tatia – rushed me and managed to bite me a little." I told him. Predictably, Elijah's eyes flashed; and the dark veins appeared and disappeared from around his eyes as he controlled his rage.

"Who rescued you?" Elijah demanded, using an even tone in his voice.

"I did. I stabbed her in the stomach with my dagger." I stated, proudly. Elijah looked astonished. "At that point, I was being constantly attacked and kidnapped every time I set foot out the door. I was sick of it, so I was on guard and Katherine suffered the consequences." My brother looked like an extremely proud father.

"I'm very pleased that you dealt with that situation. But I dread to think what Niklaus' reaction was when he saw that." Elijah frowned worriedly. I laughed.

"I suspect he had same reaction you did, Elijah. Had he had the capability to vamp out, he probably would have. As such, he was still in Alaric's body at the time." I filled in the blanks. Elijah pulled me into a hug, just as Elena walked back over to us. He wordlessly holds his hand out, and Elena gives him her phone. He puts it into his jacket pocket and looked at me with surprise when I offered him mine. "It's Damon we're talking about here, Elijah. He will call me for an update on the both of your whereabouts." Elijah considered this for a moment before nodding and pocketing my phone as well.

"Shall we continue to our destination?" Elijah suggested. Both Elena and I nodded, and headed towards the Lockwood's front door.

"He's here." Elena reported to Elijah, who nodded.

"I know. Grace has already informed me." Elijah replied, promptly. Elena frowned.

"When did she do that?" She asked.

"While you were on the phone with Stefan." I responded. "But I didn't actually verbalize his arrival to Elijah." I corrected her.

"I recognized the necklace she was wearing around her neck as Klaus'." Elijah explained. Elena looked at the necklace with wide eyes.

"You've had this all this time?" She said, accusatory. I shook my head, ignoring the critical tone in her voice.

"No. He must've sent it to me two days ago. I got this last night." I stated. Elijah interrupted us.

"As riveting as this conversation about jewelry is, I must insist we return to the topic at hand." Elijah reminded us, sternly. Elena nodded.

"Yeah, sure." Then she drew in a deep breath. "Klaus took over Alaric's body." She told him.

"Yeah, I've been informed of that also. It's one of Klaus' favourite tricks he likes to play on his victims." Elijah stated.

"Well, what are his other tricks? What is he going to do next?" Elena wanted to know. I looked at him, with interest also. "You're the only one who knows him." Elena insisted.

"How quickly you forget, Elena." I drawled, scowling at her.

"Well, you weren't exactly helpful when we asked you to describe Klaus to us." Elena retorted.

"Like I said, you have a selective memory. But in this case, I agree; Elijah knows more than I do." I admitted. Elijah nodded.

"Yes, I do." We fronted up to the main double doors of the Mansion, and Elijah wrapped his knuckles smartly on the wood. Carol answers the door, and reacts immediately to our unexpected presence.

"Elijah, Elena, Grace! What are you doing here?" Then she takes a better look at Elijah's appearance. "What happened?" She asked, concerned.

"I've had a bit of an incident, Carol. I'm hoping you could help." Elijah was quick to answer. Carol visibly hesitates.

"Well, I'm on my way to a meeting, so I—"

"It won't take but a minute of your time." Elijah compels her, causing the Mayor to smile, and both Elena and I to frown with confusion.

"Of course. Anything you need." Carol tells him, warmly. Elijah smiled.

"Thank you." We enter the house. Carol closes the door behind us and turns to face us, acting like the dutiful hostess. "Well, first things first. I'm going to need a change of clothing." Elijah stated. Carol is very prompt.

"Well, we can try one of my husband's suits. I haven't boxed them up yet." She explains.

"Wonderful." Carol heads upstairs to the upper levels of the house. Elena steps towards Elijah, frowning at him curiously.

"How did you know she's not on vervain?"

"‛Cause I'm the one who got her off it. Right before you and your friends killed me. Twice." I immediately felt guilty that he had gone through all that. Elijah must've either sensed this, or saw me deflate as he took my hand and squeezed it comfortingly. "If you'll both excuse me. I'll be down in a moment." He lets go of my hand and disappears up the stairs to wherever Carol had wondered off to, leaving Elena and I to our own devices. About five minutes later, Elijah returns, finding the both of us in the living room: I was sketching; oblivious to Elena and her pacing.

"So, I assume that the Martin witches are no longer with us." Elijah spoke up, as he walked into the room. I automatically glanced up at him. He was dressed impeccably in a dark suit; minus the tie. He looked really good.

"No. I'm sorry." Elena responded, solemnly. Elijah takes a seat beside me on the couch, and gestures for Elena to take a seat herself.

"And Katerina?"

"Klaus took her." Elena replied, promptly.

"And if there is any sense in the world, she's hopefully dead; if not, she shortly will be." I replied bitterly, clapping a hand to my neck where the bite mark was. Elena's eyes widened when she saw it, but said nothing. Elijah shook his head.

"I doubt that. Not Klaus' style. Death would be too easy for her after what she did." I pouted. But Elena had more to say on the matter.

"I don't understand. You say that you want Klaus dead, but you still made Katherine pay for betraying him." She pointed out. Elijah narrowed his eyes sternly at her.

"I have my own reasons for wanting Katerina to pay. Just like Grace currently has." He indicated to me, still absently massaging my wound. Elijah gently took my hand away from my neck and held it with his, stroking it affectionately with his thumb to help distract me from the memory. "There was a time … I'd have done anything for Klaus." Elijah admitted, and I looked at him with solemn eyes. What had Nik done to Elijah to put him in such a state? Elijah takes a sip of some tea Carol had left for us before she went to her meeting.

"So the stories Grace told me about her past life are true?" Elena sounded blown away. Elijah frowned.

"What stories are these?"

"The stories of why our families came to America from Norway, and when we first met when you were six, Nik was two and I was a newborn." I clarified. Elena frowned at that last part.

"You didn't tell me that part." She tells me.

"Didn't I? Well, now you know." I replied, flipping the pages of my sketchbook and showing the both of them the sketch of six-year-old Elijah, two-year-old Niklaus, and newborn me in Elijah's arms. Elijah took the book from me and smiled slightly at the image, and possibly the memory that accompanied it.

"Well, regardless. Just know, Elena… we're the oldest vampires in the world. We are the Original family, and from us all vampires were created." Elijah stated to her firmly.

"1,026-years, and 1,022-years, respectively." I smirked, playfully; making Elena's eyes widen with shock.

"Correct." Elijah scowled at me a little, with warning. Elena turned to me, curiously.

"And if you had lived and turned into a vampire," Elijah winced at the memory, "You'd be…?"

"Uh, probably 1,019 or 1,020? Depended on when Nik and I decided to change me." I predicted.

"And now you're…?"

"21-years-old." I confirmed. Elena nodded then turned back to Elijah.

"Klaus is your brother. And you want him dead?" She looked a little sad. Elijah didn't respond right away, just looked at both Elena and I for a moment before handing me back my sketchbook and getting to his feet.

"I need some air. I'm still feeling a tad… dead. Come." He extended a hand towards me, and I accepted it, allowing Elijah to help me to my feet. All three of us leave the room. We walked around the house towards the large lake behind the property. "So as you've seen, nothing can kill an Original. Not sun, not fire, not even a werewolf bite. Only the wood from one tree. A tree my family made sure burned." Elijah explained. I eagerly listened to this part of the story, as it must have happened after I had died.

"That's where the white ash for the dagger comes from." Elena stated, confirming the facts. Elijah nodded.

"Yes. The witches won't allow anything truly immortal to walk the earth. Every creature need to have a weakness in order to maintain the balance." He explained. Elena still looked confused.

"So the Sun can't kill an Original. Why is Klaus so obsessed with breaking the Sun and Moon curse?" Both Elijah and I started chuckling to ourselves.

"Right. The curse of the sun and the moon. It's all so … biblical-sounding, don't you think?" He enquired, smiling with amusement.

"What's so funny?" Elena asks me.

"It's fake." I confirmed. Elena looked stricken.

"The curse is fake?"

"No, the curse is very real. But it has nothing to do with the sun or the moon." I told her. Elena looked at Elijah for confirmation.

"Klaus and I were the masterminds around the concept of the curse's origin." Elijah stated, amused.

"I don't understand. So Klaus drew the Aztec sketches about the curse?" Elena asked.

"Roman scrolls, African tribal etchings, and any other culture or continent we felt like planting in it." Elijah nodded.

"But why?" Elena asked. Elijah stopped walking and looked at her intently.

"The easiest way to discover the existence of a doppelgänger or to get your hands on some long, lost moonstone is to have every single member of two warring species on the lookout." Elijah confirmed.

"So it's not Aztec at all?" He shook his head. Elena turned towards me.

"Why didn't you speak up about it when we found it that time we went to Duke?" Elena sounded angry.

"Because I didn't know about it until I got back home with the intention of studying the text further." I explained. "I took pictures of the pages with my phone. But when I showed them to Henrik, he told me that the Sun and Moon Curse was fake." I revealed the truth, finally feeling relieved that I didn't have to hold back the truth about that day any longer.

"Henrik?" Both Elena and Elijah were shocked.

"But isn't your brother dead? Why would he know?" Elena asked.

"Because he was there when Elijah and Niklaus were creating the pictures." I confirmed. "Ghosts have the freedom to move from place to place once they are deceased. They aren't trapped where they died."

"What?" Elijah was stunned.

"Yeah. I told you before, Elijah, when I first told you that I could see Henrik's ghost: He's been there for every single journey you, Nik and everyone else took, since the moment he finally perished. He knows everything." I told him, walking away from them both. Elijah followed rapidly.

"What?!" Elena ran after us.

* * *

I made my way over to the stone bench I had first met both Katherine and Stefan at all these months ago at the first Mayor's wake, and sank down onto it. Elijah caught up with me, and started pacing. It was clear that learning that his baby brother had been by his side, and seen everything that they had done or experienced was a lot for him to take in.

"So if the curse Klaus is trying to break has nothing to do with the Sun or the Moon, what is it about?" Elena demanded, approaching the both of us. Both Elijah and I exchanged glances, and hesitated. It was still an extremely painful memory for both us for two reasons: because Elijah had been involved in the first place, and because I had died that night as well. Elijah eventually decided to go from the beginning.

"Klaus and I faked the sun and moon curse dating back over a thousand years." He began.

"The curse itself was placed upon Niklaus himself." I added, quietly. Elena looked at me with surprise.

"You were there?" I nodded. "What's going on? What are you both talking about?" Tears started welling up in my eyes, causing Elena to gasp. Elijah took over, not seeing this.

"Klaus has been trying to break it for the last thousand years. And you are his only hope." He revealed. Elena pointed towards me.

"Why is she crying?" She demanded. Elijah snapped his head in my direction, realizing why, and he immediately came over to my side and wrapped me up in an embrace. "What is this curse?" Elijah pulls away from me for a moment tugging Elena's vibrating phone from his pocket, which allowed me to get to my feet and walk away a little; trying to stop myself from crying over something that happened a thousand years ago.

"Your phone will not stop its incessant buzzing. Answer it, please." Elijah hands Elena her phone and she answers it.

"Stefan… what's wrong? No. No, no, no, no. Okay, I'll be right there." Elena promises, hanging up. "Klaus went after Jenna. I have to go to her." Elijah frowned.

"I'm afraid that wasn't part of today's arrangement." He reminded her, and I turned to look at them. But Elena remained insistent.

"She's my family, Elijah. I have to. I'll be back. You have my word." Elena promises.

"That doesn't mean anything to me until you live up to it." Elijah allows her to go to Jenna, but made the point of reminding her of her shortcomings. She smiled gratefully.

"Thank you." Elijah and I watch her run towards her car. Once she is out of sight, Elijah 'pounced' on me for an explanation.

"The tears are because…?"

"If I ever see Mikael again…" Elijah's eyes widen in fear. "I don't care how long it takes, I will fucking kill him for all the bullshit he caused." I vowed. "All because of his bloody pride." Elijah came over and grabbed my shoulders, making me focus on him.

"Mikael has been missing for decades. We don't know where he is." He insisted. "Besides you wouldn't stand a chance against him. You would be most certainly killed … again." Elijah was scared at the thought.

"But he ruined everything, Elijah! If it wasn't for him, Nik and I would probably have been married by now, I would've been a vampire and _all_ of us would've been enjoying the rest of our existence exploring the world; creating history, _experiencing_ history and just being happy." I listed the facts. "Can't you understand that? I love you all, but I'm having a hard time believing that you do." I confessed, tears still streaming down my face.

Elijah sighed and wrapped me up into his arms.

"I do understand, Grace. More than you can believe." He whispered. We stayed like this for a while, before eventually we just headed back for the stone bench and sat down on it together. Elijah let his arm stay around my shoulders as I leaned against his side, and waited for Elena to return.

* * *

 **~:KLAUS P.O.V:~**

Nobody better cross me right now.

The way I'm feeling, I will rip the head of the next person who dares piss me off. I am more than ready to return to my body, and Maddox is taking _far_ too long to return. My current bad mood stemmed from what occurred at Ms. Gilbert's home, where I met her charming aunt Jenna, posing as Alaric. I found it both mystifying and disappointing that this woman had no idea about the existence of the supernatural.

A fact that I greatly exploited for my gain.

It all started off harmlessly enough; I showed up at the Gilbert Residence, playing the remorseful partner. But Ms. Sommers wasn't fooled. All well, it doesn't matter; playing Alaric wasn't required for this next part of my plan. I didn't even stop her from calling Stefan. The fun began when he entered the house: I was in the kitchen, just chopping away at some vegetables with a very sharp kitchen knife, and enjoying the fact that I was making Jenna uncomfortable. The doorbell chimed and she immediately dashed off to answer it.

"Hey, Jenna." It was Stefan. Excellent. "Thank you so much for not going to the Grill." Stefan thanked her. I rolled my eyes. Such a waste of a perfectly functioning ripper.

"Um, Stefan…" Jenna hesitated. I put down the knife and walked towards the kitchen door so that I was within view of the front door. Stefan stood with his back to me.

"No, listen. I can explain." Stefan insisted, and turned when Jenna indicated with her head that I was standing right behind him.

"Hi, Stefan. How's it going?" I greeted him, with a smile. We retreated back into the kitchen, with Stefan attempting to shield Jenna from me. I nearly laughed out loud as I continued chopping. "You know, I find chopping … calming." I mused thoughtfully. "The feel of the blade in hand, maybe." Jenna frowned with confusion.

"Still waiting for someone to tell me what the hell's going on." She demanded, bordering on hysteria. I glanced at Stefan, curiously.

"Well, would you like to tell her, Stefan, or should I?" I asked casually.

"Tell me what?" Jenna asked. I turned to her.

"Do you believe in vampires, Jenna?" She raised an eyebrow. "No?" I laughed with amusement. "Well, who does, right? But believe it or not, they do have a place in history. And as a history teacher, I find them fascinating." Jenna looked freaked.

"Why are we talking about this?" She demanded. I pretended to give my answer a serious thought.

"Well, you've been angry with me for keeping secrets, and this is one of my secrets." I confessed, as Alaric. "I'm obsessed with vampires. There. I said it." I added, before laughing again. Jenna looked at me like I was insane. Quite honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if I was after all these years.

"Are you joking?" Jenna asked, looking almost hopeful. I smirked and shook my head, dashing her hopes.

"Not at all." I looked at an unamused, almost livid Stefan. "How about you, Stefan? Are you a fan of vampires?" I asked him, casually. He shrugged, knowing what I was doing.

"In literature." He responded. "Bram Stoker. It's dense, but I appreciate it." I felt almost insulted by that comment. I turned back to Jenna.

"Hmm. Did you know that vampires are the oldest creatures of the night? Except for werewolves, of course." Jenna snorted.

"Werewolves. Werewolves. Now I know you're joking." She stated.

Wrong again, sweetheart.

"You know, I've read that there's an Aztec curse on both species that keeps werewolves slaves to the Moon and vampires bound by the Sun." I glanced over at Stefan. "Isn't that right, Stefan? You know, they say these creatures would do anything to have this curse broken and that they wouldn't care who they had to kill to do it." I mused, waiting for her reaction. I wasn't disappointed. Jenna looked very alarmed, and I grinned at her triumphantly. Eventually, dinner had been served, but I wasn't nearly done exposing the supernatural to Jenna. Not even close. "Oh, I know this sounds so crazy, but … vampires _are_ real." I noticed that Jenna's wine glass was empty. "Would you care for some more wine?" I asked politely, getting up to retrieve the bottle.

"Get out." Jenna ordered me. I paused and looked back at her with surprise.

"Excuse me?"

"I don't know what it is you're trying to do or why you're saying these things, but…" Jenna was trying so hard not to stammer. Time to move in for the kill.

"Jenna…"

"I said get out!" Jenna yelled at me. Stefan gets to his feet.

"You heard her." He defended her. I sighed, headed back to the table.

"I'm afraid I don't want to." I confessed. Jenna gets to her feet.

"Fine! I'll go." She decides. I couldn't have that. I seized a kitchen knife from the counter and brandished it at her.

"You're not going anywhere." Suddenly, Stefan grabbed me and pushed me up against the wall with his super speed, placing the knife against Alaric's throat. I looked at him, unimpressed.

"Stefan!" Jenna was scared. Stefan immediately snarled at her.

"Jenna, get out of here now!" He urged. I grabbed his focus.

"You can't kill me, Stefan." I taunted him.

"Watch me!" Stefan snarled.

"Stefan!" Jenna yelled.

I chuckled once again. "I may not have a witch protecting me today, but if you kill this body, what's stoping me from choosing Jenna as my next one?" I sincerely hope that it doesn't come down to that if Stefan manages to call my bluff and kill Alaric's body. Stefan ignores me.

"Jenna, go." He tells her, firmly. Apparently, Jenna doesn't know how to take a hint.

"But you're… you…" Stefan turns and looks at her, displaying full vampire face.

Oooh, bad move, mate!

"I said go!" Stefan shouted at Jenna, who finally runs out of the house. Once Jenna escapes, Stefan refocuses on me.

"Kill me. Just remind Elena how easy it will be for me to get my revenge if she tries to stop me from breaking this curse." Stefan immediately punches me in my face and once I was on the floor, he kicks me in the stomach for good measure before tossing the knife to the floor and leaving.

Okay, that hurt.

* * *

Which brings us to the present.

As I said before, being punched in the face and kicked in the stomach hurt, and it proved all the more how much I really needed to get back into my own body. I hated being vulnerable, and unable to properly fight back. As I fronted up to the apartment door, I could hear music; playing so loudly it was practically making the walls vibrate.

Katerina is trying my patience, and I wasn't fooled for a second when I went inside and saw her sitting on the couch, motionless. Motionless, my arse!

"You mind turning that down?" I ordered, and Katerina uses the remote to the stereo to turn down the music. She looked at me curiously.

"Why so grumpy?" She asked.

"Well, this body has outlived its usefulness." I responded, shortly.

"Do you want a drink?" Katerina offers. I glared at her, causing her to flinch back in fear and nervousness.

"No, Katerina, I don't want a drink." I told her. She tried again.

"Come on. It might loosen you up." She offers me the bottle, and I take it from her and threw it against the wall where it shatters. "What I want is for you to sit down and shut up." I compelled her. Katerina immediately obeys and sits on the couch. The front door opens and in walks Maddox. I sag with relief. "Maddox, what took you so long?" I demanded. He smiled at me, obviously realizing that I was ready to climb the walls.

"You've got a lot of baggage." Maddox tells me, and gestures to two men entering the apartment with my luggage, followed by Greta.

I grinned.

"Greta. Finally." I greeted her. She flashes me a smirk.

"Hello, love. Nice body, ready to get out of it?" She asked me, rhetorically. More than you can imagine. I stepped back and watched as two more men roll in a giant wooden crate that has my body safely locked away inside it.

I was one spell away from being complete.

* * *

 **A/N: End of part two. I hope you enjoyed it, it was a bloody long chapter to write out that I had to split it up.**

 **Please review :)**


	32. Walk Me Home

**A/N: Now that we've all recovered from the arrival and one of the reunions between Klaus and Grace; get ready for the latest chapter.**

 **Let me know if you're enjoying this story by leaving a review. Thank you for not leaving flames. They are not desired or appreciated.**

 **I don't own** _ **The Vampire Diaries.**_ **All characters (except for Grace) are owned by author L.J. Smith.**

 **Happy reading ;)**

* * *

 **WALK ME HOME**

" _Your life is your message to the world. Make sure it's inspiring."  
_ _ **~Unknown Author.**_

* * *

 **~:GRACE P.O.V:~**

When it got dark, Elijah believed it to be a good idea to retreat back inside the Lockwood Mansion. Because Carol Lockwood had been compelled by Elijah to be more compliant, we were free to stay there for as long as was required for Elijah to divulge the information he needed to give to Elena … if she ever returned from making sure Jenna was out of immediate danger from Nik.

I was curled up with a throw rug draped over me, and dozing on an overstuffed couch in front of the fireplace, which was at full blaze and crackling along nicely. My brother paced in front of it. I awoke from my slumber, which summoned Elijah to my side and he sat beside me on the couch, smoothing back my hair from my face; like he used to when I was a child and he was attempting comfort me when I had awoken from a nightmare. The tears that I had shed hours earlier had long since dried up; leaving behind a deep sorrow that both Elijah and I were currently sharing together, as we remembered the night that started this all.

We both agreed that it would be in Elena's best interest if we explained to her what Nik's curse was, so she could be better prepared even though I was reluctant to provide any ammo against my lover. His current issue with Elijah was between them. I didn't want to get involved. On cue, Elena stepped into the living room. Elijah turned almost immediately, and looked relieved that she had kept her word and returned.

I sat up, and yawned.

"Welcome back." Elijah greeted Elena, cordially.

"Tell me. What is Klaus' curse?" Elena demanded, taking off her jacket; all business. It was obvious by the determined expression on her face, that Elena had been thinking a lot about this during her return back to town to make sure Jenna was alright. Elijah and I exchanged looks with each other.

"Do you want to tell her, or shall I?" I asked Elijah, dully. He frowned.

"I think it's best that we both tell her." Elijah suggested. I nodded.

"Tell me what?" Elena asked.

"Please." Elijah gestures for Elena to take a seat, and I sit up to make myself comfortable, while Elijah sits between the both of us. "As you probably have already learned from Grace's stories; my family was quite close, and Grace had been warmly accepted by most of our family as our future sister and daughter-in-law around this time. However, Klaus and my father did not get on too well." Elijah began.

Elena nodded. Good, she was following so far; this made it easier to divulge our story.

"None of us could work out why he was always so harsh towards Niklaus, and it always seemed like he was constantly in trouble. Even for things he hadn't even done. Their mother would only intervene if things were getting too violent. Otherwise she stayed out of it." I added. Elijah frowned, casting his mind back to those days. I placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"When we became vampires, we discovered the truth. Klaus was not my father's son. My mother had been unfaithful many years before, and this was her darkest secret. Klaus is from a different bloodline." Elijah revealed. Elena looked shocked; and I noticed the barest flicker of sympathy in her brown eyes. "Of course, when my father discovered this, he hunted down and he killed my mother's lover and his entire family. Not realizing, of course, that he was igniting a war between species that rages until this day."

Now it was my turn to be shocked.

"He did what?" Elijah looked at me with saddened eyes, and nodded. "How could he be so cruel?" Elena looked at me, surprised.

"You mean, you didn't know?" She asked. I looked over at her.

"The Mikaelsons were always a very private family, and I dare say even more so now." I glanced at Elijah for confirmation and he nodded vehemently. "I might've been becoming a member of their family, by marriage, but there were still some things that I wasn't privy to." I told her. "Which was why I wasn't aware that Elijah and Niklaus had become vampires until the very last moment." Elena paled, realizing that I was referring to when I had been killed.

"What species were you referring to?" Elena asked Elijah.

"The vampires… and the werewolves." Elijah replied. Elena's eyes widened even further.

"So Klaus' real father was from the werewolf bloodline?" Elijah nodded. "What does that make Klaus? A werewolf? Or a vampire?" She asked.

"Both." Elijah and I spoke in unison.

"A hybrid would be deadlier than any werewolf or vampire. Nature would not stand for such an imbalance of power. Therefore the witches, the servants of nature, saw to it that my brother's werewolf side would become dormant." Elijah explained.

"That's the curse that Klaus wants to break?" Elena questioned.

"Yes. He wants to trigger that part of him that's a werewolf." I explained.

"If allowed, Klaus would sire his own bloodline. He'd build his own race. Endangering not just vampires, but everyone." Elijah looked and sounded grave. Elena looked bewildered.

"But you helped him?"

"I helped him because I loved him. That's changed, now he must die." Elijah declared. That made me bristle.

"You had a funny way of showing your brother that you loved him, Elijah." I muttered, earning a sharp look from him. Elena looked at us with confusion.

"Is that why Grace was crying, because Klaus had been cursed and she was remembering that night?" Elena wanted to know. I looked at her, calculating.

"Partially right. The night that Niklaus was cursed, was also the night that I had been slaughtered in front of him, to prove a point and teach him a lesson." I told her, bitterly. Elena's eyes widened.

"I remember you telling me that. You said you attempted to intervene, and you were killed for it. But why did you say that Elijah had a funny way of showing that he loved Klaus?" She asked.

"Because Elijah helped, but not in the way that you'd think. He helped his parents curse Niklaus, rather than helped him escape so you wouldn't have to go through with the ritual to free him in the first place." I revealed. "However, his actions can be forgiven, considering who his father is." I admitted.

"Is?" Elena echoed.

"Yeah, but that's another story for keeps." I stated, firmly. "Right now we're focusing on the ritual that's very rapidly approaching." Elena nodded, then looked like she had come to a realization.

"We have the dagger now. We can stop him." She stated. Elijah shook his head.

"When a werewolf is wounded by silver, it heals. An Original can't be killed by anything but white oak ash on a silver dagger." Elena's eyes widened in realization. "So you can see the conundrum. The dagger won't work on Klaus." There was silence for several minutes while we all let this delightful fact sink in. Then Elena voiced the question we were all reluctant to say.

"Are you saying that Klaus can't be killed?" She looked defeated, fearing the worst as usual. I offered a humorless smile.

"Everything can be killed, Elena. It's not _im_ possible." I told her, and even Elijah agreed with my statement. "It's just that much more difficult to kill Nik." I added, reluctantly; feeling like I was betraying him.

"There's one way to kill any supernatural species … at the hands of the servants of nature themselves." Elijah stated. Elena's eyes widened in realization.

"A witch. If they can channel that much power. But it would kill them." I glared resentfully at Elijah, who remained stubbornly unperturbed by my anger. But at the same time looking guilty and upset at how badly I was taking the information.

"The curse must be broken during the full moon. When Klaus is in transition. That's when he'll be at his most vulnerable. A witch with enough power … can kill Klaus." He said, and I got up from the couch and walked over to the fireplace, hugging myself for comfort; wishing that I wasn't hearing how Nik could potentially be killed out of some vendetta instigated by Elijah.

"What if I told you that I knew a witch that could channel that much power?" Elena said, slyly.

"Then I would tell you there's one more thing that you should know." Elijah stated, and I could feel his eyes penetrating the back of my head. "500-years-ago when Katerina was in your position, I searched for a way to bring her back to life once the curse upon Klaus had been broken." Elijah explained, and I turned to look at them curiously.

"You found a cure, didn't you?" Elena looked hopeful.

"Yes, Elena. I did. But unfortunately, Katerina took matters into her own hands first. I believe you already know how that played out." Elena frowned and nodded, presumably remembering what Katherine had told her back in the tomb, when she went searching for answers. I saw her shudder; then noticed something in Elijah's eyes.

"You cared about her, didn't you?" She guessed. I caught Elijah's eye, before he turned back to answer Elena's question. It was clear that Katherine wasn't the only doppelgänger that he cared about. A thousand years ago, he had his eye on Tatia. But she was unfortunately only interested in him if Nik was interested in her as well. Thank the Lord, Nik disliked her and thought that Tatia was a cheap, manipulative cow. She and Katherine were apparently the types of women who enjoyed being the center of attention and fought over.

Pretty damn pathetic.

"It's a common mistake, I'm told. And it's one I won't make again." Elijah responded, with obvious distaste. He walks over and retrieves Elena's jacket for her, before handing it to her and taking his leave.

"Elijah, wait." I stepped into his path, feeling remorseful. He waited patiently for what I had to say. "I'm sorry for what I said. I was out of line." I told him. "I hope that you accept my apology." Elijah merely smiled and pulled me into a hug, kissing my temple affectionately.

"There's nothing to forgive, little one. What you had been thinking has often crossed my mind as well." Elijah acknowledged. "I believe we've trespassed on Carol's hospitality long enough. Shall we leave?" He asked us.

* * *

Elena, Elijah and I went back to the Boarding House, and immediately encountered an all-out brawl between Damon and Stefan. Apparently, Stefan had a go at Damon about something involving Elena. Damon had taken umbrage at the remark and punched Stefan so hard that he flew into a bookshelf and broke it. But Stefan wasn't down for long before he got up on his feet and rushed over to Damon to deliver his own knuckle sandwich. We came into the living room when they were reaching for each other's shoulders, trying to harm one another.

"Stop!" Elena shouted in alarm.

"What the bloody hell is going on here!?" I demanded, as Elijah walked into the room and stood between Elena and me, looking at the brothers curiously. Both Damon and Stefan stare at Elijah in astonishment, before Damon suddenly frowned at Elena and me in outrage.

"Now you've both invited _him_ in?" Damon exclaimed, indicating towards Elijah, who raised an eyebrow at the remark.

"Elijah and I have renewed the terms of our deal." Elena explained, frowning at him.

"Really?"

"The two of you will come to no harm at my hands. I only ask for one thing in return." Elijah compromised with Damon and Stefan.

"What?" Damon asked, suspiciously.

"An apology."

Damon raised an eyebrow. "A what?" Stefan did not hesitate for a second. He stood up from where Damon had thrown him during their brawl and approached Elijah cautiously.

"I'm sorry for the part that I played in your death. I was protecting Elena. I will always protect Elena." Stefan said, sincerely. I smiled, approvingly.

"I understand." Elijah replied, promptly. Damon remained silent as we all stared at him. I sighed and walked over to him, pulling him to one side. As far as I was aware, Damon was still in on the plan we had started with Elijah before he was daggered temporarily. I pulled out my phone and typed a message to him, as I 'talked' him down from the metaphorical ledge.

 _Everything is going to plan. Elijah is still agreeable to our plan._ Damon nodded to the message and prepared to perform an award winning performance of a man not getting his own way.

"The sacrifice is going to happen, Damon." I told him, calmly. Elena jumped in with her two cents.

"Bonnie will be able to kill Klaus without hurting herself and Elijah knows how to save my life. I told you I'd find another way. And I did." Damon scowled at Elijah.

"Is that true?" Elijah's eyes flicker towards me and I give him the thumbs up; which I hoped reassured him that Damon and I were still to be trusted and on his side.

"It is." Elijah replied.

Damon looks at Elena. "And you're trusting him?"

"I am." Elena replied confidently and stubbornly. Damon was silent; wracking his brain for the appropriate response.

"You can all go to hell." He stated, before leaving the room. The way he had said it sounded so genuine that I wasn't entirely sure that he was faking it. I exchanged a panicked look with Elijah and he looked mildly concerned as well. Stefan turned towards Elijah to give an explanation for Damon's actions.

"He's angry with me right now. But he'll come around." Stefan reassured my brother. Elijah nodded, looking unconvinced.

"Perhaps."

I followed after Damon and found him upstairs in his bedroom looking rather angry. I was worried.

"Hey." He looked up at me with a 'get on with it' expression. I gulped. "What's wrong?" I asked. Then without warning, Damon had rushed over to me and seized me by the lapels. I looked at him with alarm.

"I'm upset. And you know what happens when I'm upset." Damon reminded me. "You have to leave." I frowned at him.

"Yeah, I do know what happens when you're upset. Which is why I'm asking what is wrong?" I demanded firmly. In response, Damon attempts to take a bite out of me, but I swiftly kneed him in the gut and managed to dart out of the way. "What the hell, Damon?" I asked, sternly. Damon straightened up, looking at me furiously.

"Did you lie to me this morning about Elena calling you?" He demanded back.

"She called me. But only because Elijah refused to speak with her until I was there with them. If you wanted Elena to come back, I had to comply with their wishes." Damon rushes me again, and I barely manage to flip him over my shoulder and pinned him to the ground with my foot. "That's enough! Control yourself!" I growled, annoyed.

"Is everything alright?" We both glanced over to see an alert and serious looking Elijah who was sternly glancing at Damon, as though daring him to attack me again. It was obvious that he had heard the commotion from downstairs and had come to protect me. I stepped off of Damon, and backed off; not wanting to tempt fate.

"It's alright, Elijah. Just a misunderstanding." I reassured him. "At least I hope it is." I added, looking down at Damon and feeling somewhat hurt at his actions. Damon got to his feet drunkenly and stared at the both of us resentfully.

"I need you to leave my room, Grace. I'm in a foul mood at the moment, and I don't want to hurt you." Damon pleaded, eying Elijah like he was a snake poised to strike at the wrong move. "Please, just go." Damon urged.

"As you wish, Damon. But I'm not your enemy, and I was only trying to help." I stated, walking towards Elijah's open, protective arms. I walked by my brother and headed downstairs, but not before I overheard Elijah speak again.

"I'd be careful if I were you, Salvatore. If you so much as harm a hair on Grace's head; your existence will be fleeting." Elijah warned him, before he also left the room.

* * *

I was yet to actually get into my car and drive home from this truly bizarre day. Right now, I was sitting on one of the Salvatores' couches in their living room just watching a conversation between Elijah, Elena and Stefan like it was an intense session of tennis. Damon was still upstairs sulking; and I was waiting for an explanation about why he had reacted the way he did when I told him the truth about Elena and Elijah calling me this morning.

"Tonight is the full moon." Elijah explains to B1 and B2. "We should assume that Klaus is prepared to break the curse." I bit my bottom lip. So soon? That seemed to come around a little too quickly. Stefan frowned also.

"Elena said that the Sun and the Moon curse is fake? That it's actually just a curse placed on Klaus." He clarified.

I stood up, drawing their attention.

"Correct. One that he desperately wants to shed at all costs." I stated. "Not that I blame him. It really was a horrible, selfish and petty act of revenge." I commented. Elijah ignored me.

"Klaus is a vampire born of a werewolf bloodline. The curse has kept his werewolf aspect from manifesting. But if he breaks it … he'll be a true hybrid." Elijah explained. Damon chose that moment to re-enter the room. Although, it appeared that his temper hadn't abated yet.

"So why are we letting him break the curse?" He wanted to know.

"Because it wasn't Niklaus' fault his mother was unfaithful, and the man whom he thought was his father was too much of a child to just deal with it, that he had to subject Nik to unnecessary pain and humiliation to satisfy his ego." I stated.

Damon didn't look at all moved.

"I still think we can kill him today. With Bonnie." He said, seemingly ignoring what I said. I glowered at him, while Stefan sighed exasperatedly; finally realizing that I had been there to witness Nik being cursed first hand.

"Damon…"

"Very nice. Real mature." I commented. Stefan offered me a sympathetic and apologetic wince at Damon's temper tantrum attitude. Elena looked annoyed as well, but obviously for different reasons.

"Bonnie can't use that much power without dying." She insisted.

"I'll write her a great eulogy."

"Not an option." Elena insisted.

"Yeah, for once I agree with Elena. Not because I don't want you all to kill my beloved, because I don't. It would be like Elena saying that she has Stefan's back because he's her boyfriend and she loves him, only to turn around and strike him down where he stood." Elena and Stefan looked at me curiously when I said this. "No. It's because I've never condoned killing anybody – even those who have committed loads of crimes in the past just to get his freedom back – because there is always another option." I said, looking at both Damon and Elijah specifically when I said this. Only one out of the two glared back at me stubbornly; two guesses who? "It's my opinion that killing is a final option when all the other options have been tried and have failed completely." I stated.

Elijah nodded his head, acknowledging what I said, and I relaxed a little. But I was disappointed in Damon. He still seemed determined to eliminate Nik. I would've thought he'd have learned by now from the last time he attempted to kill somebody. Okay: Caroline was a newborn vampire, and Nik is a thousand years old with more experience and notches on his belt.

But still…

"All right, how do we break this curse then?" Stefan stepped forward, ready to hear the other choices and I smiled gratefully at him; ignoring the possessive glare Elena tossed at me. Elijah stepped forward to take over the conversation.

"Well, the ritual itself is relatively straightforward. The ingredients, so to speak, you already know."

"The moonstone." Stefan said, and Elijah nodded.

"A witch will channel the power of the full moon to release the spell that's bound within the stone. After that, Klaus, being both werewolf and vampire, will sacrifice one of each." Elena stepped forward.

"And where do I fit into it?" She asked. Elijah inclined his head toward her.

"The final part of the ritual." He takes down a wooden box from a nearby shelf that I hadn't seen there before. I raised an eyebrow and walked to his side to peer inside the box. "Klaus must drink the blood of the doppelgänger … to the point of your death." He said pointedly to Elena. I noticed Damon looking at both Elena and me with a calculating look on his face, while Stefan reaches for Elena's hand. She looks at him, as Elijah opened the box and pulled out a small jar with a dark liquid sloshing around inside.

I pulled a face.

"And that's where you come in." Elena concluded.

"May I?" I asked Elijah for the jar, and he nodded and passed it over to me. "What pray tell is this, Elijah?" I asked him.

"This is an elixir that I acquired some 500 years ago for Katerina." He replied, taking the jar back and placing it back into the wooden box. "It possesses mystical properties of resuscitation."

"Wow." I breathed. But I couldn't imagine something like that tasting all that wonderful. Elena looked a little sceptical.

"So I'll be dead?"

"And then you won't." Elijah confirmed. Damon stepped forward.

"That's your plan? A magical witch potion with no expiration date?" He glances at Elena. "You want to come back to life, what about John's ring?" He suggested, and I widened my eyes in realisation. We hadn't thought about that option, but Elijah shook his head.

"Those rings only work on humans. The doppelgänger's a supernatural occurrence. Odds are, the ring won't work for you." Elijah stomped down firmly on the option and I deflated a little.

"It's still an option. What if it doesn't work, Elena?" Damon protested. Elena just gave him a flat look.

"Then I'll just be dead." She shrugged, and I couldn't help but wonder if she truly meant it. Wasn't she at all afraid of dying? Damon shakes his head and leaves the room once again. "Does Klaus have everything he needs to do this? Does he have a werewolf?" Elena asked Elijah.

"I know just the wolf if he doesn't." I piped up, smirking a little. Elijah looked at me.

"Who, sister?" He asked. My answer was to pull down my shirt a little to reveal the half-healed werewolf bite on my shoulder and Elijah, Elena and Stefan immediately understood. Elijah smirked at the thought. "Klaus has been waiting to break this curse for over a thousand years. If he doesn't already have a werewolf, my guess is by tonight, he will." He confirmed.

* * *

It's early morning on the night of the ritual, and nearly everybody was on tender hooks; Damon especially. I don't know what his problem was, but it was definitely clear that Damon wasn't up for helping Elijah anymore; he wanted to be the lone wolf in his plan for taking down Nik.

If you'll excuse the pun.

Because his temper hadn't abated yet, I decided to stick around with Elijah for the time being. However, it didn't stop me from keeping a worried eye on him. Currently, he was outside drinking scotch, and generally ignoring everyone; including me, and that hurt. Sighing, I went off in search for Elijah and found him in the library with the box containing that weird elixir he was intending on serving to Elena at the last minute.

"Are you alright, Grace?" Elijah questioned me with his back facing me.

I sighed heavily.

"My best friend is angry with me. How do you think I'm feeling Elijah? I don't understand what I've done wrong, apart from the fact that I did lie a little about the fact that Elena and you called me the other morning about our little tête-à-tête." I replied, leaning against the black couch and folding my arms across my chest.

Elijah snorted.

"I believe it is perfectly obvious why he is angry with you, my dear." He responded, before turning towards me and coming over. "He is lashing out because he loves you and is resentful of the fact that you've chosen Niklaus over him. Even more so now that Niklaus has returned." My face jerked at first with shock, then annoyance.

"Oh, for God's sake." I muttered. I looked up at Elijah, feeling helpless. "Why can't he accept that I cannot give him what he seeks? That I've already given my heart away a very long time ago?" I bitched, and Elijah acted like my older brother and hugged me, allowing me to rest my forehead on his chest.

Elijah reiterated.

"Because he loves you. You're the first person he has encountered since he became a vampire that accepted him for who he is, and hasn't been trying to change him; unlike Elena. And now he fears that he is going to lose you." I looked up at him with horror.

"But that's stupid. Why on earth would he think that?" I demanded.

"Because simply, everyone he has ever loved has left him and he thinks you're not going to be the exception. You must prove to him that this is false. That you and he will always be together in friendship and love, for eternity." I didn't respond, choosing to let Elijah's words sink in as Elena walks into the library, looking like she was distracted by her thoughts.

"You'd think he'd understand why I'm willing to do this." Elena stated, warily, obviously referring to Damon. She approaches the elixir bottle and lifts it upright. Elijah frowned at her curiously.

"Why are you?" He queried. Elena looked at him with a determination.

"I'm the key to breaking the curse. Klaus is here because of me. If I don't stop him, then he's going to hurt people. It's that simple." She said.

I sighed.

"Nik won't hurt the people that you love if you don't run like Katherine did when the time came to complete the ritual." Elena scowled at me.

"I can't run the risk that he won't do it any way." Elena stubbornly persisted. I rolled my eyes.

"Sometimes you need to take a few risks to get on in life, Elena." I reminded her, irritably.

"That's quite enough, Grace." Elijah cut in before another argument between Elena and I could break out. I nodded obediently, and Elena smirked at the fact that I had been scolded. But sobered when Elijah eyed her warningly as well.

"I hope you realise, Elena, that there's a possibility that this elixir won't work. I don't want to mislead you." Elijah said.

"I know the chance I'm taking." Elena insisted. There is a commotion at the front door and all three of us go to investigate. It was Jenna (whom I didn't realise was staying here) confronting Alaric with a loaded crossbow. Although, it wasn't entirely clear if it was Alaric back to his old self, or if it still was Nik posing as Alaric.

"Jenna, put the crossbow down, okay? It's me." Alaric said calmly to her. Jenna didn't lower the crossbow.

"Stay away from me." She warned. We all joined them.

"What's going on?" Elena asked, eying Alaric suspiciously. He looked at her pleadingly.

"It's me, Elena, I swear, okay? He let me go. Klaus let me go." Alaric insisted. Damon narrowed his eyes at him.

"Prove it." He requested. Before Alaric could do anything, however, I simply ran at him and wrapped my arms tightly around his neck; holding him in the same tight hug Nik had given me when he was Alaric.

"Uh, hi Grace. Good to see you again." He hugged me back awkwardly, patting my back a couple of times. "Could you let me go now?" I grinned triumphantly, convinced.

"It's Alaric." I said, smugly and walked back over to them. Jenna lowered the crossbow, looking confused.

"I don't understand."

"My fiancée, from the story I told you during that Historical Society Morning Tea at the Lockwoods, is Klaus." I told her. "The way he would've reacted when I hugged him unexpectedly would've given us an indication if he was trying to fool us again." I told her.

Jenna looked surprised.

"Oh." Then she looked horrified. "That creep Stefan and I talked with at home is your fiancée?!" Jenna exclaimed. Both Elijah and I looked mildly offended by Jenna's comment.

"He wasn't always like that, Jenna. Niklaus has been through a lot in his long life." I told her, sounding wounded.

"So you keep telling us." Damon grumbled, earning a mild glare from me.

"Why did he let you go?" Stefan asked immediately, trying to avoid another argument. Alaric looked hesitant.

"He wanted me to deliver a message. The sacrifice happens tonight." He announced. We all regrouped in the living room: Jenna, Elena and myself sitting on the red couches, with Stefan standing near Elena, and Elijah and Alaric standing near or pacing in front of the large fireplace. Damon had disappeared up to his room.

"So you don't remember anything that happened?" Stefan questioned Alaric.

Alaric shook his head. "No. It's like I blacked out and woke up three days later. Katherine was there." He reported back. Stefan nodded.

"She's under compulsion." He said. "Damon snuck her some vervain, but she can't leave until Klaus tells her she can." Elena glanced around.

"Where is Damon?"

I pointed upstairs. "He's in his room. I'm gonna go check up on him." I decided and got to my feet.

"I'm coming with you." Elena stated, getting up and following. We walked upstairs towards Damon's bedroom, and Elena went in first to confront him. We found Damon standing by the window looking outside to the grounds. Elena strode right up to him, while I walked in but stayed close to the door; eying him and her warily. "You disappeared." Elena stated. Damon frowned, annoyed that she was interrupting him.

"I don't want to hear anymore." He stated, stubbornly. Elena sighed.

"I need you to understand why I'm doing this." Damon turned and looked at her with steely eyes.

"Why? It clearly doesn't matter what I think."

"I'll be fine, Damon. I'll drink the elixir, Bonnie will kill Klaus and then all of this will finally be over." Elena promised.

"If it works." Damon scoffed, sceptically.

"It will work." Elena insisted. Damon stepped away from the window, eying me absently before he started to pace. This made both Elena and I nervous.

"You think it will work. You want it to work. Why am I the only one who's convinced it won't? There has to be another way." Damon stated. Elena folded her arms across her chest, getting annoyed.

"There isn't."

"And you're going to die, Elena." Damon promised.

"And I'll come back to life."

"That's not a risk I'm willing to take." Damon insisted. I walked towards them both.

"The trouble is Damon, it's not your risk. It's Elena's." I pointed out to him. Elena takes Damon's hand in hers, trying to make him understand.

"She's right, Damon. It's my life, my choice."

"But it's the wrong choice." Elena sighed and turned to leave the room, deeming this discussion to be over and I went to follow. "But there is another way." Elena and I stopped and turned to look at Damon questioningly.

"What are you…?" Elena began, and I swore when Damon bit down onto his wrist so it started bleeding and immediately started force-feeding Elena his blood. I rushed over to him.

"Damon, no!" Elena fights Damon, summoning Stefan who pushes him away and causes Elena to fall on the floor. Blood is smeared around her mouth.

"What did you do?! Huh? What did you do?!" Stefan screamed at Damon.

"Stefan, stop it! This isn't helping anyone!" I yelled at him. Stefan stops what he is doing and heads straight for Elena.

"I saved her life." Damon appeared unapologetic. "You're so bent on dying, at least this way you'll come back." He confirmed. Stefan was furious.

"As a vampire! She'll come back a vampire!" Stefan yelled.

"It's better than nothing else." Damon insisted. Stefan got into Damon's face.

"How could you, of all people, take that choice away from her?" Damon focuses on Elena.

"I did this for you, Stefan. So you wouldn't be alone." Damon insisted. There was shocked silence for several minutes as Damon glares down at Elena. "Go ahead: wish me an eternity of misery. I don't care." Stefan instantly rushes over to Damon in an attempt to push him, and I pushed Damon out of the path of fire.

"Enough! You've proven your point, Stefan. Go take care of Elena!" I raged, before storming from the room.

Damon goes to chase after me, dodging Alaric and Jenna who had come up to see what was going on. I got to the foyer of the Boarding House and made a beeline for outside, barely noticing Elijah who was calmly putting away the elixir back into its box. I didn't go too far, just slid down the wall beside the front door and succumbed to tears; overhearing Elijah confront Damon.

"Well, it sounds like you won't be needing this anymore." Elijah stated, referring to the elixir he had just put away. "Feeding her vampire blood rendered it useless. Tell Elena I'll be back before nightfall. We'll proceed as planned." Elijah told Damon.

"We both know that elixir wouldn't have worked anyway." Damon insisted. There was a pause before Elijah responded, sounding angry.

"The problem, Damon: you talk a good game but you don't actually know anything." Elijah walks away, but then pauses. "I'd tread very carefully, or you'll lose her. And never for a vampire… it's a very long time." Elijah's footsteps came closer to the front door.

"We're not talking about Elena anymore, are we?" Damon questioned him.

"No, we're not." Elijah agreed, sounding protective and his voice was low and dangerous.

"Grace is not a vampire." Damon pointed out, and I felt the tears fall from my eyes while I listened to their conversation.

"But she will be. Klaus had every intention of turning her into one before she had been murdered, and I dare say it is still a goal. Do not mistake Grace's decision to remain by my brother's side as an act of rejection. The only reason you still live is because my sister would be devastated if you were not in her life. She loves you, just not in the way you wish her to. Keep that in mind before you go too far, and lose her forever." Elijah advised.

I heard his footsteps come closer, and then pause. A hand descends onto my head, and I looked up and saw Elijah squatting before me and I turn away, avoiding eye contact. "Come, dearest. Let's go for now." Elijah murmurs to me, and I nodded and got to my feet, walking over to my car.

"Do you want a lift home?" I asked him, politely. He nods.

"That would be helpful." Elijah agreed. We both got into my car and drove away.

* * *

I drove Elijah back to where he was temporarily boarding at the residence of a very nice, but a little too trusting middle-aged woman named Mrs. Flowers. After promising him to stay away from the ritual at all costs, I turned around and headed back to town to return my car, and go for a hike. I often went for long walks to help clear my head from negative thoughts, which was how I ended up having that suspected premonition about Nik and my child. I decided that I would hike and make an attempt to uncover the caves the Mikaelsons', my family and I used to hide in to avoid the shifting werewolves every full moon, to see what the slow decay of time had done to them after all these years.

It was ironic that tonight happened to be a full moon, and a little bit of nostalgia never hurt anyone. At any rate, hopefully the ritual would be over by the time I returned to my apartment, and all this bullshit will be finally done. I drove to the town's square and parked my car close by to where the apartment block was before getting out and slamming the car door behind me. I was about to turn and head over to the vestibule when I heard the sound of footsteps behind me.

Great.

Just what I need to finish off what has already been a crappy day: a potential mugger… or worse, had picked me as their next victim. Yeah, why wouldn't that be on the agenda? I sighed and straightened up and mentally prepared myself as I confronted whoever the hell was standing behind me.

"Whoever you are, I'm not in the mood for whatever bullshit you are planning. I've had a horrible day, and I would much rather go upstairs to my apartment. So let's get this over with." I stated, irritably.

"I'm sorry to hear that, love." I turned towards the stranger standing in the shadows; recognising that same voice from my dreams and visions from ever since I was a child. "Is there anything I can do to make it better?" His voice was like honey.

"Nik?" I whispered.

He stepped into the light; and for the first time in over a thousand years, I saw him. I hadn't lied to Damon, Stefan, Bonnie or Elena about my limited knowledge about Nik's appearance. He _was_ the exact same height as Elijah, but he was slightly thinner than Elijah was in the muscular area. His short curly hair was a dirty blonde, and he had an oval-shaped face with finely sculpted cheekbones, blue-green eyes, a small elegant nose, thin pink lips and a fine dusting of stubble around the jaw, mouth and slightly down his neck. He was wearing brown cargo pants, a wine-red button up long-sleeved shirt with the top two buttons left undone, revealing black rosary beads that he wore around his neck, black boots and a short black duster.

He was smiling at me, displaying an adorable dimple on the corner of his mouth.

"Hello, _elskede." ("Hello, beloved.")_ Nik murmured, quietly. Overjoyed tears formed in my eyes.

"Oh, thank god!" I cried, and ran full speed ahead right into his arms. Immediately, he kissed me fiercely and passionately, and I returned the kiss most ardently as Nik scooped me up into his arms and spun me around before propping me up upon the hood of my car.

"You have no idea how long I've waited to do that." He told me, pecking me on the lips between every few words. I giggled and wrapped my arms around his neck; carding my fingers through the small hairs at the back of his head.

"I think I have a good idea." I told him, and rested my forehead against his. "But what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be preparing for the ritual?" I asked, frowning a little. Nik chuckled.

"Everything is going according to plan." He reassured me, brushing my hair behind my ear. "I just needed to see you like I promised you that I would. Besides, I have all the ingredients I need to break this infernal curse, except for the doppelgänger. But that can be rectified soon." He reassures me. "Speaking of, how is Ms. Gilbert anyway? Is she ready to come quietly, or do you think I might need to 'persuade' her?" Nik asked, giving me a slightly evil grin.

"Oh, she'll come along quietly." I confirmed, tiredly. "She's terrified, although she won't admit it to anybody; including herself. But it's obvious. God, I swear she reminds me Tatia every passing day." I shuddered. Nik raised an eyebrow at this statement.

"Really?"

"Yes. Except I think Elena is more manipulative." I stated. Nik set me back down on my feet, and I couldn't help but wonder: "How long have you got before you have to go?" I asked. Nik checked the sky, as he wraps his arms around me and pulls me into his chest. The full moon wasn't even visible yet, which meant we possibly had loads of time.

"It's early yet, and I'm not in any hurry to leave you. Why?" He asked. I grinned, immediately linking hands with him.

"Follow me." I requested, and took off towards the woods. Nik followed willingly, but also looked confused.

"Where are you taking me?" He asked. I walked backwards so I could talk to him.

"To the caves. I want to see how time has fared against them." I said. And to see if I can remember where they were after all these years. Nik and I hiked through the trees, not in any hurry; just enjoying each other's company and sharing stories about what we had missed out on in each other's lives.

"Tell me, Nik. Were you this calm the first time you attempted to break the curse 500 years ago?" I asked him, stepping over a moss covered log.

He snorted.

"I don't believe calm would be the right word to describe how I felt, Grace." Nik responded, bending aside a low tree branch in his path out of the way. "I was so close to breaking the curse, I could taste it." The pleasant smile on his face, immediately dropped; replaced by an ugly sneer. "But then of course, Katerina caught wind of what was expected of her, and she had to escape and ruin everything." He stated with resentment.

"And you got back at her by travelling to Bulgaria and slaughtering her family, out of spite." I added, earning a look of astonishment from my boyfriend.

"How did you know that?" He asked, surprised.

"Katherine has loose lips." I told him. "Elena took it upon herself to learn more about you and what happened 500-years ago when Katherine was still human and facing the ritual. So she visited her in an underground tomb in the woods near the old Fell Church. I suppose Katherine revealed everything in an attempt to warn Elena against pissing you off and suffering the same consequence as she did." I explained, smiling.

"That was oddly considerate of her." Nik mused. The night was unusually warm, and I paused momentarily to remove my sweater and tied it around my waist; forgetting about the werewolf bite on my shoulder and how Nik would be able to see it, and demand an explanation. Sure enough:

"You're hurt." I felt Nik's calloused fingers carefully touching the month old wound. I looked at it, immediately feeling sheepish.

"Oh, yeah. I almost forgot about that." I admitted. Nik frowned.

"You forgot? This is a werewolf bite. How are you still alive?" He asked, urgently.

"Elijah saved me." I responded, earning a look of shock from Nik. "Damon pissed off a werewolf he had been interrogating, and during last month's full moon as well." Nik's eyes narrowed at Damon's obvious stupidity. "Alaric tried to subdue her with a handful of wolfsbane in her drink while Damon and I distracted her, but it backfired when she smelt it." I cringed at the memory. "Later that night, a wolf burst into the Boarding House and attacked Rose and I out of revenge. She bit the both of us on the shoulder."

"Rose-Marie?" Nik blurted out. I nodded.

"She was infected, but I was the one in immediate danger. I would've bled out, if Elijah hadn't fed me his blood and healed me." Nik looked murderous.

"But he didn't heal you completely." He accused.

"It was on purpose." I explained.

"What the bloody hell for?" Nik raged.

"Because I scared the hell out of him. The attack reminded him too much of…"

"Henrik." Nik whispered, and I nodded. "Nevertheless, he should've healed you all the way. Here." Nik bit down on his wrist and offered it to me. "Drink up, darling." I was going to refuse, since I had refused once before; but I knew that if I refused, Nik would probably find another way to get his blood into my system. So I drank until the wound healed over on Nik's wrist and almost immediately the werewolf bite, and Katherine's bite on my neck healed instantly. "Do you know the name of this werewolf?" He asked me, seriously.

"Her name was Jules. She's a friend of the mayor's son, Tyler Lockwood. Stubborn, vicious and a smug piece of work also. Before she left town with Tyler, she kidnapped my friend Caroline and I and used us for ransom." I said, then noticed that Nik had an amused little smirk on his face.

What the…? I had expected him to react with rage rather than amusement. What was going on with him?

"Well, this is a surprising coincidence." He said, cheerfully.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Nothing, darling. Just something I've been working on for this ritual." He admitted. I shrugged and we continued walking, hand in hand.

Suddenly, we stopped.

"I remember this place." I muttered.

I dropped Nik's hand and jogged ahead along a dirt path that would've been invisible to those who didn't already know it was there. I didn't have to look behind to know that Nik was following me, unhurried, and looking completely nonchalant about the entire adventure. That is, until we found the caves; then we both became very sombre. This was the place that was the hot spot for all our problems.

"Never thought that I'd ever see this place again." I commented quietly, as Nik came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist, trying to bring us both some comfort because of the unpleasant memories we both shared. "Last thing I remembered – apart from the, ahem, obvious – was eating dinner with Rebekah in the cave. Both of us were worried about where you and Elijah had gone. More so because it was the full moon." Nik looked surprised at first when he learned the reason why I had been out there on the night he had been cursed, then he looked angry.

"I am not worth your life, Grace." He stated, firmly. "Do not ever do that again. I don't think I would be able to live with myself if you were killed again." He confessed. I couldn't help but grimace. It was also the very last thing that I would want, but I also believed that Nik was forgetting one thing.

"I doubt that the fact that I had left the safety of the caves, would've stopped Mikael or made any difference in his intentions, Nik." I told him. "I probably would've been killed eventually." I stated logically, and feeling rather morbid about this. I stepped out of his embrace and entered the caves. It was cold, dark and dampened from the rain a few days ago, and there was evidence that an animal had been in residence here recently. I stopped and pulled out my phone to use it as a torch, so I could see where I was going.

Eventually, I came to a fork in the road.

"Be careful, sweetheart." Nik called out from behind me. "These caves are old." I looked back and nodded before looking at both paths and eventually walking down the left tunnel. However, there was an unexpected and nasty surprise waiting for me. Suddenly, and without warning; wooden stakes shot out from the walls, causing me to scream out in terror, and my eyes snapped shut from fear and expected instantaneous pain. "GRACE?!" Nik roared out with concern, and about two seconds later he appeared at my side. I was lucky that I had stopped before the stakes had a chance to cause any serious injury, and I fell backwards onto my arse. I stared up at the protruding stakes with horror, and could feel my heart thudding loudly in my chest as I breathed hard. Nik looked horrified. "Are you alright, darling?" He demanded, inspecting me from head to toe urgently.

I laughed out of nervousness, rather than humour.

"Well, I'm in one piece. Whoever was here last clearly expected vampires to come snooping around." I replied, as Nik helped me to my feet. "Let's go back and try the other path." I said, turning and walking back. Nik was frowning at me with concern.

"Are you sure you're alright? You're shaking like a leaf." He observed. I grinned at him.

"I'm fine, I swear. That was a great adrenaline rush." I reassured him. Nik just shook his head, looking exasperated. But he eventually started laughing and pulled me closer.

"I love you." He said, and kissed my forehead. We got back to the beginning of the fork in the road and immediately went down the right tunnel. This time it started looking a bit more familiar.

"This is more like it." I said. Nik nodded, pleased that there was no more obvious booby traps. Eventually, we came upon a dead end, and Nik thudded against an invisible barrier.

"Oh, for God's sake." He grumbled, irritably. I frowned and approached him.

"That's weird. What's down here that's preventing you from entering?" I wondered. "Do you remember?" Nik shrugged.

"Buggered if I remember. It was a very long time ago, love." He stated, slightly flippant. I wondered back down the path and started looking around, before freezing when I see something familiar. Nik notices my interest.

"What's wrong?" I approached the cave wall right above my head.

"There's some mural drawings on here." I muttered absently. This made Nik stiffen as a result. "They're old. Very old; almost as old as you." I commented, lightly touching them with my fingers. Then I gasped.

"What?"

"Your name. It's written here in Viking script." I traced my finger over the runes. Nik looked surprised that I could read it, even now a thousand years later.

"You can understand what that says?"

I just looked at him. _"_ _Ja, selvfølgelig forstår jeg Nik." ("_ Yes, of course I understand, Nik.") I replied to him, proving to another member of this ancient family that not only could I read Viking script, that I could also speak the mother language. I grinned at the astonished look on his face. "That's the exact same expression Elijah had on his face when I first spoke the mother language." I laughed. Then noticed some more names carved into the stone:

 _Finnik. Elijah. Kol. Rebekah. Henrik. Esther. Mikael._

"Graínne?" I looked at a smirking Nik. "You carved my name here too?" He nodded. "Why?"

"You said 'yes'. That still applies even today, love." Nik reminded me. I smiled warmly at him, then looked back at the mural drawings. But as I examined the pictures, the smile on my face eventually started to fade as I realised exactly what I was studying. I glanced over at Nik for an explanation and was shocked at the nervous expression on his normally stoic and composed face.

"These pictures read like a story with symbols." I continued deciphering them.

"Grace…"

My eyes widened. I hoped that I was mistaken. "You killed Esther?" I looked at him with shock. Nik's face hardened slightly, and he remained silent; confirming the story. But instead of feeling anger or outrage at his actions, I simply offered him a weak smile. "I guess a lot of things happened after I died, huh?" I stated. Nik looked surprised by my response.

"You're not angry?" He questioned me.

I scoffed.

"I thought you knew me, Niklaus Mikaelson." I replied, walking towards him and taking his hand. "I reserve my judgement for those who truly deserve it. Something that I explained to Damon, Elena and the rest when I first came to Mystic Falls a month and a half ago." I reassured him. He smiled, relaxing a little. "To be honest, I'm not surprised that you ended up killing the woman in the end. It was she and Mikael who doomed you and the rest of your siblings to this existence." I shrugged. "My best guess is, she reaped what she had sown." I told him as I squeezed his hand and wondered towards the exit of the cave.

I didn't bother to look back to know that Nik probably had a mystified expression on his face about how quickly I had accepted Esther's fate in the end, and not chewed him out for killing her by ripping her heart from her chest.

* * *

Nik escorted me back home to my apartment, and up the staircase to the landing were I strode towards my front door, absently eying Alaric's apartment that Nik was temporarily using as a hideout when he first came to town.

"Good luck with tonight, Nik. You deserve your freedom." I wished him luck, causing him to frown at me guardedly.

"You're not going to try to persuade me to postpone it, or plead for Elena Gilbert's life?" He clarified. "Your friends tried that with me back at that quaint Mystic Grill across the way." Nik told me.

I made a face.

"Not a chance. I was there when you were first cursed, Nik, and I tried to stop it from happening then as you well recall. So why would I prevent it from happening now?" I asked him.

Nik smiled.

"That's all I needed to hear." He said, and leaned in to kiss me.

"One more thing, Nik." I whispered, causing him to raise an eyebrow in response. "I remember what you said to me, that night before I died." His eyes widened. "And I've heard those words every night since I was born. It's brought me a lot of comfort, even before I realised why. Thank you for that, and I look forward to every moment we have with each other from now on." I told him, wrapping my arms around his shoulders and clinging tight. Nik's only response was to hold me tighter and bury his face into my shoulder. Soon, it was getting hard to breathe. "Uh, Nik. Breathing's becoming an issue…" I gasped. He quickly released me, and kissed my hand.

"See you, my darling." And he disappeared downstairs while I waved after him. I was about to turn and enter my apartment, when something drew my attention from down the corridor.

"Hello? Is someone there?" I called out, cautiously. No response. "Do you need some help?" Still no reply. I grew worried and headed towards where I heard the sound. But I also wasn't stupid; I pulled free my dagger and had it at the ready in case the situation went south rapidly. I turned the corner and saw … nothing.

Confused, and I went to turn back to head to my apartment when somebody blew something powder-like into my face,

… Then nothing.

* * *

 **A/N: That's a wrap. Klaus and Grace have FINALLY reunited with Klaus in his own body. But what's gonna happen next?**

 **Find out in the next chapter! ;) TTFN xxx**


	33. The Final Part Of The Hybrid Ritual

**A/N: Still shocked how popular my last chapter was. Thanks, guys! Means a lot!**

 **Sorry about the late update. :D**

 **This chapter will mostly be from Klaus' P.O.V, but who knows it might change as I write it. Just sit back and enjoy the ride.**

 **Continue sending in those reviews, guys! And thanks for not being mean and sending flames. Xx**

 **I don't own** _ **The Vampire Diaries.**_ **All characters (except for Grace) are owned by author L.J Smith.**

 **Happy reading!** xx

* * *

 **THE FINAL PART OF THE HYBRID RITUAL**

" _Thinking of you keeps me awake. Dreaming of you keeps me asleep. Being with you keeps me alive."_ _ **~Unknown Author.**_

* * *

 **~:KLAUS P.O.V:~**

I don't know what it is exactly. But there is just something about my Graínne – or as she is now known as Grace – that makes me proud and for once believe that it's going to happen. It's just finally going to bloody happen! Nothing is going to bring me down!

But of course, those could be my famous last words, as I walked into Alaric's apartment; primed and ready to begin … and there was Katerina making coffee.

Hmmm. There's definitely something fishy going on here. Katerina turned towards me the moment I passed the threshold.

"Everything okay?" Katerina looked innocent. Too innocent actually. I frowned at her.

"What have you been doing?" I asked, suspiciously.

"Making coffee. Do you want some?" Katerina holds out a cup to me, and I immediately rush over to her and grabbed her by the throat, causing her to drop the cup.

"Tell me what you've been doing." I compelled her. Katerina's fearful eyes instantly went blank.

"Making coffee." She answers in monotone. I reluctantly release her and Katerina backs away, massaging her neck while she gasped for unneeded air. Something glitters in the light and out of the corner of my eye I noticed something on her wrist.

"Wait." Katerina turns to me, looking nervous. "Take off your bracelet." I ordered, testing a theory. Immediately, she takes off the bracelet and gives it to me. The second the trinket touches my skin, I look her directly in the eye; preparing to compel her once again. "Now, I want you … to walk over to the window and stand in the sunlight." I commanded, eying the lethal sunrays filtering in through the window.

Katerina hesitates.

"But I'll burn."

I smirked, uncaring. "You don't have a choice." I watched as she stands in the sunlight and the side of her face exposed to the light begins to burn. She screams from the pain, and I enjoy every moment. "That's enough." I said after a minute. Katerina immediately rushes over to the shadowy part of the room. I shrugged. "Guess I was wrong. All right, then." Apparently, she was truthful for once. But as the saying goes: _a leopard never changes its spots._ Katerina looks over at me with trepidation. "I need you to do something for me."

"What do you need?" She asks me. I walked over and picked up my phone.

"I need you to lure Jenna Sommers out of the house in any way that you can." Katerina looked nervous.

"Well, what would I say?" She asked. I just looked at her.

"Make something up. Use your imagination." I replied, hotly.

Katerina scowled at me and took the phone, expertly dialing the number to the Gilbert's. It was rather amusing watching Katerina pretend to be Elena, and before long she hung up and looked at me.

"Well?"

"Jenna will be back at the Gilbert's in half an hour." Katerina reported.

"Very good." I headed for the door. Katerina follows.

"What are you going to do with her?" She asked. I eyed her suspiciously.

"You don't need to know that." I told her. As I filed out of the apartment, leaving behind a pouting Katerina; I called up Maddox to find out his progress with what I had sent him to do.

He doesn't pick up.

Strange. This isn't like him at all. But I have a schedule to keep, so I'll try him again later. I access Greta's phone.

 _"Hello, Klaus."_ I hear her respond.

"Greta. I have a little job for you. Meet me at the Mystic Grill." I requested.

 _"Certainly. See you soon."_ She hangs up, and I smile contentedly and slip my phone back into my pocket as I calmly and casually make my way across the road and towards the restaurant. Neither Damon Salvatore nor Alaric Saltzman are pickling themselves at the bar, which is fine with me. Makes my job a lot easier without two self-righteous men breathing down my neck to postpone the ritual.

I take a seat at the bar and order myself a bourbon while I waited. My thoughts continued to drift back to the strange, but enjoyable afternoon I had had with Grace exploring the caves we used to hide out in during every full moon a thousand years ago. I was worried that she would be disgusted and refuse to ever see me again when she had learned that I was responsible for the death of my mother.

Not even my siblings know about that.

At the time I lied and told Elijah and Rebekah that Mikael had killed her in a fit of rage over her infidelity. That was when we made that pledge of _always and forever_ to each other and eventually with Kol and Finn when we eventually found them again after they fled. But it was what Grace said before we parted that gave me hope: the fact that she had heard what I had whispered to her urgently that night before she succumbed to her mortal wound, caused by Mikael; and the fact that the words stayed with her from the moment of rebirth, and in all the times she needed the comfort and encouragement that I was coming for her no matter how long it took.

She will never know how much relief and hope that gave me to learn this. My thoughts were abruptly interrupted when Greta slides into the stool next to mine, and I glared at her almost immediately, before mellowing when I realised who she was.

"What is it that you require assistance for?" Greta got straight to the point. I smiled at her approvingly; that's what I like about this witch. She knows when a situation is serious and time-critical, and doesn't waste precious time. I knocked back what was left of my drink, and toss down a hundred dollar bill on the counter.

"Keep the change." I tell the shocked barkeep. I get to my feet and turned towards an alert and serious Greta. "Let's go. I need to pick up an important package." I told her. She nods and follows me outside where we pile into her car and I tell her to locate the Gilbert house.

* * *

 **~:GRACE P.O.V:~**

 **(Unconscious)**

I found myself lying in an unknown area, surrounded by a thick white fog and completely isolated from everything. I sat up glancing around for an idea of what was going on exactly and realized that I was dreaming again.

"Grace!?"

"Henrik?" My head snaps towards the frantic voice that I recognized almost immediately as Henrik's. He sounded distressed about something. I get to my feet, a little shakily and glance about for any sign of my baby brother-in-law before something warm, and a foot and a half taller than me collides with me, almost pushing back onto the ground.

"Oh, thank god. You're alright!" It was Henrik, hugging me within an inch of my life.

Wait! Hold up. Henrik?! He was corporeal? Solid flesh and bone? How was this possible? But then I remembered that I was unconscious; probably in the custody of whoever blew that irritating powder in my face.

"Henrik? What's going on? Where am I?" I demanded, urgently, as I held him back from me and held onto his shoulders. He looked relieved but also serious at the same time.

"You're on the other side." Henrik told me, and I immediately started to panic.

"I'm dead!?" I cried out in horror.

That can't be possible. I've only just reunited with Nik; fate can't be that cruel and pull the rug out from underneath my feet like that, again. It's just gotta be some practical joke. However, Henrik shakes his head reassuringly.

"No, just unconscious." He tells me, and I relax. "I was summoned here with I sensed that you were in danger again." He explains to me, looking tense. I frowned at him, not understanding and waiting for some answers.

"Well, if I'm not dead. What the hell am I doing here?" I demanded.

"I brought you here." An unknown female's voice interrupts us, and almost immediately Henrik steps protectively in front of me.

"Who are you?" I asked the unfamiliar voice.

"What do you want with my sister?" Henrik added, fiercely. The voice chuckles indulgently.

"She's not your sister yet, dear. Your friend needs to overcome some obstacles, and help others overcome theirs before she will officially become that." Both of us raise an eyebrow at this random tidbit of information.

"Excuse me?" I blurted out. A shadowy figure, most obviously female, steps into direct view and both Henrik and I tense up at her arrival. "I won't ask again. Who the hell are you?" I command.

"I'm rather surprised that you didn't recognize my voice by now." The woman replies, before stepping into view. My mouth drops open in shock.

"Esther?"

"Mother?"

Henrik's voice was small, barely heard. He sounded just like the fifteen year old boy he once was before he had been shredded alive by transitioning werewolves. Esther smiles warmly at her youngest and reaches out towards him. However, Henrik takes an automatic step away from his mother. I nodded approvingly. Something didn't add up right now. Best to maintain distance.

"Hello, my brave boy." Esther greets Henrik, not fazed by his reaction to her unexpected presence. "Seeing you here, brings me great joy." She said.

"Wish I could extend that same emotion." Henrik responds, defensively. Esther frowns at his words.

"Now that's not very polite son." She scolds him. I wave a hand to grab the Original Witch's attention.

"Hey, need more information about why I am here." I reminded her, attempting to distract her from Henrik and his understandable confusion and standoffish behavior. Esther gives me a polite smile that I don't return.

"Now, Graínne. There's no need to be so impatient." Esther admonishes me and I gather what willpower I possessed and did not slug her where she stood.

"The name is _Grace_ , and please answer my question." I insisted, irritably.

"But you haven't asked the right question yet." Esther insisted.

"And what is the right question then?"

"The right question is: 'what can I do to help'?" Esther responded cryptically.

What the actual fuck?

"Well, in order to ask that question, I'd need to know who requires assistance." I retorted. Henrik makes an incredulous noise underneath his breath, as I wait for the answer.

"Why, Niklaus, of course." Esther responded like it was obvious. "You must've reunited with him by now." She added. I felt my mouth fall open in astonishment.

"Is he in trouble?" Henrik queries urgently.

"No, but he will need Grace's help in the end during his attempt at breaking his curse." Esther told us both.

I frowned.

"How do you know that he is attempting to break his curse?" I asked, cautiously. Esther looked at me like I was an idiot.

"I was the one who placed it upon him, and I've watched him for nearly a thousand years. This is the second time, I've been summoned when Niklaus was close to breaking his curse." Esther told me.

"Uh-huh. And why am I the one he will require help from in the end exactly?" I asked, dubiously.

"Because it's not Elena Gilbert who is the final part of the ritual, Grace. It's you." Esther tells me.

"Me?" I echoed.

"Yes, you." Esther confirmed, with that same indulgent smile that made my skin crawl unpleasantly.

"How?" Henrik asked, curiously. Esther let out a pained sigh, that only mounted the curiosity and fear I was feeling that I was apparently apart of the ritual Nik was about to perform.

"The night you interrupted the curse, I had only been part of the way completed with it; before you burst in unexpectedly trying to save Niklaus." She explained.

"That can't be right. I heard you explicitly say "It is done" about two minutes after I barreled in to stop the three of you. How can I be part of that?" I asked, with confusion.

"I _had_ finished cursing Niklaus at that time you came in. But there were two parts to this specific ritual." Esther explained. "The second part involves giving thanks to the deceased witches for lending me the power to complete the curse. Unfortunately, as I had not finished giving thanks; when you were stabbed by Mikael and spilt blood you were unintentionally linked." Esther explained.

My eyes widened with shock.

"So that means…?"

"In order for Niklaus to completely break the curse and be free from it, your blood needs to spill once again." Esther said, solemnly.

I slowly backed away from her, totally freaking out.

"I have to die, _again!?"_ I exclaimed. "Just like Elena?" However, Esther shook her head.

"No, sweetheart. Some of your blood needs to spill. You don't have to die like the last time." Esther reassured me. But I didn't feel comforted or reassured.

* * *

 **~:KLAUS P.O.V:~**

Night fell and soon it was time to collect my doppelgänger to perform this ritual once and for all. My plans for her aunt Jenna came along flawlessly. The woman did not see me coming at all, and when the time came for her to fight back; it was already too late.

"Take her to the quarry, Greta. I'll along shortly with our special ingredient." I told her. Greta nodded obediently and took away Jenna's body along with her, while I vamp-sped towards the Boarding House to round up Elena.

I watched from the shadows as Stefan's little red vintage car pulled up in the Salvatores' expansive driveway and Stefan parks it, gets out and opens the passenger door for Elena.

How gallant.

"Thanks for today." She simpers at him, making my stomach flip over unpleasantly.

Elena Gilbert is exactly how Grace described her to me. An almost identical replica of Tatia; personality wise. Time to burst their bubble. I walked towards them casually, alerting Stefan to my presence as he immediately turns in my direction and pushes Elena behind him for protection. I smirked, as Elena looks at me with a combination of fear and defiance.

"You got me all nervous. I thought maybe you'd done something stupid." I stated, referring to their adventure wherever the hell they were. "You ready, my dear?" I asked Elena, rhetorically.

She nodded.

"I'm ready." And she walks towards me, to take my outstretched hand. However, Stefan grabs her upper arm; stopping her in her tracks.

"No." He protests. I narrowed my eyes at him with warning.

"I wouldn't. No reason for you to die, too." I said, as Elena turns on the spot to face Stefan. However, he doesn't stop staring me down. I rolled my eyes.

"No. Stefan, hey, hey, it's fine, it's fine." She attempts to reassure him. I withdraw my hand, allowing them to share their final goodbyes. It's only fair; I'm not completely heartless, and I do understand what it's like to be in love and how unbearable the pain of separation from somebody I love is. "I'll go. No one needs to get hurt. There's no reason for you to get hurt." Elena tells him before kissing him. "I love you." She whispers.

"I love you." He reciprocates, tears visibly falling down his face. They kiss again, and I grimace. There is such a thing as _too_ much public displays of affection. I was about to intervene when they finally break apart.

"Close your eyes." She encourages Stefan. "Close your eyes."

Stefan reluctantly closes his eyes, and the very second that Elena lets go of his hand; I swoop in, wrap my arm around Elena's waist and take off running down the street with Elena clinging to my arm for security. We come across Greta, and I pass Elena over to her with relief.

"I'll be along shortly. There's one more thing I require from the apartment." I tell Greta.

"The moon is rising." Greta warns me, and I narrowed my eyes at her. She gets the message and quickly leads a surprisingly compliant Elena away.

At the apartment, I let myself in and feel annoyed when it becomes clear that Maddox has failed to report back in to me. I turned towards Katerina for an explanation.

"Where's Maddox? He should be back by now." I demanded, angrily. Katerina looks at me, fearfully and resentfully.

"I don't know." She insists. I sat down and opened up my laptop to access a live video recording of one of my captives. To be precise, the same bloody wolf who apparently attacked my beautiful girl.

Fancy that.

"What are you doing? Where's Elena?" Katerina questions me.

"I sent her off with Greta." I replied absently, still staring at the laptop at the transitioning wolf on the screen. I smiled triumphantly. "It's almost time." I reacted with mild surprise at the presence of the unexpected and highly unwelcomed visitor. "I wasn't aware you'd been invited in." I commented, still staring at the laptop screen.

"I've come here to tell you to postpone the ritual." It was Damon Salvatore. I bristled. Do we seriously need to cover this again?

"Didn't we already have this conversation?" I asked, dismissively. Then something on Damon catches my eye and I notice that the eldest Salvatore has been careless with an animal. I can work with this. Damon narrows his eyes, clearly not liking what I had said. But then he offered me a triumphant smirk which made me frown suspiciously.

"Yeah, but that was before I rescued your werewolf and vampire and killed your witch." My eyes widened in shock.

"Excuse me?" So that's where Maddox disappeared off to.

You son-of-a-bitch!

I immediately get to my feet, feeling anger rush over me as I turned towards him.

"And you can kill me for it. I don't care. It was all … me." Damon stated, proudly.

I almost killed him, but somehow managed not to as I had heard that this arrogant little shit was apparently dear to Grace, and she was likely to be pissed if I killed him. Doesn't matter anyhow, judging by the bite he had on his arm, it looked like a werewolf had got him; which means that he is not long for this world. I glanced over at Katerina.

"Give us a moment." I ordered her. She glances over at the both of us and quickly leaves. I slowly turned towards Damon, analyzing him calculatingly. "I've heard about you. The crazy, impulsive vampire in love with my girl." I chuckled at the horrified expression that appeared on his face. "I knew that either you or your brother would try to stop me. It was just a 50/50 guess on who." I loved the part where he paled dramatically. I woke up the laptop and turned it towards him, revealing Jules, who was still slowly – and hopefully painfully, if I can recall correctly – transitioning. "The nice thing about werewolves is they tend to travel in packs. Need a closer look?" I asked him.

"Jules." Damon whispered. Was that a hint of a triumphant grin on his face? I grinned at _him._

"Yeah, I believe that's her name. Heard from Grace herself that she had a bit of a run in with the bitch. Pun intended." Damon looked stunned that I was one-step-ahead of him. "You see, when you spend a thousand years trying to break a curse … You learn a thing or two. First rule… always have a backup. Backup werewolf. Backup witch…"

"Backup vampire." Damon mutters underneath his breath with a sense of dread.

"Precisely." I smirked, discreetly eyeing the room Katerina had disappeared into. "I've got that covered, too." I promised, as I broke his neck and watched as he crashed to the floor. Katerina burst out into the room, looking nonchalant about the fact that one of her playthings was lying on the floor with his neck broken.

"He had it coming." She commented casually. I raised an eyebrow at her comment.

"That's harsh, Katerina. He's only trying to protect those he loves." I replied, my voice as smooth as silk. "I can at least relate to that." I added darkly, thinking about the bite mark she had left on Grace's throat. Without warning, I sped behind her and like Damon, snapped her neck. Her lovely body tumbled to the floor. A little winded, I took a couple of deep breaths then cocked my head. I felt invigorated; imagine how I would feel once this curse was lifted? "I never get tired of doing that." I spoke out loud.

I pulled out my phone and dialed Greta's phone number as I closed the laptop lid with a click, and scooped up Katerina's body over my shoulder.

" _Got what you needed, Klaus?"_ Greta enquired.

I smirked, feeling over the moon. "Let's get this show on the road." I confirmed.

* * *

 **~:GRACE P.O.V:~**

 **(Unconscious)**

I glared at Esther disdainfully. The very last thing I wanted to learn was that I was a key ingredient in breaking the Hybrid curse cast upon Nik a thousand years before.

"How dare you!" I hissed. "You should have owned up to Mikael about your indiscretion long ago. Then we wouldn't be in this mess!" Esther glowered at me also, as angry tears threatened to fall down my cheeks. "He is your son, and you just allowed him to be tortured and humiliated by a person I would feel insulted to call a man! A real man would accept any child regardless if he was his own or not." I pointed out to her. "But that would be too much work or an effort to achieve, now wouldn't it?" I spat, hatefully.

"You have no idea what I had to put up with all those years ago." Esther protested, resentfully. "I had to keep Niklaus' parentage a secret." She insisted, trying to get me to see reason.

I narrowed my eyes.

"That is a pathetic excuse, Esther. You might as well have helped Mikael with his harsh treatment of your children whom you profess to love." I sneered. "I will gladly help Niklaus break his curse. But only because I love him with all my heart and soul." I declared. "And I'm going to tell him, that you kidnapped me." I promised, before turning and walking away from her. But then suddenly, I found myself frozen in place and unable to budge an inch. I looked over at her with anger. "What are you doing? Let me go!" I protested.

Esther looked extremely calm as she walked towards me with her hand outstretched and clawed.

"I'm afraid I cannot let you do that, Grace. It will ruin the plans that I've been making for my family." She explained, coolly.

"What are you going to do to me?" I asked, suddenly fearful for my life.

"What I must." Esther replied simply. "You will not tell Niklaus or any of his siblings that I was involved in all of this." Then Esther extended a finger and moved to touch my forehead.

"Hey, what are you doing!? Leave her alone!" Henrik protested angrily, and moved to intercept his mother.

But it was too late.

Esther touches my forehead and I scream as I feel an excruciating pain; like she had stabbed me in the head with a dagger. I woke up to the rapidly fading sounds of Henrik screaming in the distance; cradled gently in someone's arms. I opened my eyes to see Nik's horrified and worried blood-smeared face.

* * *

 **~:KLAUS P.O.V:~**

 **(before Grace awakened)**

I could hear Elena reassuring her aunt from far away. Once again, I marvel at the usefulness of enhanced hearing. I paused and craned my head, curious about what Elena had to say to her aunt to comfort her. But the back and forth footfalls I could hear, I assumed correctly that Elena was also pacing like a stressed out tiger in a cage.

"How are you feeling?" I hear her say. I walked closer to the clearing and caught a glimpse of the doppelgänger standing in her circle of fire, while Jenna was kneeling in hers; looking absolutely petrified.

"I feel like myself … Only not." Understatement of the year. "Everything is brighter. The fire's hotter. Part of me is terrified, but there's another part of me that doesn't want to feel anything." Jenna admits. Ah, memories! I do not miss that revolting feeling I remember when I first awoke as a newborn vampire all those years ago. Elena nodded solemnly.

"Vampires can turn off the part that's human. That's the part that hurts." She explains to Jenna, whose eyes filled up with tears. If only she knew my _real_ plans for her, then maybe she'd be reacting a little differently.

"I'm gonna die, aren't I?" Jenna whimpers. No, honey; you're not. I'm sorry that I've had to do this to you; but it was necessary so I could prove a point towards your little bitch of a niece and her lapdog, Stefan, that they should not meddle in other people's affairs.

"No! Jenna, I'm not going to let that happen. I don't care what I have to do." Elena immediately reassures her. I shook my head. This girl really has no sense of self-preservation at all. Suddenly, in the distance the sounds of twigs snapping and somebody groaning in pain makes heads turn towards the source. Ah, perfect timing. The collection is complete. I looked down at Katerina who is still unconscious where I laid her behind a bush.

It will all be over soon for you, Katerina. This time, you will not escape from me and you _will_ get what is coming to you.

"Who's that?" Jenna asks, frightened. Elena watches as Jules is dragged over to a third circle of fire. I noticed a look of pity pass over her face the second they clap onto Jules.

"That must be the werewolf." Elena suspected. Greta pushes down Jules to the ground, as the she-wolf clutched at her stomach in pain. She glanced up at Greta, looking both scared and bewildered about what was happening to her.

"What's happening to me?" Jules demanded. Greta merely deadpans at her as she answers Jules' question.

"I cast a spell to slow down your transformation. Your insides are trying to tear themselves free." She explains before moving away from her and giving an easy flick of her wrist. That action creates yet another ring of fire around Jules, and at the same time reminds me of a Johnny Cash song.

"Greta, witches are supposed to maintain the balance in nature. It's your duty to them to keep this curse sealed." Elena tries to appeal to Greta's conscience. Admirable effort, but a pathetic one nevertheless. What was about to happen to her, was gonna happen. I am deaf to pleading and excuses.

"My duty is to Klaus! The new order." Greta dismisses Elena, and that is my cue to make my grand entrance. As I walked towards the group of girls, heads swivel in my direction and I can't help but grin at Greta's words.

"Glad to know I still have a dance partner." I winked at her, before focusing upon the three women all looking back at me with dread. "Hello, my lovelies. Are we ready?"

No one responds. That's okay, I wasn't really expecting an answer. Turning away from the three of them, I walked up a nearby hill and pulled the moonstone from my back pocket. "I've got the moonstone. I spent 500 years looking for this, and I hate to part with it." I stated. Still, I hand it to Greta who takes it and immediately looks up at the sky, contemplatively.

"The moon has passed its apex. Remember everything you need to do?" Greta asks, seriously.

I nodded.

"I remember." I confirmed, before Greta immediately drops the moonstone into a stone bowl filled with flames. Sparks start flying as the moonstone is destroyed, thus officially beginning the ritual. Greta starts chanting in Latin, and I turn towards the three rings of fire. But more specifically, at Jules. As I approached the three of them, Jules continues moaning from the pain and she looks up at Elena, who looks at her with pity and condemnation.

"Everything I did… I was just trying to help Tyler." Jules confesses to Elena, who merely nodded.

"Are you Jules?" Elena asks her. Jules nodded, tears streaming down her face.

"I didn't want him to be alone!" I walked towards Jules' ring of fire, and waited for Greta to release Jules as I looked down at her.

"Shall we?" I asked rhetorically.

The ring of fire vanishes, and Jules' eyes glow yellow; a sure fire hint that she was pissed. Her response to my question was to use her werewolf speed to rush at me. However, I easily managed to pin her to the ground and plunged my hand into her chest. Wrapping my hand around her heart, I yanked it from her chest cavity, breathing heavily as I hold up the bloody heart in my hand. I barely acknowledged as Jules takes her last breath, and even more so when both Elena and her aunt watch what has happened in horror.

I carried Jules' heart over to the ceremonial bowl and proceeded to squeeze the blood into the flames, while Greta continues chanting her little spell. I glanced over at her for confirmation.

"Does that mean it's working?" I asked, curiously. Greta nodded, still concentrating on the spell.

"It's working." She stated. Excellent. I overhear the conversation Jenna had begun with Elena over in their separate rings, and couldn't help but listen in while preparing for the next ingredient to be added to the ceremonial bowl.

"The day that the lawyers called to tell me that I was going to become your guardian, you know what my first thought was?" Elena looks down at her and shakes her head. "Isn't there someone else who can do this?" Ouch, that's harsh. I saw Elena wince with guilt.

"Jenna, there was no one else who could have gotten me and Jeremy through all of that." I frowned with confusion until I remembered that both Elena and her brother Jeremy were both orphans.

"It's just that I almost passed up taking care of you." Jenna confessed.

"But you didn't." Elena insisted, kneeling down in front of her aunt. "You put your entire life on hold to help us." Jenna looked at her with anguish on her face.

"Look around, Elena." Jenna gestures about the quarry, representing what will be Elena's final resting place. "I failed you." By now both of them were crying copious amounts of tears as they said what they believed were their final goodbyes.

"No, you didn't. I failed you. I'm so sorry." Elena insisted. "Listen. Being a vampire, it intensifies your guilt. But it also makes you stronger and faster. You can fight back." She wipes away a stray tear, and I rolled my eyes at the melodramatic scene I was forced to watch. "I'm gonna get through this. I'll be okay, I need you to believe that." Elena pleaded.

I'm sure they both believe that I'm a complete simpleton, if they think I can't hear their attempts to save Jenna. These ears aren't just there on either side of my head for decoration.

"Promise me, when you get the chance…?"

Run?

Oh, I think not, my dears. I slowly approached the ring of fire surrounding Jenna, and paused smirking down at her.

"Hello, Jenna." I greeted her, cheerfully. Both Elena and Jenna slowly rise to their feet and looked me in the eye defiantly.

"Let her go. I understand that I have to die, but she doesn't!" Elena makes an attempt to leave the ring, but the flames flare up causing her to step back in alarm.

"Careful." I warned her, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Elena, don't." Jenna tells her. But Elena ignores her words.

"No, Jenna! We can't leave Jeremy without a family." She turns to me. "I followed your rules; I did everything you asked. I didn't run. Please!" She pleads with me. I smiled condescendingly at her, and was about to open my mouth to respond, when I sensed an unexpected presence.

"Well, well." My smile shifted into a smirk as I turned to look up at the top of the quarry. "I don't recall you being on the guest list." I mused, thoughtfully. Jenna and Elena look up as well, and Elena gasps. Stefan had arrived and was looking down at us from a top of the cliff. He has a very serious look on his face.

"I'm here to talk." Stefan confirmed.

I sighed. "Very well, then." I glanced briefly at Jenna before I vamp sped towards Stefan on the cliff, and walked calmly over to him. "What can I do for you, Mr. Salvatore?" I asked him, semi-impatiently.

"I wish to volunteer to take Jenna's place as the vampire sacrifice." Stefan stated. My smile faltered a bit. You're a little late there, mate. Someone else has already filled that position. I pretended to seriously think about his suggestion. "You don't need to kill Jenna. I'll take her place." Stefan repeated himself, needlessly. I shot him a look.

"I heard you the first time. Besides, I rather appreciate the symmetry of three women…" I walked around Stefan. "—Three goddesses— sacrificed at nature's alter." I replied, shortly. Stefan turned to face me properly.

"Don't play games with me. You'll get what you want either way." He insisted. I looked at him curiously.

"You're quite the hero, aren't you? I've heard that about you." I observed. Stefan looked frustrated.

"Just make the trade. Me for Jenna." He continued to bargain with me. I studied him, before shrugging. I'll humor him … all of them actually. This whole thing has been dragged out too long anyway. We head back down the Cliffside and approached Elena and Jenna. I addressed them both.

"Quite the predicament. You know, it's funny, all this talk about preserving family, and here's Stefan, granting your wish." I announced. Elena looked at Stefan with sad eyes.

"Stefan…"

Stefan looked just as upset as she did. "It's okay." He promised. I come up beside them.

"Well." I pointed a stake between Jenna and Stefan, looking intently at Elena. "Who's it going to be, Elena?" I asked.

"No." Elena protested immediately. I rolled my eyes.

"Oh, don't worry. There's actually no choice." I vamp sped around Stefan and staked him in the back. Stefan screams in pain and crumbles to the ground, while Elena looked horrified and helpless.

"No, Stefan. No!" Elena screamed. I ripped the stake out of Stefan's back and left a sizeable chunk of wood in there.

"I have other plans for your boyfriend. I want him alive. But for now…" I snapped Stefan's neck, causing him to fall disgracefully, to the ground. Elena gasps in shock as I turned to Greta, getting bored. "Whenever you're ready, Greta." I barked at her. Greta immediately begins chanting the next part of the spell which dispels the ring of fire surrounding Jenna. Jenna looks on, frightened. Elena, who is teary-eyed, watches on.

"No…" Elena whimpers. This falls on deaf ears. I turned my attention towards Jenna. My patience is wearing thin.

"Your turn." I told her.

"No, Jenna, no!" Elena attempts to get to Jenna, but the fire around her flares up. A surprisingly calm Jenna looks over at her. I narrowed my eyes suspiciously at the newborn. She's going to pull a fast one.

"It's alright, Elena. I know what I have to do." Jenna reassures her niece. After a few silent moments, Jenna immediately vamp speeds to Greta and attempts to ferociously bite her neck. However, I had anticipated an attack on my witch, so I intercepted Jenna by vamp speeding in front of her and seized her by the neck. Elena squealed in horror and starts pleading as I aimed a stake at her aunt's heart.

"No, please! Please!" I paused inches away from impaling her upon the stake.

"Hmmm. You know what? Stefan's right. Jenna isn't quite the vampire needed for this." I looked over at a confused, but hopeful Elena, scrutinizing her for a moment before addressing Greta.

"Greta, my dear, I have left something important in the bushes. Would you be a dear and retrieve it?" I requested. Greta nodded once and abandons the ceremonial bowl temporarily, and proceeded to the bush I had indicated. "And take someone with you. I don't want an injured witch." I ordered. With the help of a male witch, Greta locates Katerina who is just barely starting to wake up from having her neck broken. The male witch; Ben, lays Katerina at my feet and retreats to stand beside Greta.

"Thank you, Ben." I say to him, graciously, not taking my eyes off of Jenna, who is frowning at me with confusion as well.

"What are you going to do to me?" Jenna demanded, fearful. I merely smiled back.

"Jenna, I want you to go and stand next to Greta for the duration of this ritual. You are not allowed to move from her side, or attack her to make an escape." I compelled her. "You will only be able to move when I complete the ritual. Repeat this back to me." I added, sternly. Jenna's eyes glazed over as expected.

"I will go and stand next to Greta for the duration of this ritual. I will not move from her side or attack her to make an escape. I will be able to move when you complete the ritual." Jenna parroted back, in a monotone voice. I gave her an indulgent smile, as Katerina moaned feebly at my feet.

"Very good. Get started." I ordered, jerking my head in Greta's direction.

Jenna moved to obey as I squatted down beside Katerina, and waited for her to wake up. Eventually, she sits up and gingerly massages her neck while looking around with confusion, before clapping eyes on Elena looking dubiously back at her from the confines of her flame circle. I mentally counted up to ten before the penny finally drops for Katerina and she jerks towards me with fear at first, then anger and betrayal.

"You!" Katerina exclaims angrily. I wagged a finger in her face.

"Took you long enough, Katerina. And I'd watch that tone, lest I yank out your tongue." I warned her. Katerina makes a desperate bid for freedom, but I wasn't falling it this time round and easily snagged her before plunging a stake into her back. Katerina gasps, and I let her drop to the ground. She weakly looked back at me.

"Why?" She croaked. "I did everything you said." Katerina insisted. I glowered at her.

"Do not insult my intelligence with that insolent excuse, Katerina. You knew that this day was coming, the very minute you ran from me 500-years-ago. Not only are you completing your part of the ritual like you should have, but you are also being punished for attacking Grace." I laid down the facts. Katerina's eyes widened with fear, as I flipped her onto her back and hunched over her.

"No, Klaus, please! I don't want to die!" Katerina pleaded. I merely smirked down at her.

"You're already dead, sweetheart, for centuries now." I raised the stake and held it over her heart. " _This_ will make it permanent." I promised, before I staked her. Katerina's body started to grey and decay, and I hear a horrified gasp from behind me, coming from Jenna. I ignored it as I released the stake; leaving it in her chest as I straightened up and walked over to Greta, who begins chanting the next part of the spell.

Out the corner of my eye, I noticed Stefan regaining consciousness before struggling weakly to reach for the piece of wood I deliberately left embedded in his back. Failing at that, I observed as he looks over at Elena and reacted with confusion when he sees her equally confused, but relieved face.

"What's going on?" Stefan mutters before looking over in Greta's direction. I chuckled softly at the shocked expression on his face when he sees Jenna; still alive (in a matter of speaking) and looking extremely frightened. "But who…?" He looks down at the floor nearby Greta and myself. I had never seen a person's eyes widen that much in all my thousand years. It was actually quite amusing. "Katherine." He mumbled, but I couldn't tell if it was relief or pity.

Greta stoops down to Katerina's dead body and harvests the blood the spell requires, before pouring the blood into the ceremonial bowl. It was time for the final ingredient. I turned and approached Elena.

"It's time." I told her.

The circle of fire disappears from around Elena. She looks up at me and I extend a hand towards her to help her up from the ground. However, Elena ignores the hand, gets to her feet and walks past me and towards the altar looking down at Katerina's body. I rolled my eyes and followed her up there before grabbing Elena's face in my hand.

"No…" Stefan struggles to get up from the ground, and I turned Elena's head to face him. I leaned forward to whisper into her ear.

"Thank you, Elena." I said.

"Go to hell." Elena responded acidly. I shrugged as Stefan continues to struggle up to his feet; but with every attempt he falls back to the ground, too weak to move. Elena stares out, blankly, as I wrapped my arms around her waist to hold her steady before I sunk my fangs into her neck.

Elena barely makes a sound.

I slowly and contentedly drank down her blood, draining her, and thoroughly relishing the anguished and helpless expression on Stefan's face. It's not long before Elena sags in my arms and she dies. Her task in this ritual done, I promptly released her body and Elena falls to the ground. I paused, waiting for something to happen … and I glanced over at the flame in the ceremonial bowl still flickering away. I frowned and turned to Greta for an explanation.

"Explain, Greta?" I demanded, angrily. She glanced around helplessly, looking just as confused.

"I-I'm not sure what's going on." She confessed. "Draining the doppelgänger of her blood should've broken the ritual…" Greta stammered. I saw red, and vamp sped over to her; seizing her by the shoulders and shaking her like a ragdoll.

"Then you obviously missed something in your research." I growled.

The next thing I knew, I was flying away from Greta who had gone from being completely confused and nervous, to cool, calm and collected, and landed in a heap beside Katerina's body. Greta's eyes, had narrowed and were looking back at me with defiance, as though daring me to try and attack like I did again. Either side of her, both Jenna and Ben were looking at the imposter warily; although it appeared that Ben was more composed than first thought. Which told me that he had been expecting this unexpected appearance from this witch. I sprang to my feet.

"You will control yourself." She told me, firmly. I blinked, not expecting a completely different tone of voice to spill from Greta's lips. It was obvious that she had been possessed by another witch.

"What the hell is happening? The ritual should be completed!" I snarled. The witch merely gave me a flat look.

"On the contrary, Niklaus, you have not finished the ritual. In fact, you're missing a key ingredient; and that is _not_ Miss. Gilbert." The imposter witch insisted.

"How do you know my name?" I demanded. "And what missing ingredient is that?" I added, spitefully. The witch merely offered me a dark smile in response.

"How I know your name, sir, is immaterial. As for what the missing ingredient is; I shall enlighten you." She responded. "A thousand years ago when you were first cursed, an unexpected occurrence happened when an innocent, but feisty young woman interrupted what should've been a straightforward curse." My eyes widened in horror and recognition. "As you may recall, blood was spilled that night. Are you catching my drift so far?" The witch asked me rhetorically as Ben – whom I hadn't noticed disappearing – reappeared carrying something or someone in his arms bridal-style. I immediately recognized the person.

It was Grace, unconscious.

"You cannot be serious. To hell with the ritual, I won't kill her." I ignored the furious expression on Stefan's face, as Ben strode up to me and practically threw me Grace who was still unconscious. As I caught her in my arms, she started to stir and looked at me with confusion.

"Nik? What's going on?" She mumbled as I set her on her feet and made sure that she was steady. "Why does my head hurt?" She added, frowning and gingerly probed at the back of her head which had a large goose egg rising from it. I snarled with anger and turned to the imposter witch.

"What the hell did you do to her?" I demanded.

* * *

 **~:GRACE P.O.V:~**

 **(Reality)**

I leaned on Nik for support as I tried to remember exactly what had happened during my temporary visit to my subconscious.

"What the hell did you do to her?" Nik practically shouted into my ear and I flinched and buried my face into his duster. Nik shushed me, rubbing my arms.

"Nothing harmful. Just a simple, but powerful sleeping powder that had been blown into her face." I turned my head and glowered at Esther who was possessing Nik's witch.

Blown into my face is right. Then obviously when I fainted I really concussed myself with the scuffed wooden floor of the apartment complex. Bloody fantastic; I _really_ hope I _don't_ have a concussion!

I pushed myself away from Nik, who protested big time and moved to confront 'Esther.' However, before I could make contact, I yelled out when a stabbing pain immediately reacted where she had poked me in the forehead during my hallucination, which forced me to my knees.

"Alright, you've made your point. Maintain my distance; got it loud and clear!" I shouted. Nik comes over to my side, as I struggled back to my feet. "Let's get this show on the road." I mumbled, resentfully. Nik immediately got into my face, looking angry.

"You're not sacrificing yourself for me, Grace. What did I tell you before?" He reminded me. I smiled a little and cupped his cheek.

"I'm not losing all of my blood, Nik. I apparently just have to draw blood." I reassured him, before turning and looking at 'Esther' critically. "Right!?" 'Esther' smirked.

"Not quite." She admitted.

"What!?" Both Nik and I exclaimed with outrage.

"What exactly do I need to do? Quit being so bloody vague!" I shouted.

"You can't seriously be thinking of going through with this insanity, Grace?" My overprotective vampire growled from beside me. I ignored him; something he didn't entirely appreciate.

"Just a little bit of blood needs to be spilt over the flames…" 'Esther' indicates towards the still smouldering ceremonial bowl. "And consumed by Niklaus." I felt my mouth drop open with shock.

"Why does he need to drink my blood?" I demanded.

"The night when Niklaus was cursed and when you were killed, he kissed you; and because you were quickly drowning in your own blood, some of it coated his lips and tongue. Thus making it part of the ritual." I looked at him with confusion and was surprised to see a look of realization and revulsion on Nik's face.

"And that's all the ritual requires?" I asked. "Bleed over flames and let Nik take a mouthful of my blood?" I stated, hotly. 'Esther' nodded.

"Correct."

I narrowed my eyes and immediately turned my back on both Nik, Esther, a thoroughly freaked out Jenna and Stefan; who was still watching the commotion with a look of horror and confusion on his face, and started unbuttoning my shirt.

"What are you doing?" Nik muttered to me.

"I'm not entirely sure where she'd want me to donate this blood. So I'm improvising." I spun round. My shirt was unbuttoned exposing my black lacy bra; uncaring that I was giving everybody a show. "Shall I produce it from the original source then?" I demanded, coolly. 'Esther' looked confused until she saw my birthmark, then she went deathly white.

"That was where…"

"Where I was stabbed by Mikael, yes." I confirmed, causing Nik to walk around to stand in front of me and his eyes zeroed in on my gruesome looking birthmark underneath my left breast. He looked anguished, then horrified when I produced my dagger from its hidden holster. "So, yes or no?" I asked. When nobody responded, I took the matter into my own hands. "I'll take it as a 'yes' then." I raised the dagger into the air and moved to plunge it in the birthmark. But Nik, Stefan and 'Esther' all shouted out:

'NO!' and Jenna screamed. However, I managed to stop the blade from breaking skin by resting the tip lightly on the slightly darker skin, and I glared at 'Esther'.

"Be more specific then!" I growled, and pulled away the blade.

"From your hand is fine." 'Esther' explained, rather shakily and – unless my eyes were mistaken – guiltily.

Without bothering to button up my shirt, I stomped over to the ceremonial bowl and smoothly and cleanly sliced through the palm of my hand, wincing only slightly from the pain. 'Esther' immediately started chanting in Latin as I squeezed my bleeding palm tight to coax more blood to the surface and allowed a dribble of my blood to splash through the flames.

Then without a word, I squeezed my hand again and turned towards Nik, letting my blood pool in my palm as I held it out to him. He hesitated, but after an encouraging smile from me, and letting his desire to be finally free from his curse overrule; he eventually takes my hand in his, gently, and covers his lips over the wound in my hand, taking a couple of pulls from it.

My blood drips from Nik's mouth and the flame in the ceremonial bowl is _finally_ extinguished. Nik breathes heavily and walks down the stone steps.

"I can feel it. It's happening." He explained to those of us who didn't understand what was going on. He looks up at the full moon. I flinched when I hear his bones crack audibly as he starts to transform for the first time in a thousand years. His eyes glow the sinister gold color that I assumed were like a werewolf, but he still has the veins under them, like a vampire. It looked really freaky. "Yes, yes!" Nik shouts, happily. Before he is suddenly thrown through the air, and the flames in the ceremonial bowl suddenly reignites; startling Greta who had come out of Esther's possession.

"What the hell!?" I exclaimed, before hearing a familiar voice chanting underneath her breath. I turned towards the voice and saw to my dismay, Bonnie coming down the hillside staring down Nik. "Bonnie, stop!" I yelled out to her, and started to step towards her; but felt my legs start to give way and felt faint. I must have cut my hand a little too deeply in my anger and was bleeding a little too much. An audible crack makes me turn towards the sound and I see Damon, who had just broken Greta's neck, looking pissed as he heads over to Elena's corpse. "Damon…" He turns towards me and his eyes widen with horror as his nostrils flare and he looks down at my hand.

"Grace?! What the hell are you doing here? Why is your hand bleeding?" He demanded, coming over to look at my hand. I don't respond, as we both suddenly hear Nik screaming. I wrench my hand out of his grip and stumbled groggily to my boyfriend's side. "Where do you think you're going?!" Damon growls, I pull out of his grip again and glowered at him.

"Don't worry about me right now, Damon. Take care of Elena." I insisted, before continuing towards Nik. But Damon, is as usual, stubborn.

"Like hell."

"Elena…" We both hear Stefan call out to Elena, and Damon reluctantly abandons me and heads over to pick up Elena and lay her down beside his weakened brother. As I finally reach Nik and try to help him through his pain – despite his protests and insistence that I get away from him – I watched Damon kneel down and rip the remainder of the stake out of Stefan's back. Stefan grunted in pain before grabbing Damon's jacket.

"I need you to get her out of here!" Stefan indicates to Elena. Damon hesitates, looking in my direction as I make an attempt to stem the bleeding in my hand, and not succeeding.

"What about you?" Damon asks Stefan.

"I'm not leaving until he's dead. Go! I'll bring back Grace, as well." Stefan promises.

I jerked my head in their direction as Damon takes one last frustrated look at me before scooping up Elena's body and carrying her away. Stefan sits up, and watches as Bonnie continues chanting the spell, causing trees to fall all around us. I fall to my knees and reached for Nik's hand. He grabs it in his tightly and I wince from the grip, as I watch him lying against the rocks still screaming.

"You're okay, Nik. I'm here, I won't abandon you!" I promised, tears streaming down my face as I glare at a triumphant looking Bonnie with hatred. Nik also glares, but at me.

"Get out of here, Grace. I don't want to hurt you accidentally!" Nik insists through gritted teeth. I was about to retort when Elijah finally steps out of the shadows and approaches Nik. My eyes widen in horror when I realised that this was Elijah's chance to kill Nik and I immediately get between the brothers. "NO, GRACE!" Nik snarls, desperately. Elijah looks equally as serious.

"Stand aside, Grace." He orders me, and I shake my head defiantly at him.

"No, Elijah. I'm not going to stand on the sidelines and watch you do this again." I retorted stubbornly. Suddenly, Nik gets to his feet, painfully, and shoves me aside. "Nik, NO!" I yelled at him, angrily, as I sprawled weakly to the floor. I was still losing blood.

"Elijah?" Nik gasps out, painfully, ignoring my protests.

"Hello, brother." Elijah responds before plunging his arm into Nik's chest, grabbing a hold of his heart.

"NOOO!" I screamed, in anguish. "Elijah, don't! Please!" I begged him, desperate tears now pouring down my cheeks. Elijah ignores me, focused entirely on his task.

"In the name of our family, Niklaus…" Elijah intones as he twists Nik's heart.

"I didn't bury them at sea!" Nik hollers at Elijah, causing both Elijah and I to freeze and look at him with shock.

"What?" Elijah breathes, looking at his brother suspiciously. Nik grabs his brother's wrist desperately.

"Their bodies are safe. If you kill me, you'll never find them." Nik insists. I struggled to my feet, drawing both brothers' attention. Their eyes widen when they realise how weakened I really looked. I stumbled forward towards them both and Elijah manages to catch me with his free arm. The one not already buried in Nik's chest.

"Please, Elijah. There's always another solution to your problem. Don't take him away from me…" I mumbled before I passed out, slumping onto Elijah.

* * *

 **~:KLAUS P.O.V:~**

I started to panic when Grace suddenly slumped forward due to blood loss. She really must have cut her hand a little too deeply. She needed vampire blood … FAST.

"Elijah! Don't listen to him." Stefan insisted, and I turned my head to glare at him. Elijah continued to hesitate; even more so because he was now also supporting Grace as well as me. This was my chance to bargain with him.

"Elijah." I grabbed his attention. "I can take you to them. I give you my word … brother." I pleaded with him.

"Do that and I'll take you both out!" We snapped our heads in Bonnie's direction.

"You'll die." Elijah pointed out.

Bonnie's eyes narrowed. "I don't care."

Elijah looked at me, pensively, obviously trying to decide if he should trust me, or ignore what I said and follow the plea of a couple of pathetic baby vampires and a witch who has barely come into her powers to kill me; for the excuse that they're threatened by me.

How touching.

But they don't know a goddamned thing about me, and what I have been through to achieve both this goal and my other goal: to locate and find my sweet innocent girl. Who the hell are they to accuse me of being a monster, when two of them have committed similar atrocities during their lifetimes? Finally, Elijah makes his decision. He looks me up and down, and then looks at Bonnie, Stefan and Jenna who is still crouched beside a very dead Elena.

"I'm sorry." Elijah says regretfully, to the three of them. I grinned triumphantly, causing Stefan and Bonnie to run towards Elijah, an unconscious Grace and me.

"No!" Stefan snarled.

"No." Bonnie shouted. But their actions are pointless, as Elijah blurs both Grace and I away to safety.

* * *

Once we were far away from the quarry, Elijah removes his arm from my chest and goes to support Grace.

While I removed my clothes.

"Is she alright, Elijah?" I asked my brother worriedly as we both set aside our differences to help this innocent girl, who risked everything to set me free from my curse. I didn't like how pale she had become. Elijah picks up her hand and examines the deep laceration she had made in her hand from her dagger.

"She's lost a lot of blood, Niklaus. What on earth possessed you to use her in the ritual?" Elijah demanded, fiercely. I glared at him for the insinuation.

"You think I orchestrated this!? I had no idea that Grace's blood was _also_ the key to breaking that infernal curse." I protested. "But mark my words, I'm going to find out who that bloody witch is who possessed Greta and tear them limb from limb." I vowed, as I watched as Elijah cradled Grace in his arms. Elijah gently lays her on the grass and straightened up, wiping his hand clean from a combination of my blood and Grace's blood.

"We better take her some place safe, Niklaus." Elijah suggested. I nodded, but then let out a scream as I finished transforming into a wolf. Elijah stooped down beside Grace. "Hurry back, Niklaus. We still have a lot to discuss." He needlessly reminded me.

I growled warningly at him, before I trotted over to Grace's side and whined as I nuzzled her face before licking her cheek and stepped back to watch my brother scoop Grace up into his arms, holding her close. Satisfied that she was in reasonably good hands, I turned and bounded off into the forest.

* * *

 **A/N: Finished. That took forever. Hope you like the results.**

 **Please review xx**


	34. If I Should Die Before I Wake

**A/N: Welcome back to** _ **'A Thousand Years'**_ **. Glad you've made it this far in the story.**

 **Standard procedure: please review. Hold the flames. Cheers xx**

 **I don't own** _ **The Vampire Diaries.**_ **All characters (except for Grace) is owned by author L.J Smith.**

 **Enjoy xx**

* * *

 **IF I SHOULD DIE BEFORE I WAKE…**

" _Life asked death, why do people love me, but hate you?  
Death responded, because you are a beautiful lie and I'm a painful truth."  
_ _ **~Unknown Author.**_

* * *

 **~:KLAUS P.O.V:~**

I woke up in the forest, feeling a little disoriented at first; especially when I realised that I was naked and lying underneath a tree. But it only takes a few minutes before the memories come rushing back, and I looked up at the sun and smiled. A pile of clothes land in front of me and I turned my head and spot Elijah looking back with a neutral expression on his face.

"You've been busy." Elijah observes. I couldn't help but grin at the memories that continue parading through my mind.

"That was amazing. How long has it been?" I asked curiously, as I reached for the pair of jeans Elijah had supplied for me and began pulling them on.

"Almost two days." Elijah replied, nonchalantly. "Full moon came and went, and you remained a wolf." I buttoned my fly and reached down for a t-shirt, pulling it on, and stooping to pull on my socks and boots.

"I can change at will, then." I observed. "It's good to know. I remember every single kill." I told him, smirking. Elijah makes a face.

"Yes, I've been cleaning up your little mess along the way … well after attending to Grace, of course." He commented. I froze, kicking myself for forgetting the most important person in my existence. I looked at Elijah, suddenly alert and serious.

"How is she?" I demanded, urgently.

"Resting comfortably in her apartment I suspect." Elijah replied, calmly. "The second you ran off into the woods, I took her home and fed her my blood. It should be gone from her system by tonight at the latest." He reported back, automatically.

I relaxed.

"Just like old times, brother." I stated, referring back both to our childhood, when Elijah (and occasionally Finn) would help protect the rest of us, and the times he and I backed each other up on our hunts during our early days as newborn vampires.

"Indeed." Elijah drawled, before frowning again. "You've had your fun. I believe we have a bargain." He reminded me, and I groaned inwardly.

Typical bloody buzzkill, as usual.

"That's right. Now, what was it again?" I pretended to really give it some thought, as I was mostly more interested in visiting Grace to make sure she was as healthy as Elijah made her out to be … then intended on berating her for intentionally putting herself in harm's way when I specifically requested her not to do that for me again. "Oh, yeah. Wait. I remember. That's it." I turned towards my already irritated looking brother. "You wish to be reunited with our family." I stated.

"You gave me your word, brother." Elijah reminded me, sternly. I offered him a deceptively kind smile.

"What kind of brother would break his bond?" I asked him. "Even though you did try to kill me." Elijah waved a dismissive hand.

"I could have. But I didn't." He said, grabbing my jacket and helping me put it on.

I smirked. "And now no one can, not even you." Elijah stiffened at my words and I chuckled at the reaction. "Relax, Elijah. All is forgiven." I told him, light-heartedly. Elijah didn't look amused.

"Where are they?" He demanded. I frowned at his impatience; this was not like my normally composed and self-righteous older brother.

"You need to lighten up. I'll bring you to them soon enough." I promised him, clapping a hand on his shoulder and continuing to stride out of the forest in search for civilisation.

* * *

 **~:GRACE P.O.V:~**

Two days ago, I had just saved Nik from his curse and had nearly died in the process. I was still waiting for him to return from his joyful romp through the woods. Or at least, that's how Elijah had described it to me when he finished feeding me his blood, and making sure that I wasn't about to drop off my perch unexpectedly.

Henrik wouldn't leave my side for the two days I spent in this bedroom, sleeping like the dead (no pun intended) and just generally avoiding any contact with anyone; except for Elijah who returned periodically after heading back and forth from the forest, cleaning up after Nik's rampant killing spree and checking up on me.

Pretty much like he used to a thousand years ago, when any of us were sick, injured or feeling crappy for whatever reason at the time … most of the time it usually involved Mikael being the reason for the crappy mood. I knew that the very second I stepped out of this apartment, that I would be ambushed by Elena's friends wanting an explanation about why I had been at the ritual in the first place.

A conversation I had no interest in even participating in, because of the fact that I had been the surprise key ingredient; and that poor little Elena Gilbert wasn't 'the star' or as important as the ritual had made her out to be. She and I had unfortunately been tied for the same position, against our will. If the little bitch had lived, she would probably be seething at the thought that she wasn't the main attraction with Nik in this whole shindig.

The only souvenir I got from this whole exercise was a bandage wrapped around my hand as a precaution; (vampire blood can only do so much, and sometimes just drinking it isn't enough) and the thought that I had given my boyfriend the chance to experience his existence as he should've, if his parents hadn't been selfish pricks.

I groan when I hear my phone start buzzing, and I sit up slowly feeling slightly dizzy before groping for my phone and seeing who the caller was: Stefan. I frowned and accepted the call.

"Stefan? What's up?" I answered, curiously. I immediately yawned.

" _Did I catch you at a bad time?_ " Stefan inquired.

"Not exactly. I needed to get up anyway." I stated, as I peeled back my duvet and flipped my legs over the side, sitting up. "To what do I owe this pleasure?" I asked as I got up from my bed and padded out to the kitchen part of my apartment and clicked on my kettle, pulling down a mug for some tea.

" _Are you able to meet me at the Grill? There's something I need to tell you and Alaric._ " He requests. I blinked in astonishment and I popped a teabag into my cup as I mulled over the request.

"Sure. Hope it's nothing serious—"

" _It's serious._ " Stefan interjected, sounding rather urgent. My eyes widened in surprise. " _Meet me there in half an hour?_ " Stefan asked, sounding a little stressed. I glanced at my wall clock; that gave me enough time to have my tea before getting dressed and heading downstairs to the restaurant.

"Yeah. Of course." I replied, promptly.

" _Thanks, Grace._ " Stefan sounded relieved as he quickly hung up and I pulled the phone away from my ear and looked at it in astonishment. The kettle clicked off just as Henrik walked into the room and leaned against the island bench, frowning. He had obviously overheard the conversation I had just had with Stefan.

"Everything okay?" He asked, concerned. I locked my phone and set it down as I reached into the fridge to retrieve the milk.

"Dunno. But he obviously needs to talk to somebody about it." I responded. "Not sure if I should be touched or suspicious." Henrik straightened up from his slouch.

"Considering that it is Stefan Salvatore, I think that you should err on the side of caution." He suggested, as I finished preparing my tea and carried it with me to my bedroom.

"I think that would be smart." I agreed, as I quickly closed the door and Henrik slouched against the wall beside it so we could continue our conversation while I got dressed.

"So are you excited that Niklaus is back?" He asked, sounding like a kid at Christmas. I grinned and rolled my eyes as I peeled off my pyjama top and picked out a bra and panty set to wear today.

"Do I need to dignify that question with an answer?" I threw back at him, as I selected a black button-up shirt with ¾ length sleeves and a slight plunge neckline, matched it with a black, red and yellow tartan pleated miniskirt, black sheer tights and some black lace-up oxford booties with chunky heels.

"No." Henrik chuckled, as I ducked into the shower and proceeded to scrape the grime I had accumulated over two days while I was re-cooperating from bleeding for the ritual, and because (apparently according to Elijah) I seriously needed some sleep. Which was odd, because I thought I had my sleep habits under control. I immerged from the room fully dressed; complete with Nik's wolf-tooth necklace and my vervain/wolfsbane bracelet.

"Right answer." I winked at him. "Although, I'd like to know where he'd run off to after breaking his curse." I added, feeling a little annoyed by the lack of information. "Huh. I guess I'll find out eventually." I theorized before grabbing my purse, keys and aviator sunglasses and headed for the front door.

"I'm gonna go hang out at Alaric's apartment, and wait and see if Niklaus shows up there." Henrik declared and I smiled.

"Good plan. I'll see you later." I said, blowing him a kiss and closing the door behind me.

* * *

By the time I got to the Grill, only about half an hour had passed in between getting the phone call, having a quick (but refreshing) cuppa tea, and getting ready for the day. Or to be more precise – as I glanced down at my phone – early afternoon.

I had slept in for the entire morning.

I debated whether or not I should go into the Grill and wait for Stefan in there. Alaric was most likely already in there, drowning his sorrows – literally – because of what happened to Jenna. In the end, I shrugged and decided to sit on one of the park benches nearby the war memorial and do some sketching, since it had been awhile since I had the chance or inclination to do so; which for me was a first, as I nearly always had a spare moment to take a load off and just lose myself in a drawing.

But resent events had forced me to make priorities.

As I set aside my purse and opened up my sketchbook to a fresh page, I paused trying to decide what to actually sketch. The sound of a dog barking caught my attention and I craned my head in the direction of a girl roughly the same age as me walking her black German Shepherd. I smiled as I watched them playing around with a ball and a tugging toy, and laughed when the dog tackled its owner and started licking her face while she giggled and shouted as she attempted to fend off her dog. I jumped when a black American Crow swoops down and perches on the backrest of the park bench I was sitting on. It looks at me curiously, and for a second I thought that it was Damon. But on closer inspection, the crow's eyes were black, not blue.

As the bird flew away – towards the girl and the German Shepherd, which barked and tried to snap at the bird; much to its owner's objections – I suddenly was inspired. I sat sideways on the bench, and pulled my legs up against my chest so I could rest my sketchbook horizontally on my knees; then when I put my pencil to paper, I was oblivious to the world … at least for the next twenty or so minutes before Stefan eventually arrived. I had just finished shading the last part of my sketch when a shadow descended behind me.

"That's really good." The person behind me critiqued. I looked over my shoulder and saw Stefan standing there looking both worried and stressed, but also stubbornly attempting to hide the fact that he was, with a friendly smile.

"Thanks, Stef." I replied, before signing the bottom of the sketch. I had chosen to sketch a picture of myself sitting in the grass – much like the girl had done with her dog – with a large black wolf; resting his head in my lap, and a larger than normal black crow sitting on my shoulder, fluffing itself up and nuzzling my cheek.

Bonus points if anyone can guess who those who animals represented.

"Ready to go?" Stefan asked, sounding somewhat impatient. I nodded, closing my sketchbook and stowing it back into my purse as I got to my feet.

"Lead the way." I agreed and walked side-by-side with Stefan towards the Grill across the road from the park. I studied Stefan curiously. "What's going on, Stefan?" I asked, frowning contemplatively. Stefan grimaced, furthering my suspicions.

"Nothing good." He replied vaguely. "I'll explain more when we find Alaric." He added. I nodded, and thanked him when Stefan opened the main doors and stepped back to let me pass. "How's your hand?" Stefan asked randomly, and I looked down at my bandaged hand and flexed it gingerly.

"Better than it was." I admitted, sheepishly. Stefan raised an eyebrow. "I was a little overzealous when I made the cut." I explained. "Lost a little too much blood." Stefan shook his head, but I caught a hint of a smile on his face. We made our way through to the bar area and caught a glimpse of Alaric sitting at his usual stool. As we watched, Alaric took a bottle of bourbon from a waitress' outstretched hand and poured himself a drink. She frowned and attempted to take the bottle back from him, but he refused to budge. It was becoming clear that he had been here for a while, because it looked like he was already quite intoxicated.

Stefan and I exchanged worried glances between the two of us before we both sighed and walked over to him. I took a seat beside the obviously depressed man, with Stefan standing at my shoulder.

"Hey, Alaric." I greeted him, gently. He looks at the both of us absently, before turning away and pouring yet another glass.

"Sorry, you've reached somebody who's currently not operating." He joked without humour. I grimaced.

"I need your help." Stefan stated. "Actually, I need _both_ of your help." He amended what he said, causing me to blink at him. Alaric gave a scathing snort.

"Well, you must have me confused with somebody else. You see, I'm not allowed to help." He sounded bitter; which made me question what the hell had gone down while I had been knocked unconscious by Esther. "I just idly sat by while my girlfriend gets changed into a vampire against her will, then almost gets sacrificed on an altar of blood." He knocks back the drink and notices the bandage on my hand. "What happened to you?" He asked, curiously.

"I was used in the ritual too." I explained. Alaric's eyes widened a fraction. "Yeah, I know. It was a shock for me as well when I found out. It turned out that I was required to cut my hand and bleed over the flames in the ceremonial bowl, and feed Nik my blood as well in order to break the curse. Elena wasn't the final ingredient after all." Then I hesitated before continuing. "I nearly bled to death though, because I sliced my hand a little too deeply." Alaric's hazel eyes darkened with anger when he heard that, but before he could open his mouth to speak; Stefan jumped in to spring a bombshell on us.

"Damon's dying." Both Alaric and I snapped to attention when we heard this. I immediately felt the blood drain from my face, and heard my heart thudding in my ears.

"What?" Alaric sobered instantly.

"How?" I whispered, fearfully. Stefan hesitated before responding; knowing that none of us were going to like the answer.

"Tyler Lockwood bit him. We don't have much time." Stefan confirmed, grimly.

My hands clenched.

"Son-of-a-bitch!" I muttered underneath my breath, despairing, and I felt Alaric taking my hand; presumably to stop me from doing something reckless. But this was my best friend we were talking about here. I needed to do something, and I cannot let him die like that!

That is not acceptable!

"What do you need?" Alaric demanded, sounding equally as determined as I did. Stefan seemed to sag with relief before just as quickly getting serious.

"We need to talk to the witches at the Old Witch House. One of them is bound to know a cure for werewolf bites." Stefan suggested. I immediately got to my feet and made a beeline for the main entrance.

"I'll drive. Somebody navigate." I ordered.

Neither Alaric nor Stefan seemed to think that my actions were objectionable, because they followed without question. The first thing that came to my mind was: _'maybe Nik might have the answer to our problem.'_ But then I hesitated when I remembered that neither Nik nor Damon particularly liked each other, and Nik was more likely to just let Damon die than give up the cure, if there was one out there somewhere.

But I didn't immediately dismiss the idea. It could be a potential backup plan if Stefan's plan with the witches backfired or they didn't come to the party. Stefan hopped into the car … alone. "Where's Alaric?" I asked, confused. Stefan hastily closed the car door behind him.

"He's going to the Boarding House to check up on Damon. I locked him in the basement for his own protection, and ours." He explained. I bit my bottom lip.

"What did he do?" I whispered, feeling the worry growing roots. Stefan hesitated.

"I caught him trying to burn himself in direct sunlight from the large window in the living room … without his ring on." Stefan replied. I gripped the steering wheel so tight my knuckles turned white.

"Dammit, Damon…" I muttered, reflecting back on when it had been Rose suffering through this infliction, and how utterly scared and in pain she was. Damon had looked desperate and helpless at the time, and I despised the idea that I could potentially be that position; watching and anticipating death. Only this time, Stefan would be travelling down the same path as me.

No dice, bub.

You're not taking away my best friend and depriving a man of his older brother when there is every chance that they can still reconcile and be the former best friends that they used to be before Katherine had changed them both physically and emotionally 146-years before.

Not negotiable.

"We'll save him, Grace. Somehow." Stefan promised me, sincerely and with an equal determination in his voice. I turned over the engine and pulled out of my parking space.

"Where to, Stef?" I ordered, and Stefan sat back in his seat.

"Make a right here." He said when we reached the first indicection on the main street. "There's something else we need to pick up for this to work." He explained. I nodded, not bothering to ask unnecessary questions and followed his directions. It turned out that we were picking up Bonnie; which made sense, considering that we were dealing with some extremely volatile and unreasonable decade-old witches who had personal grudges against Damon.

She and they had a lot in common.

The second Bonnie clapped eyes on me, she scowled angrily at Stefan, demanding an explanation.

"What's she doing here?" Bonnie demanded. Stefan glared at the little witch bitch, where I merely ignored her and took off the second the car door closed.

"Take a left when you get to the next indicection." Stefan instructed me, before turning in his seat to address Bonnie. "Helping." Stefan responded, bluntly.

"I don't trust her. She helped Klaus complete his ritual; how do you know she won't turn on us and let Damon die anyway?" Bonnie argued. Stefan sighed, exasperatedly. It seemed like this conversation was an old, already discussed topic.

"Bonnie, Grace is Damon's best friend. The first one he ever officially made." Stefan reminded her.

"Doesn't excuse the fact that she willingly helped Klaus. She was supposed to be on our side when everything went down." Bonnie stubbornly insisted.

"Never said I was on anyone's side, Bonnie. I'm neutral in all of this. I only step in to referee when the situation seems dire." I corrected her.

"And yet you chose to donate some of your blood to Klaus' ritual and doomed us all." Bonnie sniped.

"Because I love him, Bonnie." Both Bonnie and Stefan fell silent at the admission. "I was there when he was first cursed, and I died trying to save him; even when it was obvious that the odds of me actually succeeding were against me." I shut her down. "Besides, you would do the same thing for Jeremy, and you know it as well as I do. The same way that we already know that Stefan would sacrifice everything for Elena, like he tried to do during the ritual." Stefan smiled a little, agreeing with me. "So get off your bloody soap box, and get with the program." I snapped, irritably. My emotions surrounding whether or not Damon was going to survive were fraying rapidly.

Bonnie's eyes flashed. "You two-faced bitch!" She snarled at the back of my head.

"Bonnie…" Stefan attempted to smooth things over. But I'd had enough of her.

"Keep it up, Bennett, and I'll murder you in your sleep." I warned, darkly.

"Enough! Both of you!" Stefan snapped, angrily. "We don't have time for this! Damon's life is at stake!" He reminded us, then looked at me with an odd mixture of amusement and trepidation. "You really are Damon's best friend…" He muttered underneath his breath. None of us spoke for the rest of the trip, except for Stefan's directions which he told me. Finally we arrived at the old dilapidated house.

Inside, the witches once again surrounded us. I was surprised to see two different sets of emotions directed towards me as I walked into the house with Bonnie and Stefan. Most of the witches were looking at me with pity and concern; especially when they saw the bandage wrapped around my hand. While the other – decidedly larger amount of – witches were looking at me with condemnation and mistrust. I ignored them and Bonnie, who knew that I could see them because of my confession to both her and Jeremy that I was a medium.

We set up the area per Bonnie's instruction, before the inexperienced witch lit a candle with a match.

"I'm not sure this is going to work." Bonnie told Stefan. He frowned.

"You've done a séance before, right? Contacted Emily Bennett. Maybe one of the witches might know how to help Damon." Stefan hoped. I wouldn't put it past Esther to have a knowledge of what the cure would be; but considering that I did not trust the bitch as far as I could throw her; I quickly stomped down on the idea. Bonnie shrugged, looking unconvinced.

"Let's just hope they want to." She suggested. Stefan and I stood close together as Bonnie casts her summoning spell. The candles in the room suddenly started burning all at once, and I watched as the witches surrounding us started whispering amongst themselves.

"Bonnie? Bonnie?" Stefan looked alarmed the very second the voices started whispering. I noticed one of the witches striding with a determination through the parting crowd of witches and crouched down beside Bonnie, resting a hand on her shoulder. Bonnie's eyes opened, sensing the witch's presence beside her.

"Emily." Bonnie spoke. Then as one, both 'Emily' and Bonnie spoke directly to Stefan. It was rather freaky to witness.

"Why have you come here, Stefan?" 'Emily' demanded Stefan using Bonnie as her vessel. Stefan's face hardened with a determination.

"I need your help. I need to know if there's a spell that can heal a werewolf bite." He asked, respectfully. 'Emily's' eyes narrowed at the request.

"No. Nature ensures a balance to everything." 'Emily' rejected his request. However, both Stefan and I suspected it was more than just a balance thing that was stopping these judgemental bitches from acting.

"Is that true … or are you just saying 'no' because it's Damon?" Stefan challenged her.

"Perhaps it is his time to die." 'Emily' suggested. Both Stefan and I bristled at this flippant response.

"Like hell it is!" I spat, glaring angrily at 'Emily' who eyed me with distaste. She was one of the few witches who had eyed me with mistrust and condemnation.

"I agree with Grace. That is not balance. That's punishment." Stefan insisted. 'Emily's' eyes hardened unyieldingly.

"I will not give you what you want." Emily stubbornly persisted. But both Stefan and I picked up on the hint that there was a cure and we lunged on it.

"So, there is a cure?" I asked, hopeful.

"Please, if you know something, just tell me." Stefan pleaded. "Help me save my brother." 'Emily' abruptly releases Bonnie's shoulder from her grip and as one, all of the witches in the room began to chant or whisper. This causes Bonnie to suddenly hold her ears and start screaming in pain. She falls to the floor. "Bonnie." Stefan goes to her side, while I glared Black Death at each and every one of them.

"They don't want us here." Bonnie whimpered. "They think I'm abusing their power." She explained.

"They definitely know something." I insisted. Again, Stefan agreed.

"There's an answer. They just don't want to tell us." Bonnie raised her head, just as the witches all disappeared from the room. I looked at her, curiously, wondering what they had just told her.

"I heard them say a name." Bonnie relayed. Stefan moved so that he was looking Bonnie in the eyes.

"What was it?" Stefan asked. Bonnie looked directly at me before responding.

"Klaus."

I groaned. Naturally, my first instinct would be correct. However, it would be difficult to tell if Nik would be co-operative or the same stubborn arse I know him to be when he has leverage and doesn't want to help.

* * *

We all piled into my car and drove back into town, dropping Bonnie off where she needed to go along the way. Once Stefan and I got back to the Town's Square, I drove back into my parking spot and turned off the ignition. There seemed to be an outdoor cinema playing _Gone with the Wind_ right then, but frankly I didn't give a damn at that point and was more interested in saving Damon from suffering a horrible death. Something caught Stefan's eye and he turned towards me and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"You go on ahead, I need to do something quickly." Stefan told me. I raised an eyebrow.

"Does it have anything to do with Damon?" I asked, trying not to be rude and probably failing. But thankfully if I was, Stefan didn't seem to notice.

"Yeah, it does. I'll be right back." Stefan promised with a small, reassuring smile before jogging across the road towards the outdoor cinema. I turned and headed for the apartment block, quickly jogging through the vestibule and up the stairs towards Alaric's apartment where according to Stefan, Nik had been using it as temporary hideout since he first arrived in Mystic Falls a couple of days ago.

Unexpectedly 'bumped' into Henrik along the way.

"Henrik! Is Nik in there?" I asked, frantically. Henrik frowned in confusion.

"No, should he be? I haven't seen him all day." Henrik admitted. I cursed underneath my breath. "What's wrong?" He added, looking concerned.

"Damon has been bitten by a werewolf; Tyler Lockwood to be exact." I explained. Henrik's eyes widened in horror.

"Oh, shit!" He yelled.

"My sentiments exactly. Apparently, Nik knows about the cure, and if we don't find him and hope that he's in a generous mood; Damon's gonna die, and I can't let that happen." I stated, feeling anxious and desperate. Henrik nodded in agreement and together we jogged over to Alaric's apartment to try and figure out a way to bust inside so we could wait for Nik to return. Fortunately, Stefan appeared in the nick of time.

"Grace?" Stefan questioned me. I looked at him, feeling stricken.

"Stefan, Nik isn't here." I told him. Stefan was about to raise his foot to kick down the door when another voice called out.

"Somebody calling me?" The three of us turned and saw both Nik and Elijah striding up the staircase and calmly walking towards us. Nik was all smiles, while Elijah looked serious. I sagged with relief, and Henrik jogged over to stand next to Elijah; overjoyed to see both his older brothers again, despite the fact that neither of them could see him.

That broke my heart.

"Nik…" I ran towards him and wrapped my arms around his neck as he crushed me to his chest and kissed my temple.

"Hello, sweetheart." He murmured into my ear, enjoying my reaction to his reappearance, and I looked over Nik's shoulder and reached out my unbandaged hand to Elijah who smiled slightly and took it, squeezing it gently with affection. Nik stepped back, not completely breaking contact with me and took my other hand, looking down at it with deep concern on his face. "How is your hand?" He enquired.

I glanced down at it, and grimaced.

"It still throbs every now and then. But it's better than it was." I admitted. Elijah nodded in understanding.

"Understandable. You did cause a bit of damage to it, in your bid to do your part for Niklaus' ritual." Elijah sounded quite bitter about that.

"Nik, we need your help." I got right to the point.

"We?" He glanced up and noticed Stefan, standing in front of Alaric's apartment watching Nik and Elijah mistrustfully. He smirked. "Oh, I see." He said. Nik took my hand in his and lead me towards the apartment, with Elijah following behind. Henrik trotted behind Elijah looking like a little puppy. "You just keep popping up, don't you?" Nik addressed Stefan. I scowled at him.

"Nik!" I admonished him. He ignored me.

"It's like Grace said, 'we' need your help … for my brother." Stefan explained. I didn't miss how Nik bristled, or the slight tightening of his grip on my hand the second Damon was mentioned.

"Well, whatever it is, it's gonna have to wait a tick." Nik replied a little dismissively. I wasn't surprised. "You see, I have an obligation to my brother that requires my immediate attention." Nik explained, leading me over to a nearby couch and encouraging me to take a seat upon it. I obeyed, feeling a little suspicious about what this 'obligation' to Elijah was. Henrik sits next to me, also looking guarded.

"I'm very pleased that Grace seems to remember how important family is." Elijah smiled proudly at me, and I offered a sheepish smile back. "And clearly you understand too, or you wouldn't be here." He said to Stefan, who nodded fiercely. "My brother gave me his word that he would reunite me with my own." I glanced over at Nik and noticed something silver and shiny in his hands, and my eyes widened in horror when I realised what his intentions were.

"And so I shall." Nik agreed, sounding sinister and swiftly stabs a dagger through Elijah's heart, killing him. This would be the third time this has happened to poor Elijah. I immediately launched myself off the couch and caught Elijah as he toppled backwards, gently lowering his heavy body to the wooden floor. I glanced up as Nik pushes Stefan up against the wall.

"Nik, stop! What are you doing!?" I cried out in horror. He once again ignores me, focusing upon Stefan.

"Now, what am I gonna do with you?" Nik muses thoughtfully, before ramming a stake through Stefan. I swore and got to my feet, abandoning Elijah's body to a horrified Henrik as I dashed over to them. Stefan groaned and buckled forward, but Nik holds him up.

"NIK! Enough!" I growled, angrily.

"Do you feel that?" Nik questioned Stefan. "It's scraping against your heart. The slightest little movement and you're dead." He warned him. I picked up the nearest heavy object and hurled it to the wall next to them. It shatters on impact, drawing Nik's attention. He looked shocked, so did Stefan.

"Grace…" Henrik whispered in disbelief.

"I said that's enough, Niklaus. Don't ignore me." I warned him. Nik recovered from his shock and narrowed his eyes dangerously at me. It read: _watch yourself, madam._ "Stefan is only trying to save his brother." I told him, speaking with a low, dangerous tone of my own and enunciating every syllable. "Damon is also my best friend. He and Stefan took it upon themselves to protect me from the day I first set foot back in this miserable little town, and to repay them for their kindness; I intend to help them in any way I can." I stated, firmly.

Nik cocked an eyebrow. His temper hadn't simmered down just yet. "Is that so?" He looked at Stefan for confirmation.

"Damon also reminds me of you, Nik." I confessed, and he looked at me with scepticism. "Agree or not, you both are a lot alike; and it's that knowledge (and the fact that I actually like him) that has helped me not lose faith that you'd be coming back to me someday." I told him. Nik's eyes narrowed further.

"You have feelings for him?" He demanded, and it felt like he had struck me across the face. Even Stefan glowered at Nik for his accusation.

"You're seriously doubting my feelings for you? Even after I did _this_!?" I raised my bandaged hand up as evidence. Nik's eyes zeroed in on it, and for a moment he looked remorseful. "How dare you!" I whispered, coldly.

"Grace's feelings for my brother are strictly platonic, Klaus." Stefan groaned. "She only views him as an older brother, like she does for Elijah. I can vouch for that." Stefan insisted.

"Don't _ever_ doubt my feelings for you, Niklaus. I love you, always and forever." I whispered, brokenly, before turning and walking back over to the couch I had abandoned and sank down upon it, trying hard not to cry and failing as tears fell unheeded down my cheeks.

"The witches said you had a cure. Make me a deal. Just give me the cure, and I'll do whatever you want." Stefan pledged himself to Nik, who I could feel staring at me. I glanced up to see him taking out the stake, and Stefan falling to the floor. Nik walks over to the kitchen counter, places the slightly bloodied stake upon it, and poured himself a glass of blood.

"Trouble is, I don't know if you'd be any good to me the way you are now." Nik eyes Stefan, who is struggling to get to his feet. "You are just shy of useless." Stefan continued grimacing from the pain, and I studied Nik from the couch; repeatedly cursing Mikael and Esther over and over in my head for what they had done to this formerly sweet, shy and compassionate man, who was currently pacing in front of Stefan and sipping at his glass of blood, casting him thoughtful looks.

"Are you okay, Grace?" Henrik asked from where he was sitting beside me on Alaric's couch. I refused to take my eyes off my boyfriend as I shook my head in response.

"I heard about this one vampire, crazy bloke, always on and off the wagon for decades." Nik stated whimsically. "When he was off, he was magnificent. 1917, he went into Monterrey and wiped out an entire migrant village … a true ripper." I shuddered at the image, as Nik looked and sounded positively gleeful. Like a father boasting about his talented child's achievements; and Stefan, surprisingly, looked rather ashamed. "Sound familiar?" Nik hinted towards Stefan. I shook my head at his behaviour, and stood up from the couch. I needed a drink that didn't come from somebody's veins, so I headed for Alaric's wet bar and grabbed an old-fashioned glass, helping myself a generous amount of scotch.

I didn't have to turn to know that Nik was watching my every move. Stefan scowled resentfully at Nik for making him relive what was obviously an embarrassing or shameful past.

"I haven't been that way in a very long time." Stefan insisted. Nik smiled and shrugged off his words as he threw back his blood, before responding.

"Well, that's the vampire I can make a deal with. That is the kind of talent I can use when I leave this town." Nik stated, setting down his glass. I jerked my head up at this, and immediately started to panic as Stefan got to his feet.

"You're leaving?" I spoke up, setting down my glass too. Nik turns to me with that matter-of-fact smile on his handsome face. But it fell a little when he sees how opposed to the idea I was. His serious, focused blue-green eyes softened.

"Temporarily, darling. I'm not through with this town just yet." Nik reassures me. That didn't make me feel any better. I only just got him back, and despite the fact that he had been a complete arse a few minutes ago, I wasn't really ready for him to leave. "As for the cure you're both seeking…" Without warning, Nik's eyes suddenly turned yellow and he bites Stefan on the arm. Stefan yells out in both pain and horror, and clutches at his bleeding arm. I gaped at him.

"You son-of-a-bitch!" Stefan yelled. Ignoring him, Nik simply bites down on his wrist and makes Stefan drink his blood. Before our eyes, Stefan's wound heals completely. Nik looks at Stefan and me. I blinked, not believing what I had just seen.

"So that's what those bloody witches meant?" I cried out in both amazement and disbelief.

"You want the cure? There it is." Nik tells us both.

"Your blood is the cure." Stefan stated, causing Nik to roll his eyes.

"Gotta love Mother Nature." He stated, sardonically. Then puts his hand on Stefan's shoulder. "Now … let's talk, the three of us." He suggested. Stefan frowned in suspicion, while I widened my eyes in surprise.

"The three of us?" I echoed him. Nik looked at me dubiously.

"You're not seriously thinking that I'm just going to skip town without you being by my side, honey?" Nik questions me. Well, actually … I did, to be perfectly honest. "After I spent a thousand years searching for you? Not a chance." Nik actually looked a little insulted at the idea. Bugger him, _I_ should be the one who feels insulted. He accuses me of being unfaithful to him, and just expects that I'm just going to drop everything and traipse around the United States of America with him?

I sat down on the couch, and gave him my full attention. This I gotta hear.

Nik heads into the kitchen and returns with a knife and a vial. Then looking deliberately at me, squeezes the knife blade tightly, letting his blood pour from his hand into the vial. I winced, already knowing how much that hurts, and was a little annoyed how little he flinched when cutting his hand. Stefan looks at him nervously.

"There it is. You want to save your brother? How 'bout a decade-long bender? And I have big plans for you when we leave this town." Nik says to Stefan, who shakes his head frantically; a wild, horrified look on his face.

"I'm not like that anymore." Stefan insisted. Nik smirked, and shrugged.

"Well, that's too bad. You would have made a hell of a wingman." He said, a little too innocently. Then he tilts the vial of his blood over the sink so that his blood drips slowly down the drain. I got to my feet, and was about to open my mouth to object when Stefan unexpectedly spoke up.

"Wait." Nik pauses, and stops pouring away his blood. Then he smiled, triumphantly.

"Now that's more like it." He said. "I want you to join me for a drink." I knew that Nik did not mean a beer or spirit straight up, and I paled when Nik threw Stefan a chilled blood bag. Stefan reluctantly takes it, and looks at me with worry. I was human, and blood plus Stefan plus human with hot, sticky blood running through their veins equals potential, if not imminent disaster. Nik watched Stefan as he takes a sip from a fresh glass of blood, and Stefan slowly stabs a plastic straw through the top of the blood bag and takes a tentative sip.

 _Oh, God…_ I cursed, feeling the anxiety mounting as Stefan sipped and seemed to be enjoying every morsel; much to both of our disgust. "Finish it. All of it." Nik instructs, sternly. "You do everything I say, and I save your brother. That's the deal." Stefan finishes the entire blood bag, and my eyes widened when he suddenly takes an interest in me.

I was in so much danger it was not funny.

Nik throws Stefan another blood bag. "Again." Stefan immediately rips into the bag and sucks down the contents like a juice box. "And if you even think of taking a single step towards Grace while doing this, I won't hesitate for a second killing you." Nik warns him, darkly. Stefan snaps out of the blood frenzy for a split second to throw me an apologetic grimace, which I respond to with a weak smile, before the frenzy takes over again, and Stefan gives in to the bloodlust.

Pretty soon, Stefan has polished off four blood bags; and I had taken refuge close by the front door, keeping a sharp eye on Stefan; whose attention never strays from me for a second. Stefan has shifted to the floor, finishing drinking a blood bag. He grunted, and looked up at Nik who stands between Stefan and me for protection.

"Okay, Nik. You've proven your point. Stefan is obeying everything you say. Please stop feeding him more blood bags." I pleaded. Nik shakes his head at the request.

"I'm not convinced he's ready yet, love." Nik responded. He throws another blood bag on the floor next to Stefan, but thankfully, Stefan refuses.

"No more. Not until you give us the cure." Stefan insisted. Nik shook his head, determined as it seemed to get his own way.

"Not until we make a deal." Nik retorted, getting annoyed. "It's your choice, Stefan. You can either remain here living your life in Mystic Falls, or you can embrace what you truly are, leave town with me, and save your brother's life." Nik crouches down in front of Stefan, picks up the blood bag and offers it to him; waiting to see what Stefan's response is. Stefan snatches it from him and drinks down the blood vigorously. Nik smirks, and I shudder with horror. "That's the spirit." Stefan continues drinking down his 'treat' while Nik walks over to me and hands me the vial with his blood in it.

I take it, looking at him in stunned surprise.

"Nik?" I mumbled. He smiles at me tenderly, and I frowned slightly; still angry at the fact that he didn't entirely trust me. He sighed; obviously realising he had some serious grovelling to do.

"Take that to Damon. You don't have much time." He tells me. I frowned deeper.

"You want me to leave?" I clarified. Stefan stops mid-sip when he hears me say this. His eyes widen in horror.

"No!" He yells. Both of us ignored him.

"I'm not keeping you prisoner. You could've left whenever you wished." Nik reminded me, and I flushed in embarrassment. "But in this case, I'd like you to come back." He urged, looking vulnerable for a split second.

"Fine. I'll be back soon." I said, and turned to leave. However, Nik held the door shut with one hand. "Nik…" I muttered.

"What I said before, Grace—" But I cut him off mid-sentence.

"Could we not discuss this right now, Nik? Damon's life is hanging by a thread, and I'd rather save my _best friend's_ life first before we do anything else." I responded, curtly. Nik sighed and removed his hand from the door so I could leave.

"Be careful." Nik warned me. I nodded, not saying a word and quickly left. I flinched when I heard Nik snarl underneath his breath and throws something against the wall, where it shatters into small pieces. But I found it difficult to care at the moment.

I had a best friend to save.

* * *

It doesn't take me too long to get the Salvatore Boarding House. I have made trips to and from this place so often, it was practically a second home for me. I sped up the driveway, and let myself into the Estate, and found Alaric sitting in the living room on the coffee table and staring into the flames in the fireplace, nursing a bourbon.

"Hey! I got the cure, where is Damon?" I demanded, bringing Alaric out of his funk and watching him sag with obvious relief.

"He's upstairs in his bedroom." He responded.

"Thanks." I practically sprinted upstairs, and just turned the corner in the corridor leading towards his bedroom door when I heard him speaking to somebody.

"This is even more pitiful than I thought." Damon slurred, groggily. My heart clenched. I was cutting it pretty close. Then I froze when I heard the last voice I expected to hear.

"There's still hope." It was Elena.

I was shocked; she was alive, but not a vampire. How was this possible? The last time I had seen her alive was when Damon had force fed her his blood, so that she would return from the dead after being sacrificed by Nik. The downside, however, would be that she'd become a vampire. I definitely needed an explanation, once Damon was cured. I listened intently to their conversation, trying to find an appropriate moment to make an entrance. It was clear that the both of them were having a moment.

"I've made a lot of choices that have gotten me here. I deserve this. I deserve to die." Damon insisted, sounding rather pathetic.

"No. You don't." Elena argued.

 _I agree. You don't deserve to die because of somebody else's selfishness…_ I added, silently.

"I do, Elena. It's okay." Damon insisted stubbornly. "I'm so sorry. Done so many things to hurt you." His voice broke, and it sounded like he was crying.

"It's okay. I forgive you." And Elena was too. I tried to swallow the lump that had formed in my throat. I knew that Damon would be okay when I gave him the vial, but it still hurt that he was suffering so cruelly.

"Take care of Stefan. He's gonna need you when this is over." Damon requested.

"I will." Elena promised. Damon laughed, humourlessly.

"You should have met me in 1864. You would have liked me." Damon insisted.

"I like you now. Just the way you are." Elena told him, and I let it slide; knowing that Damon was dying and this was probably making him feel better. There was silence for a few seconds.

"Thank you." I heard Damon slur, sounding a bit confused.

"You're welcome." Elena told him. I frowned, confused, and decided to make my entrance.

"Damon?" Both Elena and Damon turned their attention to the bedroom door, and almost instantly Damon lit up like a torch; while Elena scowled.

"Where the hell have you been?" Elena demanded.

"I thought you were dead." I retorted.

"I was."

"Can't wait to hear that story." I said dryly, as I came over and perched on the other side of Damon, and smoothed back his hair from his sweaty forehead. "Hey, sweetheart." I greeted Damon, who grinned and reached for my hand, bringing it to his mouth to kiss it.

I ignored the blood smear that resulted from that.

"You still haven't answered my question." Elena demanded once again. I rolled my eyes and raised the vial of Nik's blood into eye view.

"Bargaining with Nik for this." I replied.

"What is that?" Damon croaked.

"The cure." I replied, before supporting his head as I tipped the entire vial into Damon's mouth. Almost immediately, Damon started looking better. Elena and I sighed with relief.

"Where's Stefan?" Elena asked, probably expecting him to walk through the doorway. I glanced up at her with distaste.

"Sure you give a shit?" I challenged her.

"Where is he?" Elena asked again.

"Paying for this." I held up the empty vial, and Elena's eyes widened with fear. "I had to tag team with Stefan to get Nik to even consider donating some of his blood." I explained. "Stefan gave himself over to Nik, so I wouldn't expect him anytime soon … or me for that matter." I said, reluctantly.

Damon immediately sat up looking at me anxiously.

"What do you mean?" He demanded.

"Stefan sacrificed everything to save you, Damon. Including Elena." I explained. "And Nik is skipping town, and he's taking both Stefan and me with him too." Damon despaired, and I immediately felt guilty. "I'm sorry. Hopefully, I'll see you again soon, Damon." I leaned over to kiss him on the forehead, and then pulled back a little to whisper in his ear. "You have a permanent place in my heart, Damon. I just wanted you to understand that." I murmured before I hopped off the bed, taking advantage of Damon's still weakened state and immediately left before either Damon or Elena could do or say anything.

* * *

I drove back to the apartment block, with the intention of heading back to my apartment and pretending that this was all a very confusing dream. But instead of turning at the top of the stairs and walking to my apartment door, I continued straight ahead back to Alaric's apartment. There was a note taped to the door in Nik's old-fashioned, slightly spiky handwriting:

 _'_ _Make yourself at home. I'll be back soon.  
_ _– Nik. X'_

I sighed, removing the hastily scribbled note, and turned the doorknob which was open. Nik had obviously and correctly assumed that I would return to this apartment, and had acted accordingly. I was still angry with him for his outrageous accusations, but at the same time I didn't want to be apart from him. I hesitated on the threshold, feeling like I was trespassing and overstepping the mark, big time. But it didn't stop me from closing the door and walking over to Alaric's oversized couch.

I dumped my purse on Alaric's coffee table and sank down on the couch, glancing around the slightly messy studio apartment which practically screamed 'bachelor pad'. Elijah's body had been removed from where I had gently laid him down, after Nik had tricked and daggered him. Presumably, Nik and Stefan had disappeared off to hide Elijah's body when Nik had sent me on my little errand. Sighing, feeling completely overwhelmed and fed up with this day; I toed off my booties and made to curl up on the couch and sleep, when I touched something soft and silky underneath my fingertips.

I jerked my hand away from my hand and turned towards the source: a wine-red button up shirt had been carelessly discarded over the couch. It was the same shirt that Nik had been wearing for the ritual and I picked it up for a closer look. I smiled, bringing the shirt up to my face so I could inhale Nik's cologne and signature scent. Melancholy tears started to well up in my eyes.

"Why, Nik?" I whispered out loud.

The tears fell down my cheeks as I pulled his shirt on and curled up on the couch, burying my face into a cushion, and crying myself into a restless sleep surrounded by Nik's scent.

* * *

 **(DREAM)**

The next thing I know, I'm waking up in a beautiful, sunny meadow.

I groaned. "Oh, not again…"

I should've been used to this by now since I learned that I was a medium. But I wasn't. It was still really freaky to wake up in a dream that wasn't a dream … only, I don't recognise the memory. I sat up, and immediately feel the weight of the dress I am wearing and glanced down to see that I'm wearing a blood red Viking dress, with a brown belt around my waist and my hair tied back in a thick braid and decorated with daisies, lilacs and lavender. I was also wearing well-worn, and slightly scuffed brown travelling boots on my feet.

"Hello, love." A very warm and familiar sounding voice spoke up.

I jerked my head up and saw Nik striding up the endless grassy hillside towards me with a sad, remorseful smile on his face. He looked like he had stepped forward from the past: a white poet's shirt and dark trousers and travelling boots, with a black and burgundy coloured tunic over the poet's shirt, a black belt around his waist and leather wrist cuffs. His dirty-blonde hair was shoulder-length again and partially pulled back to avoid his hair falling into his eyes.

"What's with the blast from the past?" I asked him, gesturing between us and our separate appearances. He shrugged and took a seat beside me on the grass.

"I figured you'd enjoy being in a familiar setting while we talked." Nik admitted, taking one of my hands and idly playing with my fingers: just weaving them in and out of his. That gesture rang a bell, and I realised what he was doing; and was annoyed that he had ambushed me in my dreams of all places.

Damn vampires with their dream manipulation skills!

I sighed out of frustration. Nik was definitely being stubborn once again. Bloody determined to set things right between us, and wasn't going to give in until I accepted his apology. He smiled at me, with a calm and serene expression on his face. I automatically looked down at his right index finger.

"What happened to your sun ring?" I asked, holding up his hand like I did a thousand years before. Nik chuckled, obviously remembering that day as well.

"I don't burn in the sun anymore. Perks of being the Original Hybrid." He explained.

"Oh." I responded.

It made sense. Werewolves didn't burn in the sun and Nik was part wolf, therefore Nik was less likely to cremate in the sunlight. An awkward silence fell between us, and after a few minutes, I found myself absently picking daisies and creating chains like I remembered Rebekah and I used to love doing, on those rare occasions where it was sunny and we had absolutely nothing to do but laze around in the sunshine and daydream our lives away. I could feel Nik's sharp eyes observing me and I initially felt a little uncomfortable, just waiting for one of us to break the ice and eliminating the tension between us.

"Maddox told me that you've got some talent and skill with a blade." Nik suddenly blurted out of the blue. I looked at him with surprise, before smiling. I was slightly thrown by the unusual interest in the topic; but desperate to stop the silence, I went along with it; rolling my eyes with exasperated fondness.

"He did, huh? Did he also tell you that I'm an expert in martial arts?" I asked. Nik looked pleasantly surprised, and I got to my feet to stretch out my legs; which were becoming numb from sitting in the same position for so long. I reached out a hand to Nik to help him to his feet and he smiled and accepted it.

"I guess it slipped his mind." Nik replied, pleased that I had taken the conversation he started and ran with it. I laughed, and we both decided to take a walk through the meadow. "What on earth inspired you to pursue what is technically a man's profession?" He asked, and I bristled a little. Thank god women had come a long way in a thousand years. I had always hated how Rebekah, Esther and I had always been treated like chattel back then.

"Uh, the idea was sparked when I discovered that I had a birthmark. Which encouraged me to ask my mother why I had it; and when that failed, I did some research." I explained.

Nik frowned curiously.

"What was it that you discovered in your research?" He asked.

"Only that different cultures and religions had differing views of what a birthmark is. But the one answer that seemed to make sense was that in American folklore, it was believed that birthmarks were the site of traumatic injuries in a past life." Nik stopped walking and paled drastically, looking away. I grimaced. "Still can't believe that a simple act of violence would be a contributing factor on the ritual's outcome." I commented. Nik cleared his throat uncomfortably and resumed walking.

"What happened next?" He asked, quietly, looking a little pissed.

"After learning that, I started having dreams and then nightmares of my past life. It scared the hell out of me, especially when I remembered my final moments." I admitted. "I remembered one night when I was twelve – two years after I moved to America – how completely helpless and frightened I had felt when I continued dreaming about being killed; and I decided that I never wanted to feel like that again. So the next morning, I expressed a desire to my parents to learn how to defend myself." I told him.

"Obviously, your parents granted your request." Nik stated.

I nodded. "They did some searching and eventually found what they deemed as an adequate Karate school to teach me what I needed." I confirmed. "I made it all the way to Black Belt; even got a casual job as a Sensei's Sempai for a while." Nik looked both proud and extremely impressed.

"And when did you become an expert in sword-fighting?" Nik looked sly when he asked that particular question. I blushed, which made him smirk. "What?" He teased. Before I could answer, we came across a rushing stream that had icy cold mountain water. Nik stepped out first on the slippery rocks and like he used to a thousand years before, took my hand to lend me some extra support while we walked across.

"One night, I had had a particularly rotten day and I decided to cheer myself by watching a movie. I chose _Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves,_ because I was (and still am) a fan of Kevin Costner." Nik rolled his eyes at this admission. "I fell asleep on the couch when he and Alan Rickman started duelling for Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio towards the end of the movie." I paused for a moment, as I watched Nik scale down a particularly tricky part of the trail and then turned to help me down.

Now normally, I would've been able to do this myself; but I was wearing a heavy woollen Viking dress, and it was an accident waiting to happen if I even thought of attempting to scale down by myself. So I swallowed back my feminist instincts and just accepted the help. I ended up tripping anyway and was caught easily by Nik who wrapped both arms around me.

"Gotcha." He smirked, before he set me back down on my feet. I flushed with embarrassment.

"Thanks." I responded.

"Always." Nik didn't let go of my hand. "Please continue with your story." He requested, politely. I nodded, and tried to remember where I left off.

"I was inspired to become a swordswoman by a memory. It had both you and Elijah in it." I explained. Nik paused and turned to look at me, surprised and curious.

"Which one?" He asked.

"The day you and Elijah were practicing your sword-fighting, and I broke the rules by volunteering to spar with you." Nik's face clouded and I knew it was because he was remembering what came next. "Elijah was stunned when he saw my arsenal collection. Even called me _skjoldmø_." I giggled. Nik rolled his eyes.

"I think I prefer _Valkyrie._ " He scoffed, but not unkindly. Then he developed a mischievous glint in his eye that made me wary.

"What?" I asked.

"Fancy a rematch?" He asked, slyly. I was taken aback.

"What here?" I gestured at the surrounding trees, looking sceptical. "We don't have any swords." I pointed out. The very second I said that, two swords materialised out of nowhere.

I rolled _my_ eyes.

Nik sauntered over to the two swords and took his pick, testing its weight in his hand by slicing through the air and executing some fancy hand tricks. I mimicked him and pretended that the sword was too heavy by stumbling like I did that day long ago. Nik snorted with laughter, then froze when I winked at him and expertly tested its weight and did basically the same warm up exercises as he did, with a couple of my own thrown in for good measure. Think what Éowyn from _Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers_ did before Aragorn blocked her with his bowie knife.

"En garde." I said, honouring him with the sword and smirking at the crafty grin on Nik's face.

* * *

 **(Reality)**

I stirred and opened my eyes, registering the stillness of Alaric's apartment. It was then that I realised that Nik's scent was now much stronger than before I went to sleep. I turned my head slightly and saw Nik's peaceful sleeping face just inches away from mine.

He was snoring softly, probably unaware that I was observing him. Just in peaceful, unsuspecting slumber. He must've returned to the apartment, probably not expecting to see me here; and decided to take some rest himself and curled up behind me on the couch, acting like the big spoon. His arms were wrapped around me, and cradling me in them.

I smiled and shuffled closer, resting my head on his chest and making myself comfortable. On instinct, Nik tightened his hold and went back to sleep, and I followed his example, returning to sleep; safe and secure in his arms.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry again for the late update. It's almost Easter, and I've been very busy. Hope this makes up for it, and don't hate Klaus too much for what happened. Their relationship will improve better in the future.**

 **TTFN, and please review! xx**


	35. Road Trip: Original Hybrid Style

**A/N: It's time for a new update. Hope that you will enjoy reading it :)**

 **Warning: contains violence and torture scenes. Hope this doesn't lose me readers. I would hate that to happen.**

 **Will write another update for reviews! :P**

 **I do not accept flames.**

 **I also do not own** _ **The Vampire Diaries.**_ **All characters (except for Grace) are owned by author L.J. Smith.**

 **Enjoy xx**

* * *

 **ROAD TRIP: ORIGINAL HYBRID STYLE**

" _Remember, for everything you have lost, you have gained something else.  
Without the dark, you would never see the stars." __**~Unknown Author.**_

* * *

It is so hot, I think I've lost several kilos.

Sometimes I really hate summer in America.

Currently, I'm travelling in my (thank god) air conditioned car with my boyfriend and my best friend's baby brother, who is currently in 'ripper' mode, towards Tennessee. Observing Stefan Salvatore as the famed 'Ripper' that Nik had been raving about when he was trying to 'convince' him to go on the decade-long bender, was something that I never expected to see in this lifetime. It is truly a horrific and mentally-scarring thing to see.

Nik is driving; with a sadistic looking smirk on his face that makes me nervous, and Stefan is sitting in the passenger seat beside him, brooding. I was attempting to doze in the backseat, having been relieved from driving by Nik an hour ago. But I couldn't sleep. Instead, I feigned sleeping; just listening to both Nik and Stefan having interesting – if slightly disturbing - conversations.

If Nik or Stefan noticed that I wasn't sleeping; neither of them spoke up. My mind drifts back several hours ago when I first woke up back in Alaric's apartment, still tightly wrapped up in a sleeping Nik's arms…

* * *

 _ **~:Five hours ago:~**_

The sound of cars and pedestrians walking by in the street outside awoke me from my slumber, in the arms of my boyfriend … and it was that exact moment when I realized that I really needed the loo.

Two problems.

One, I was trapped in the arms of my boyfriend.

And two, said boyfriend was not a morning person; and tended to have an even uglier temper than normal if woken up prematurely.

I needed to figure out how to get out of Nik's arms and into my apartment down the corridor so I could 'greet the morning' and prepare for whatever Nik had in store for Stefan and myself in the foreseeable future.

"Nik?" I spoke out loud. "I need to get up." No response. I was getting a strange case of de-ja-vu; and immediately remembered that I had been caught in a similar position back at the Boarding House with _Damon_. I chose to never reveal this to Nik _ever._ But this time, I doubted that Stefan would be coming by any time soon to rescue me like he did back at the Boarding House with Damon.

Mores the pity.

"Nik… wake up please." I called out again. This got a better reaction. He frowned, and scrunched up his face; which told me he was slowly waking up … but not fast enough. This also caused him to pull me even closer to him, to the point that I could barely breathe.

 _Damnit, Nik!_ I squeaked both in surprise and slight pain, before I finally couldn't take it anymore and decided to go for broke. I leaned in and whispered against his lips. "Nik, don't we have somewhere to be today?" I asked him casually, before gently kissing him on the lips in an attempt to wake him up Sleeping Beauty-style, and waited for his reaction. I wasn't disappointed, but I swear I could have smacked him.

The little shit had only been feigning sleep, and instantly responded when I kissed him; taking me completely by surprise.

"Why yes, darling. We do." Nik murmured back, pulling away and smirking at me, playfully.

"Nik!" I whined, not in the mood for anything playful right this second … at least not until I was somewhat decent in appearance and after I had had a cup of tea to completely wake myself up. Nik chuckled and kissed me deeply once again before _finally_ letting me out of his bear hug, and allowing me to get to my feet. "That's not funny, Nik. I'll see you in a minute." I bitched, shrugging off his shirt and handing it to him, before grabbing my booties and purse and heading straight for the front door.

"Don't take too long, love. We've got a tight schedule to keep." Nik explained to me, as he took off his Henley to take a shower of his own. I was momentarily distracted by his bare chest.

"What exactly are we doing?" I demanded, snapping out of it. Nik looked at me, sternly.

"I'm not revealing that just yet. Off you go." He scolded me, and I rolled my eyes and closed the front door behind me; jogging briskly for my apartment and disappearing into it.

About thirty minutes to an hour later, Nik fronted up to my apartment door. I assumed he had been about to knock on it, when I abruptly opened up to face him. "You ready to go?" Nik wanted to know, already looking a little irritated; and the road trip hadn't even begun yet.

"Hold your horses, Nik. I just gotta dead lock my door." I retorted, dragging a small suitcase and my duffle bag outside and dumping both to one side of the corridor. Nik raised an eyebrow at the duffel bag, and I smirked; recognizing the same reaction as Elijah's on Nik's face.

"What's this?" He asked, lightly nudging it with his foot. A slight metallic noise came from within, raising Nik's eyebrow even higher. I finished dead-locking my door, and squatted down beside the duffel, smirking from ear to ear.

"Weapons." I replied, matter-of-factly. Nik looked shocked as I unzipped the bag and invited him to look inside to satisfy his curiosity. "Like I said, Elijah nearly had a coronary when he saw my collection." I took great delight in telling him. "I wasn't lying when I said that I was an expert in sword-fighting." I stated, as I re-zipped the duffel and stood up, heaving it onto my shoulder and grabbing my suitcase. "After you." I said, stepping aside so that Nik could descend the staircase first. He didn't say a word for a few moments. He just stood there, observing me curiously before he finally moved. But it wasn't for the staircase like I originally thought. It was to stand in front of me and he kisses me _again._

God, I love it when he spontaneously does that.

"Very impressive, love. Can't wait to try some of these out." He said, winking at me when we came up for air, then took the heavy duffel and carried it downstairs for me. I licked my lips, and shook my head fondly before following him.

Out on the street, we discovered Stefan leaning up against my car looking bored and slightly nauseated. He had obviously overheard our couple's moment outside my apartment door.

"Are you done? Let's get going." Stefan bitched, and Nik narrowed his eyes slightly at him.

"Watch it, Stefan. I don't tolerate cheek." He warned him, and Stefan only scowled further and straightened up from his perch against my car. I set down my suitcase, waiting for Nik's next instructions.

"Alright, so where's the car that's taking us on this 'road trip' of yours, Nik?" I asked, curiously. Nik smiled patiently at me.

"You're looking at it, love." He said, and I felt my mouth fall open in outrage.

"My car? Why on earth for?" I asked. Nik strided over to the boot of my car and opened it, dumping my duffel and a couple of suitcases inside it; including my own.

"I like vintage cars, and this one is a beaut." I just looked at him, waiting for a better explanation. "Plus, it's inconspicuous and less likely to be noticed by those who are attempting to hide from me … or in this case us." Nik gestured to the three of us for emphasis.

"I call shot gun." I sighed, resignedly and headed straight for the passenger seat. Nik just looked at me with confusion.

"Why would you do that, sweetheart?" He asked.

I blinked at him.

"I'm driving?" I confirmed. Nik and Stefan looked at me blankly.

"Yes, why wouldn't you? It's impolite to drive somebody else's car without permission." He explained, calmly. "But don't fret. We'll each take turns driving. We won't leave that tedious burden just to you." He reassures me. I was about to protest before I shrugged. Why fight it? It's easier just to go along with Nik's plans. Makes for a more peaceful and less stressful and dangerous journey to … who the hell knows? I walked around and got into the driver's seat with _Nik_ taking shot gun and Stefan lounging in the backseat, looking both bored and resentful.

"In that case, let's start this journey off with the appropriate getaway music." I commented, starting the ignition and plugging in my iPod. Both Nik and Stefan looked at me warily, probably judging my taste in music before even hearing it. I rolled my eyes and scrolled to a song that not even _they_ should object to. By rights, I could very well torture them with girly pop music just get a rise out of them for this, but I decided that I wasn't that cruel and hit play.

Immediately, the opening riff for The Beastie Boys' _'Sabotage'_ begins playing as I slide down the window and put on my aviator sunglasses, allowing them to slide down my nose a bit as I took in both boys' reactions to my choice in song: Stefan looked surprised and muttered something that sounded vaguely like: 'definitely Damon's best friend…' underneath his breath before looking out of the window, and Nik looked mystified before he eventually chuckled and shook his head making himself comfortable in his seat and also cranking down his passenger side window.

"You guys need to seriously stop underestimating me. It's becoming embarrassing." I teased, before pushing my sunglasses back up the bridge of my nose. I turned my car into traffic and floored it as I drove us out of town.

* * *

 _ **~:Present:~**_

Which brings us back to the here and now. I eventually gave up on sleeping and opted instead for lying across the backseat (with the seatbelt tied securely around me for extra protection) with my head closest to the open window to allow what cool breeze there was to blow directly on my sweaty face.

"Are you alright back there, Grace?" Nik asks me, looking through the rear view mirror. I glowered at him.

"It's too hot to sleep." I muttered, but since I had nothing else to do until we got to wherever Nik was taking us to, I decided to continue trying.

"Don't get comfortable, love. We've arrived." Nik reported. So much for that idea. I groaned with frustration.

"Joy…" I muttered and sat up, unbuckling my seatbelt. The very second I got out of the car and shut the door, Nik was by my side with a calculating grin on his face. I was instantly on guard. "What?" I asked cautiously.

"I have a little job for you, sweetheart. Are you up for it?" He asked me. Although the question had been asked, I had a feeling that it was actually rhetorical and that I had been volunteered for the task.

"What do I have to do?" I asked, reluctantly.

Nik smirked, as I took a good look at our surroundings: Stefan was standing not too far away from the car, looking irritated. We had arrived not too far away from a farmhouse; which I knew must've been owned by a female, if the tacky front yard décor didn't already speak for itself.

"I need you to lure whoever answers the front door of the house out, in any way that you can." Nik responded, casually.

I nodded.

"Are you looking for somebody specifically?" I asked him, as I turned and looked at the house, trying to figure out the best method of getting these targets to willingly trust me enough to walk into Nik's trap.

"A werewolf called Ray Sutton." Nik replied, absently. "Be careful, love." He warned me, and I just threw him a 'give me a break' look before walking unhurriedly towards the house. I decided to be pretend to be a traveler whose car had broken down on the highway, and needed a phone to call a tow driver. It seemed like a fairly believable excuse… unless these occupants happened to be geniuses and could see through deception.

Luck seemed to be on my side as a woman in her late 20s steps from her house. She seemed to be worried about something.

"Rudy!" She whistles shrilly, causing me (and probably Nik and Stefan) to wince at the noise. "Rude! Come on! It's too hot to make me come looking for you!" She hollers, before bending down to pick up a chew toy. She jumped when I stepped out from the shadows, and I pasted on a fake apologetic smile.

"Sorry to bother you. Didn't mean to scare you." I greeted the suspicious woman.

"Can I help you?"

I smiled politely at her. "Yeah, my car, ahem, my car ran out of gas a couple of miles back." I pointed vaguely in the direction of where I had left both Nik and Stefan. "I feel like I've been walking forever, and yours is the first house I've come to. So I was wondering if I could use your phone?" Not the best excuse I could come up with; but it was the best I could do on short notice. I mentally reminded myself to chew out Nik for not giving me time to come up with a more plausible excuse when we next did something like this.

The woman raised an eyebrow at me.

"Don't you have a cell phone?" She asked. I tugged my phone from my back pocket, and held it up making a slightly sheepish face.

"Huh, yeah. The battery died." I lied easily. "Look, I promise I'm not a serial killer—" _But my boyfriend is…_ "I just wanna use your phone." I insisted. The woman scrutinized me for several more seconds before sighing.

"Sure." She said, reluctantly. I grinned with 'relief'.

"Great." I responded, and walked closer to the porch… and raised an eyebrow when she didn't invite me in. I frowned. _Shit… is she on to me?_ "May I come in?" I asked, confused.

The woman shook her head.

"No, I'll get the phone and I'll bring it out to you." She responded, turning her back on me and walking for the screen door. I sighed; that was probably the worst thing she could've done. I didn't have to turn my head to know that Nik had materialized out of nowhere and was beaming at me for my acting skills. He raised a finger to his lips and mimed 'shhh' and 'keep it up' as he walked silently behind the woman.

"I thought you country folks were supposed to be more trusting." I commented, sounding annoyed.

The woman snorted. "I'm from Florida."

"Well, that explains it." Nik's sarcastic voice spoke up without warning, scaring the hell out of the woman who spun round and let out a scream, which was abruptly cut off when he grabs her by the throat and compels her. "Now show us a little southern hospitality. Sweet pea." He requested, sarcastically. She nods frantically, and I stride up to them both. The woman throws me a betrayed scowl and I shrugged, nonchalantly.

"Sorry." I said, not feeling sorry at all to be perfectly honest as Nik and I followed her inside the house. I knew that Stefan was probably not too far behind, just waiting for Nik's signal. We followed the woman deeper into the house towards the kitchen, where another woman was frying food at the stove. She turned and walked over to the counter with the frying pan, not looking up as we approached.

"I'll bet you a hundred dollars that dog ran off to a house with air conditioning." The other woman drawled, dryly.

I couldn't help myself.

"Sold!" I joked, earning a slightly amused glare from Nik as the woman looked up and sees her friend being forcibly escorted into the room by Nik, as I trailed along behind them. The woman Nik was holding by the nape of the neck was sobbing, and I couldn't help but feel a little pity. Nik could be bloody scary when he wanted to be.

"What's going on?" 'Frypan' demanded, both confusion and fear on her face. Nik offered her a pleasant smile.

"Please don't be alarmed. I was told Ray Sutton lives here." Nik stated our business. Thankfully, 'Frypan' wasn't an idiot.

"He's almost never here. He's on the road mostly." She explained. Nik nodded, confirming that she was telling the truth and not fabricating some bullshit.

"But I expect he makes it home, once a month." The woman nodded hesitantly. "That's what I thought. Where is he now?" Nik ordered. This time, the woman refuses to answer, and I noticed the telltale signs of Nik starting to lose his patience: his face hardened and his eyes narrowed slightly. "If I have to make you tell me, it's going to be infinitely more painful for you. Hmm." Nik smiled sweetly. Suddenly, 'Frypan' bolts for the front door. However, Stefan was already there, blocking her path. Nik was practically beaming from ear to ear. "I love it when they run!" He cooed.

I snorted and rolled my eyes.

"Of course you do." I mumbled and turned to look out of the window.

"Now, now…" I looked over my shoulder at Nik who had a disapproving frown on his face. "None of that, Grace. The fun is just beginning." He promised, and I raised an eyebrow.

"Fun for whom exactly?" I asked, genuinely curious. Nik smirked playfully.

"That all depends on what these two ladies have to share with us." He said. 'Frypan' sings like a canary from the front door where Stefan stood, looking frustrated and impatient.

"He's in Toll! It's near the border. A bar called Southern Comfort. It's on Highway 41." She said, frantically. I licked my chapped lips.

"I wouldn't mind one of those right about now…" I mused casually, absently thinking about that strong, sharp New Orleans whiskey. Nik chuckled.

"Of course, love. We'll get some just as soon as we've tied up these loose ends." He promised, before giving the petrified woman in his grip his undivided attention. "Now, may my friend come in?" He asks her.

"Yes." She sobbed. 'Frypan' looks terrified as Stefan takes a deliberate step forward into the house, and catches the sobbing woman Nik pushes into his arms.

"Kill this one quickly." Nik indicates to the sobbing woman, then looks sharply at 'Frypan' who pales dramatically. "And make that one suffer." Stefan nodded, curtly. Nik walks over to me and casually drapes his arm over my shoulders, and I automatically reached up to intertwine my hand in his as he leads the both of us to the front door. "We'll be in the car." He states with a grin, and my eyes widen when I realise what's about to happen and I immediately break away from Nik, who frowns.

"Excuse me…" I mumbled, before bolting outside. But not before I hear one of the women plead for her life. I almost make it to the car before my stomach rebels and I crashed to my knees and threw up. Warmer than normal hands pull back my hair from the path of the vomit, and rub circles on my back. I didn't need to look back (mostly because I couldn't) to know that Nik had obviously come after me.

"Are you alright, sweetheart?" He asked me, concerned and he crouches beside me. I sat back against him for some support and drew in a couple of deep breaths to stave away the nausea, before scowling at him.

"What the hell, Nik. I'm human, remember?" I reminded him, feeling annoyed. "Please warn me next time, preferably before we do what we just did now." He nods and helps me to my feet. I staggered to the passenger side of the car and sat down, putting my head between my legs. Nik leans on the car next to me with his arms crossed over his chest as he cards his hand through my hair. I didn't bat it away, as it was actually soothing and helping me calm down.

About a minute or so later…

"All done?" Nik asks Stefan who had returned from his own personal massacre. I glanced up, and shuddered at the blood smeared around Stefan's mouth. Stefan pauses at this reaction and looks sympathetic. He nodded at Nik, who immediately pulls his hand away from my head gently. "Excellent. Next stop: Toll and the Southern Comfort bar." Stefan gets into the backseat and I swing my legs into the car and shut the door behind me, before resting my sweaty head against the cool window.

"You okay, Grace?" Stefan mutters from the backseat, also sounding worried. I flinched when something cold touches my arm, and I glanced over to see Nik handing me a bottle of water from out of nowhere. I smiled gratefully and take it, snapping off the lid and taking a couple of large gulps.

"Let me get back to you on that." I responded, before draining the entire bottle and leaning against the car window again.

* * *

Another couple of hours went by and I was being shaken awake by Nik. I nodded and yawned as I opened the car door and stepped out, shivering a little at the cool change that had come through. I pulled my hair back into a pony tail as I sized up the bar.

The Southern Comfort bar 'Frypan' had told us we'd find this Ray Sutton guy, turned out to be a large white building with a verandah style porch; and a long row of motorcycles and pickup trucks were parked outside. Loud country style music was blaring from inside the establishment.

"Nice place." I commented, stepping towards the front door behind Nik who sauntered into the establishment like he owned the place. Stefan and I flanked Nik, before Stefan broke off and went around compelling patrons to ignore what was about to happen next between Nik, Stefan and the unknown 'Ray Sutton' character. I left the boys to their search for their victim while I made a beeline for the bar.

"Three shots of Southern Comfort, please." I asked the bartender. He raised an eyebrow at me.

"ID." He droned at me, and I fixed him with an annoyed glare before digging around for my ID and flashed it at him. The bartender grunted and produced three shot glasses, messily pouring the whiskey into them. As I perched on a bar stool, and reached for my drink, a man roughly in his late 20s, early 30s sidled up beside me with a lecherous grin on his face.

I stiffened immediately.

"Buy you a drink?" He grunts at me. I turned and studied him: the best way to describe this cretin, would be that he looked like a younger blonder Alaric Saltzman. I turned away from him.

"I've got one, thanks." I said, knocking back the drink and reaching for the second one. The guy smiled, clearly one of those persistent types. He was also encroaching on dangerous territory. I could feel Nik's possessive glare not too far behind me. I needed to defuse this situation quickly.

"Come on. One drink?" He cooed. I rolled my eyes.

"Like I said, I'm good." I saluted him mockingly and threw that back as well. He deflated slightly, before trying a different tactic.

"Okay then. I'm Ray." I froze, eyes widening with shock. I couldn't believe my luck as I turned to face him properly. "Ray Sutton." He introduced himself. I smiled sweetly at him.

"What a coincidence. We were just looking for you." I replied, triumphantly. Ray frowned.

"We?" I picked up the third shot and held it out for Nik to take. He didn't disappoint and seconds later an arm goes around my waist and a hand takes the shot glass.

"Thanks, love." Nik thanks me and knocks back the shot, eying Ray with steely eyes. Ray deflates immediately and loses interest in the conversation.

"Sorry for wasting your time." He tells me and turns to walk away … only to thud straight into Stefan, who stands there with a blank face and arms crossed over his chest.

"Like my girl said, mate, we were just looking for you." Nik reiterates. "Nice find, Grace." He whispers in my ear, looking impressed. Ray immediately becomes defensive.

"Who wants to know?"

Nik merely smiled politely at Ray. "I've been looking everywhere for you. We started in Florida, Pensacola. Met a young chap there who you used to work with before you moved to Memphis. Now he directed me to two lovely young women, and they led me here, to you." He explained.

"I think I'll be going." Ray tries to go, but Nik steps into his path.

"Not so fast mate. You only just got here, now your type are very hard to come by." Nik muses, and Ray's eyes widened when he realised what Nik was getting at and tries to make another escape, and nearly thudded into Stefan again.

"I wouldn't do that." Stefan warned him. Ray sighed in exasperation.

"Vampires." He muttered, then eyed me critically. "But you're human, why are you hanging around them?" He asked, slightly accusatory.

"Nik's my boyfriend, and Stefan is my friend. Why wouldn't I want to hang around with them?" I replied back. "Besides Nik isn't an ordinary vampire." I pointed out. Ray raised an eyebrow.

"Huh?" Stefan shoves him back to the counter, as I hopped off my stool and moved out of the way of the interrogation. Nik grins at him, predatory.

"You're swifty swift Ray! Yes! My friend here is a vampire, and he compelled everybody in the bar so don't look to them for any help." Ray paled. "I, however, I'm something else, a different kind of monster. I've got some vampire, I've got some wolf."

"You what?"

"A hybrid, Ray." Nik sighed. "I'm both. You see I want to create more of _me._ Now you being the first werewolf that I've come across in many a moon, pun intended Ray!" He smirks. "I need you to direct me to your pack. So, where can I find them, Ray?" Nik enquires, pleasantly.

"You can't compel me, it won't work." Ray insists. I closed my eyes and shook my head at his idiocy. This would be when Nik would declare that the 'fun' would begin. And sure enough, Nik glances at Stefan who nodded and pulls something out of his back pocket.

"Can you bring out the darts, please?" Stefan asks the bartender who nodded curtly, and pulls out a box of sharpened darts from underneath the counter. I made a face; it didn't take a genius to know what their plans were for those darts. "Tell you what Ray, we're gonna play a little drinking game, something I like to call 'truth or wolfsbane'." Stefan explained, sounding rather sadistic. He upturns a pouch full of wolfsbane into the palm of his hand and crushes them with his fingers. Nik claps a hand on Ray's shoulder.

"Oh, this is gonna be fun, Ray." I turned and walked over to a nearby pool table and started to rack up, sensing that we were probably going to be here for a while. Nik called over to me. "You wanna play darts, sweetheart?" He asked me, smirking. I gave him an exasperated look back.

"Ooh, as tempting as that sounds, I'll leave that to you and Stefan. Darts was never my game, unfortunately." I politely declined. Nik's smirk falls a little, probably realizing how much I was disapproving of what was going on; but remaining quiet on the subject because it was something he felt he needed to do.

* * *

By the time my solo game of pool is finished, Ray is chained to the wall, with darts riddling his body. It is obvious to everybody that he is in a lot of pain; but he is helpless, because the patrons had been compelled to ignore the brutality and were mostly laughing at the werewolf like he was a stand-up comedian. I glanced over at Stefan from where I was sitting beside Nik at the bar, nursing a double bourbon.

"Ray, you can end this right now. Just tell me where your pack gathers for the full moon." Stefan pointed out, as he casually stirs a glass of drink with wolfsbane with the end of a dart. Ray whimpers from his position against the dartboard.

"I can't." Ray insists. Stefan takes out the wolfsbane dart and throws it at Ray. It takes a direct hit in the wolf's chest.

"Ouch." I winced, and Nik takes my hand in his, rubbing it with his thumb.

I looked over at him, questioningly. He was probably sensing how uncomfortable I was watching this, and attempting to both comfort and calm me. But it wasn't like I could go anywhere to escape watching them torture Ray. The wolf stubbornly refuses to cry out from the pain inflicted on him. Stefan smirks, while Nik just sits there and watches, looking rather disappointed. It seems that while in 'ripper mode' Stefan had a split personality: one that was humane, compassionate and had a conscience; and a more ruthless, sadistic side that seemed to enjoy inflicting pain and being influenced by the warm, fresh blood flowing through his system.

"I know, I know. You live by code and all that, but see he's not gonna let me stop until you tell me. And do whatever he says so, that's the way it goes around here." Stefan indicates towards Nik with one of the darts he is lubricating with the alcohol/wolfsbane concoction.

Ray looks reluctantly over at Nik, and looks at me pleadingly for help. I looked away and refocused upon an unfamiliar woman who approaches Nik. He gives her his undivided attention.

"Hello, Mr. Klaus." He nodded, which indicated for her to continue her report. "I have some more information for you." Stefan stops torturing Ray and sets aside the concoction and darts, and walks over to listen. "You told me to tell you if I saw anything. The guys spotted Damon at the farmhouse." She tells him, and my eyes widen in horror. Nik looked thoroughly annoyed.

"Well, thank you Claudine." He says to her, with a very pained smile on his face. "You'll just tell your friends to keep up the good work." He compels Claudine, sternly. The girl smiles politely at him and (surprisingly) at me, before walking away. That was weird; she was addressing Nik, not me. Why did I deserve a polite, respectful smile? I looked at Nik for an explanation, but he shakes his head; indicating 'not now'.

Stefan comes over to Nik, looking serious.

"My brother still on our trail?" Stefan asked. Nik bristles and nodded, still looking very annoyed.

"He's getting closer." He confirms. "I'm gonna have to deal with that." Nik goes to get off his bar stool, but Stefan grabs his arm to stop him.

"No, no, no! Let me handle it." Stefan insisted, and I just barely hear it. I was deep in thought; but mostly I was cursing Damon for being stupid and reckless. Nik looks at Stefan warningly and he quickly removed his hand from his arm.

"Why should I let you leave?" Nik demanded. I placed a hand on his arm this time, grabbing Nik's attention.

"Because you're going to let me leave. Temporarily." I stated, jumping in when Nik immediately started to object. His eyes narrowed.

"Will I now?" He asked. I stared him down defiantly.

"I'll make sure Damon stays away." I promised. However, it seemed that Nik wasn't completely satisfied with that answer.

"I know this isn't pleasant for you, darling. But it's necessary for my plans." Nik explained to me. I felt mystified; did he really think that I wanted to deal with Damon, just so I can avoid watching the both of them 'persuade' werewolves to agree to become hybrids?

Okay. Yeah, that is _one_ reason.

But I also didn't want Damon to be torn limb from limb by Nik, just because he can't take a hint that Stefan and I were going to be taking a brief hiatus from Mystic Falls for a while.

"I kinda feel like I'm sitting around doing nothing. I would like to be a bit useful. Even if it's telling Damon to back off." I admitted, sheepishly. Nik paused, letting this information sink in before he looked at Stefan, sharply. Apparently, that's all Nik had to do, as Stefan seemed to understand something that my boyfriend had wordlessly relayed to him and nodded.

"I'll help Grace make sure that my brother doesn't bother us anymore." He promises, before seizing my hand and leading me towards the main entrance. However, Nik momentarily stops us and pulls me towards him with a vulnerable expression on his face.

"Hurry back, and be careful." He urges me before lightly and warmly kissing me. I nodded when we drew away and rest my forehead against his for a moment, before turning and following Stefan out of the bar.

* * *

The very second we leave the bar, Stefan jumps into the driver's seat, and nearly tears out of the parking lot before I even got into the passenger side. I scowled at him, and he grunts an apology.

"So what's the plan?" I asked Stefan, curiously. He shrugged.

"Not sure just yet." He admitted, gripping the steering with white knuckles. I was concerned with his reaction to this entire situation. "But whatever we come up with, it needs to slow him down completely." Stefan stated, firmly.

"Agreed. But what?" I mused. Then inspiration struck, and I knew that neither Stefan nor Nik would like it at all. "Use me as bait." I suggested. Stefan reacts in horror to that suggestion and nearly drives into another car ahead of us. But his vampire reflexes thankfully prevented an accident and prevented me having to buy another car because Stefan totaled this one. I sighed with relief, and tried to get my heart rate down as I glared at him.

"Not happening." Stefan shuts me down.

"May I ask why?" I demanded. "And if the answer is you're martyring yourself, I'd think twice." I warned him. Stefan momentarily takes his eyes off the road to glare at me.

"Klaus would kill me if anything happened to you. Not to mention, Damon." Stefan reminded me.

"Not if we plan it, and use our acting skills." I insisted. Stefan didn't look entirely convinced. "I have no intention of putting myself in danger, Stefan. Particularly if a single drop of my blood would send you into a frenzy." I told him. Stefan looked slightly hurt.

"It's a good thing Klaus compelled me not to attack or feed on you, isn't it?" He asked, a little resentfully. I nodded, and placed a hand on his shoulder, feeling remorseful for what I had said.

"I'm sorry. That was tactless of me." I apologized. Stefan shook his head.

"Why apologize for something that is true?" Stefan pointed out to me, and I nodded grimly. There was silence for several minutes while Stefan mulled over my idea in his head. Finally, he sighed. "Fine. We'll go with your idea. But we never speak of this to Klaus, okay?" Stefan stated.

"Deal." I agreed.

We make it back to Mystic Falls in record time, due to Stefan's speeding and holed up in a warehouse. The plan was that I would send a text message to Damon to lure him to the warehouse, whereupon Stefan would 'knock me out' (a.k.a. I'd feign being taken as bait), and once we got Damon's attention; Stefan would bite into his wrist and I'd pretend to drink it and smear his blood around my mouth to make it look like I had been forced. The rest of the plan would depend on Damon's reaction.

"Grace!?" Damon barrels into the warehouse looking frantic. I immediately felt guilty from where I was watching this in the shadows. Stefan made the 'shhh' gesture with his finger and I nodded reluctantly, suddenly not so pleased about my plan. Damon's phone starts ringing, and he growls in obvious irritation and answers it sounding distracted. "Party Central." He randomly answers.

Party central? What the…? Because I'm not a vampire, I'm only hearing half of the conversation. But as I glanced over at Stefan, I see him looking pained and frustrated. Which tells me that the person Damon was having this conversation with, was Elena. "Oh… Oh, I gotta, gotta go break up beer pong." Damon states lamely before hanging up his phone. "Stefan?" Damon calls out, and Stefan steels himself and walks out of the shadows into direct light.

"Hello, brother." He greets Damon, seriously. Damon narrowed his eyes, looking pissed.

"You don't write, you don't call." Damon quips. Stefan rolled his eyes.

"Need you to stop following me. You're causing some problems." Stefan informs him. Damon frowns.

"With who? Klaus? Are we supposed to care what he thinks?" Then he pauses and suddenly remembers something. "Wait a minute. Where's Grace!?" Damon demanded. Stefan ignores the question.

"What you're supposed to do is let us go." Stefan insists. Damon doesn't like that response.

"Not happening. Not until I bring you back with Grace." He insists. "By the way, saw your latest artwork in Tennessee. Walking a fine line there my friend. Keep that up and there will be no saving you." Damon reminded him. Stefan smiles, throwing Damon off a bit.

"See the thing is, uh, I don't need any saving. I just want you to let me go. And Grace for that matter." Stefan taunts Damon, who shakes his head.

"No can do, brother. I've got a birthday girl at home that's not gonna let me do that. Plus, Klaus also has my best friend held hostage." I flinched; upset that Damon really believes that.

"You sure about that?" Stefan asked him. Damon freezes.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm gonna prove a point." Stefan turns towards my hiding spot in the shadows where he had loosely tied me up. It was time for me to feign being unconscious. "Hey, Grace you still there?" Stefan calls out to me.

"Grace?" Damon's worried voice nearly breaks my heart, as I tried hard not to flinch at the bright light that suddenly flashes on me. Stefan walks over and stands in front of me.

"Sorry about this." Stefan whispers into my ear before he 'lightly' slaps my cheek to 'bring me around'. I groaned and slowly opened my eyes.

"Damon?" I mumbled, aiming for disoriented.

"No, no, no, it's okay, Grace. Stay calm." He urges me, alarmed. "Not cool brother!" Damon snarls at Stefan. I glanced over at him, bracing myself for what was coming next. It was going to be gross.

"Aw, come on! Previously, you would've been all for this." Stefan insisted. "Using a person that you love as a bargaining tool. But I guess you need a little persuasion to back off." Then without warning, Stefan chomps down on his wrist and 'force feeds me' his blood. I made sure that my mouth stayed firmly closed while Stefan smeared his blood around my mouth. I summoned up fake tears.

"Damon…" I whimpered, as Stefan 'gently' wraps his arm around my neck, threatening to break it. But despite this being planned and knowing nothing was going to happen to me, I could still feel the adrenaline pumping through my system.

"NO! Alright, you win. I'll back off, just don't kill her!" Damon pleads with Stefan who immediately vamp speeds over to Damon and shoves him against the wall.

"I'll say this only once. Let us go!" Stefan warns him. Next thing I know I'm in Stefan's arms bridal-style as he vamp speeds us back to my car and we head back to Nik. I could hear Damon shouting for me as we went. Once back in the safety of the car, Stefan turns to me and looks concerned. "You okay? I didn't hurt you?" He confirmed.

I shook my head.

"No, no harm done. Let's just go." I replied, dully. I hated myself for putting Damon through that. But it was necessary to prove this point to him. Stefan hands me a handkerchief and I wiped away his blood as he turns back onto the highway and floors it back to the Southern Comfort bar.

* * *

I don't know if I looked visibly upset or not, but the very second Stefan and I got back to the Southern Comfort bar; the notorious Ripper of Monterey - whom I saw multiple times viciously and without remorse rip into the throats of his victims without a care in the world - immediately pulled me into his arms. I froze, completely caught off guard by this random action.

"I'm so sorry that you have been brought into all of this, Grace." He mutters into my hair. I slowly raised my arms and returned the hug, appreciating the gesture.

"I've been through worse, Stefan. A thousand years ago, I was killed by Nik's stepfather as part of his plan to prove a point to him. What we did a few hours ago with Damon, is nothing." I reassured him, before breaking out of the embrace and hugging myself against the chill of the night breeze. Stefan fell into step beside me, and I noticed that he had reverted back to his distant, uncaring expression. I sagged a bit, feeling disappointed. But then Stefan squeezes my arm affectionately, letting me know that he was there for me even though he had to act a certain way from now on.

I smiled.

We found Nik pacing around the same pool table I had played a solo game on, which Ray had now been tied down on.

"Okay, it's a three step process, Ray. This is step one. I want you to drink from my wrist." Nik was saying to the terrified werewolf. Ray looked like he was on the verge of hysteria.

"I already told you where to find the pack. What more do you want from me?" He pleaded. Nik shakes his head.

"Have you been listening to a word I've been saying, Ray?" He explained to him, condescendingly. He cuts his wrist and makes Ray drink his blood. "There we go, attaboy!" Ray immediately starts thrashing about as he tries to resist. But Nik proves once again that he is stronger than he is, and when he believes that Ray has had enough of his blood in his system, he pulls away. "You'll thank me for it later, huh." Nik turns and sees Stefan and me, standing at the main entrance. "Welcome back." He greets us both. "Give me a moment." He requests.

Both Stefan and I nodded.

"What are you going to do now?" Ray asked, with trepidation. Nik's blood is smeared around his mouth and partially dripping down his neck. It looks really gruesome. Nik smirks down at his new recruit into the hybrid clan.

"It's time for step two, Ray." Nik announces before twisting his neck, killing him and looking over at us. Stefan looks on emotionlessly, while I close my eyes and turn my head away.

"So, you're back. How'd it go?" Nik asks, nonchalantly. Stefan snorted.

"We won't have any more trouble from Damon. Grace and I made sure of that." He reported.

Then what we had to do to convince Damon to leave us be, suddenly registered with me, and I felt tears well up in my eyes. I couldn't handle the guilt and shame I could feel, so I simply turned and ran back out the door. Nik looked surprised at my reaction, or so I could hear from outside of the bar where I had slid down the wall and hunched over to bury my face into my knees, clenching handfuls of my hand in my hands in my sorrow.

"Grace?!" He must've turned towards Stefan for an explanation because suddenly Stefan spoke up.

"We had to get inventive with getting rid of Damon." Stefan admitted. "Long story short, Damon will probably be pissed off with me if we ever see him again in Mystic Falls."

"Explain." Nik said, suspiciously.

"It's not important right now." Stefan insisted.

"Let me be the judge of that." Nik retorted. I heard Stefan sigh heavily.

"Alright. In order to convince Damon to back off, I had to make it look like I was threatening to change Grace into a vampire against her will." Stefan reluctantly explained. And for good reason, if the resulting struggle and Stefan grunting in slight pain said anything. I glanced round the doorframe to that Nik had grabbed Stefan by the lapels and threw him against a nearby bar table.

"Nik, stop!" I yelled in alarm. Nik ignored me, and proceeded to pull Stefan to his feet, by grabbing him by the throat. I raced over to them, repeating 'Nik, stop!' as I went. "It was my idea!" I confessed, urgently.

Nik freezes, and turns to look at me with disbelief.

"Your what?" He blurted out. I drew in a deep breath.

"It was my idea for Stefan to make it look like he was threatening to change me into a vampire if Damon didn't stop attempting to find us." I repeated myself with more detail. Nik drops Stefan in a heap, and storms over to me; grabbing me by the shoulders. He looked a combination of furious and scared.

"What possessed you to think of an idiotic plan like that?" He yelled. I repressed the urge to flinch away from him, despite all my instincts telling me to run for the hills.

"Because it is the only way that Damon will actually obey you, Nik." I explained.

"It's true." Stefan confirmed.

"Like you, Nik, Damon has feelings for me. He would do anything to protect anyone he loves; even if it means backing off." Nik backed off, but still looked angry with my actions. "The answer we want to know, is did you doubt that Stefan and I would return like we said we would?" I asked him. Nik also drew in a deep breath before replying; presumably to stop himself from saying something that he might regret in the long term.

"Not for a second. That was a test, and you both passed it." Nik said. "And I cannot deny it now, that both of you care for Damon. Especially Stefan, and for his old life." Nik acknowledged. Stefan shut down completely.

"Nah, I don't care about anything anymore." Stefan said dismissively. Both Nik and I gave him skeptical looks.

"I don't believe you." I told him.

"I agree. You put on a good show, Stefan. I almost believe you. Let's hope, for your brother's sake, he does." Nik shakes his head in amusement. "You never stop caring about family, do you? But, every time you feed, the blood makes it easier to let go." Nik tells him, sagely.

Stefan is silent for a few moments, just letting Nik's words sink in. Then he quietly gets to his feet and exits the bar. I follow after him, worried, but I don't step outside. I just stand in a spot where I can still see him and observed as he takes his phone from his pocket and calls somebody. By the melancholy expression on his face, I'd say it was probably Elena he was contacting. By the time, the phone call ends; Stefan is in tears. I sighed and walked out of the bar towards him, feeling Nik's eyes on my back as I walked. He, like me, was curious about what Stefan was up to. But unlike Nik, I didn't like the fact that my friend was silently suffering.

"Everything's going to be alright, Stefan. I promise." I attempted to comfort him.

"I doubt it." I heard Stefan whisper as I turned to walk back to the bar, where I almost bumped into Nik carrying an unconscious Ray over his shoulder. There was a look of determination on his face.

"Let's go, kids. Time's wasting." Nik announced, dumping Ray into the trunk of my car. I wrinkled my nose, and hoped that he wasn't bleeding on anything in there. Stefan strides up to the car, not saying anything and just gets into the backseat. I frowned and approached the passenger side.

"Where we going next?" I asked Nik, who offers me a stern look. I mentally rolled my eyes; Nik was still pissed with me about my poorly constructed plan.

"The Smoky Mountains. That's where Ray's pack is supposedly going to be." He explained, hopping into the driver's side. I nodded. He actually answered my question; a good sign that he's not _too_ angry at me, just disappointed with my actions.

I can live with that.

* * *

 **A/N: Finished with the chapter based on the start of** _ **The Vampire Diaries**_ **third season. I hope everyone is enjoying the story so far, and I'm not losing readers because of the violence and torture scenes. Please review with your thoughts.**

 **TTFN xx**


	36. Hybrids Anonymous

**A/N: Welcome back! Time for a new update, guys and gals!**

 **A few chapters will be a little dark until Klaus, Stefan and Grace return to Mystic Falls, but please hang in there. If you've seen the TV series, you know that it does get better eventually. :)**

 **Please leave a review, and no flames are necessary, or needed AT ALL.**

 **I don't own** _ **The Vampire Diaries.**_ **All characters (except for Grace) are owned by author L.J. Smith.**

 **Enjoy ;)**

* * *

 **HYBRIDS ANONYMOUS**

" _You try. You fail. You try. You fail. But the only true failure is when you stop trying."  
_ _ **~Madame Leota (Walt Disney's**_ **'The Haunted Mansion'** _ **).**_

* * *

The next afternoon the three of us found ourselves walking through the Smoky Mountains; aptly named for the fog that hung over the alpine regions. Stefan was carrying Ray Sutton over his shoulders. He was still unconscious from whatever Nik had done to him back at the Southern Comfort bar. I had wondered off ahead of them, just observing my surroundings. I love hiking; probably because of my past life where I used to live in the wilderness like this all the time with other Viking families, and hiking was a necessity if we wanted to survive.

Nik turned to look at Stefan curiously. "You okay? Is Ray getting heavy?" He asks earning a glare.

"I'm fine." Stefan mutters, equally as cool as Nik. I rolled my eyes as Nik continues needling him.

"You sure about that? You know, we've been walking for quite some time now. If you need some water or a little sit-down…" He smirks as Stefan starts to bristle.

"You know, I get that we're, uh … stuck together, but if we could maybe just skip the chitchat, it'd be great." Stefan suggested. I turned to look at them, feeling annoyed. They've been doing this for a while now, and it was getting tedious.

"Or you could both stop acting like children. That would be even better." I insisted. They both ignore me, and I throw up my hands and give up; deciding to just let them continue.

"So much brooding. Your self-loathing is suffocating you, my friend." Nik observes with interest. Stefan leaps over a moss covered log.

"Maybe it's 'cause I'm a little tired of hunting werewolves. We've been at it all summer." He complained. I scowled at him.

"We found Ray and have his pack. I think we've done plenty." I corrected him. Nik smiles at me approvingly, then pauses, placing a hand on my shoulder to stop me from moving. "What?" I asked him.

"Werewolves." Stefan reported, and Nik's smile broadened before he continues walking towards a group of werewolves. Heads swivel in our direction as Stefan puts Ray on the ground. A woman in the group immediately gets to her feet and rushes over to Ray's unmoving body.

"Ray! Oh, my God. What's going on?" She glares up at Stefan and then at me when I walked up to Stefan's side. Stefan put out his arm to stop me from walking closer. "Who are you?" The woman demanded, then pales when Nik joins us. It's obvious that she knows who Nik is.

"The important question is who am I? Please forgive the intrusion." Nik says pleasantly. "My name is Klaus." He adds. The woman gets up and backs away from us.

"You're the hybrid." She stated, looking scared. Nik smiled.

"You've heard of me. Fantastic." He walks over to a nearby log and takes a seat, beckoning Stefan and me to follow his example. I came over and was about to sit down when Nik seizes my wrist and tugs me to sit down between both Stefan and him. I threw him a questioning look, but he responds by frowning slightly and shaking his head. All the werewolves are standing opposite us, looking extremely wary and ready to bolt. "It's fascinating, actually … a werewolf who isn't beholden to the moon, a vampire who doesn't burn in the sun. A true hybrid." I smiled at the excited look on Nik's face; like a kid at Christmas.

I need to stop being so negative, and just accept that Nik has to do this for personal reasons, and get with the program. So I got comfortable and laid my head on Nik's shoulder, smiling wider when I felt him kiss my head and wrap an arm around my shoulders. Suddenly, Ray gasps for breath as he wakes up, in transition to become a vampire and thus a vampire-werewolf hybrid.

"Woah…" I blurted out, shocked by Ray's violent resurrection.

"Excellent timing, Ray. Very dramatic." Nik compliments Ray, who winces and flinches underneath the sunlight.

"What's happening to me?" Ray demands, groggily.

"You're in transition." I responded, matter-of-factly. Nik turns towards Stefan.

"Stefan?"

He gets to his feet, and addresses the group of werewolves looking at Ray with horror. "Are any of you human? Your friend here needs human blood to complete his transition to vampire. If he doesn't get it, he will die." Stefan queries.

"Doesn't take much, just a sip. Anyone? A boyfriend, a girlfriend, along for the ride?" Nik explains. One of them frowns and pointed at me.

"What about her?" He said.

I raised an eyebrow at him, offended. Nik and Stefan immediately frowned.

"What about her? I'm surprised you didn't offer yourself." Nik correctly guesses that the guy is a human as well. The guy pales, shocked. Then Nik rushes at him and bites his forearm, causing the rest of us to flinch or scream out with horror. Stefan then grabs the bleeding man and tosses him at Ray's feet. The woman who was openly concerned about Ray, immediately protested, but is strangled by Nik. I was feeling uncomfortable again, especially when Stefan addressed Ray.

"If you don't drink it, Ray, I will." Stefan promises. "Problem is I don't know how to stop." He confesses, causing the wolves to pale. Nik's attention lingers on the woman he is strangling.

"It's the new order, sweetheart. You join us, or you die." He insisted. The woman's eyes narrowed.

"I'd rather die than be a vampire." She vowed. Nik smirked.

"Wrong choice." He declared and bites down on his wrist, feeding her his blood forcibly. Ray gives in to his instincts and drinks from the man Nik had bitten on the forearm. "She'll thank me for that later. Heh." Nik echoes what he told Ray back at the bar to the woman before he snaps her neck, killing her and beginning her transformation into a hybrid. Nik looks up, and my eyes widen in shock: his eyes were yellow and his fangs were out, making him look feral and extremely dangerous.

"Holy shit…" I muttered underneath my breath.

"Okay, who's next?" He asked for volunteers. I got to my feet, feeling unsafe despite the fact that I was not any of Nik or Stefan's intended victims.

"Nik?" He looks over at me, giving his undivided attention as his eyes slowly reverted back to his usual blue-green. "I'm gonna go for a walk." I told him.

"Okay. But don't wonder off too far." Nik warned me, protectively. I nodded, and stepped over the log and walked back the way we first came, while Nik and Stefan resumed their 'fun'.

* * *

Walking through the trees of the Smoky Mountains made me feel homesick for my former life. Back before Henrik had been killed, and we had a harmonious relationship with our werewolf neighbors. Eventually, I stopped underneath a tree on a hill, overlooking the gorgeous view of the surrounding plains and various mountain peaks, as well as a running river. I was dangerously close to brooding.

Thinking about werewolves, especially now that Nik was searching for them to create his hybrid army, made me question where Henrik was, and more importantly, why he wasn't here. The last time I had actually had contact with him, was the night when Elijah had been daggered and when Stefan and I were bargaining with Nik for the cure to save Damon from a nasty and premature death.

I missed my younger brother, and hoped that he would come back soon as I looked up at the fading light and suddenly yawned, realizing how tired I was. I was about to turn and head back to the campsite, when approaching footsteps made me freeze like a deer caught in headlights. Something was out there, and I doubted that it was either Nik or Stefan checking up on me; I hadn't been out that long to invoke a search.

"In a couple of hours, the full moon's gonna rise just above that ridge." My eyes widened when I recognized Alaric's voice, and started to panic. Nik would not be impressed if I was spotted. I quickly ducked behind the tree that was thankfully wide enough to hide behind and squatted down. "If Tyler's right, that's where the pack'll be." Pack? I sincerely hoped that they weren't talking about Ray's pack. They would be walking into a death trap, and probably used to feed the transitioning wolves. Alaric continues speaking and I peeked out from behind the tree to crawl closer to the voices so I could hear the conversation better.

"You were a boy scout, weren't you? A boy scout, slash vampire slayer?" I groaned in frustration when I heard Elena's voice. I should've known she'd be here.

"Slash whiskey-drinking all-around lost cause." Alaric added on to Elena's description of him. I frowned, shouldn't he be trying to reconcile with Jenna, and help Elena and Jeremy help their aunt adjust to her new status of vampire? I watched as they stopped walking and Alaric opens his bag, looking inside.

"Wow. You came stocked." Elena observes, earning a derisive snort from Alaric.

"Well, we aren't exactly bird-watching." He reminded her, before reaching into the bag and pulling out a grenade. "Here. Put that in your bag." Elena takes the dangerous pineapple-shaped ball. I swore underneath my breath. I should've known that Elena would be too stubborn to stay the hell away. Nik didn't know that she was still alive, and Stefan seemed adamant that he remained ignorant. But this was a plan that was doomed to fail; Nik was going to discover Elena's return from the dead eventually. Elena frowns down at the grenade.

"Vervain grenade?" She asked him. Alaric shook his head as he continues digging around in his bag of weapons.

"Wolfsbane." He corrects her. Elena nodded, and starts digging around in her pocket for something.

"Well, since we're exchanging gifts…" She pulls out what looked like a ring; specifically John Gilbert's magical ring. Come to think of it actually, I wonder what happened to him?

Alaric frowns down at the trinket. "That's John Gilbert's ring."

"It was yours once. Go ahead. Take it." Elena holds out the ring to him. "It'll protect you from whatever supernatural danger we're about to get ourselves into." Alaric shakes his head and closes her hand around the ring.

"He gave it to you." He said.

"Yeah, but I'm a doppelgänger. It's not gonna work on me. He left it for if I ever have kids." I frowned. John left that stupid ring for her and her children? But wouldn't he need it? What's going on here?

Alaric continued to stubbornly reject the ring.

"Yeah, well, then why don't you save it for future generations of stubborn, relentless baby Gilberts?" He suggested, and Elena rolled her eyes.

"Okay, and how 'bout you borrow it until after we survive this? I'd feel bad if I got you killed before happy hour." She presses the ring into Alaric's hand and then turns to walk towards the edge of a small hill beside the rushing river. After making sure that I would not be noticed, I quickly moved to a different hiding spot further up hill and hid behind another tree. Elena was still questioning Alaric's hesitance. "I don't know why you think that you're a lost cause." She mused, and I had to bite down hard on my knuckles to avoid laughing out loud when Damon appears from out of nowhere and launches a screaming Elena through the air and into the river. Alaric instinctively raises his crossbow and aims it at Damon, but then lowers it when he registers who it was, and rolled his eyes. Elena resurfaces from the water and glares at Damon.

"Damon! How are you even here?" She demanded, angrily. Damon simply turns and nods at an unrepentant Alaric.

"Thanks for the tip, brother." He says to the vampire slayer, who shrugged nonchalantly. Elena glares at Alaric, while I mentally applauded his actions.

"You sold me out!" She accuses him, and Alaric just gives her a hard look.

"You think I'd take you to a mountain range of werewolves on a full moon without backup?" I snorted at his question.

"Only if she has a death wish." I muttered underneath my breath. Then I focused on Damon, and felt my stomach flip over unpleasantly as I observed how he looked. While he looked as immaculately dressed as ever in his usual black, I could tell that he did not look like he had been sleeping very well. And there was obvious signs of strain in his blue eyes; possibly due to worry and frustration that he wasn't getting anywhere fast in his search … and Elena going off on one of her suicidal missions probably wasn't helping the situation either.

However, I couldn't let Damon's current frame of mind distract me right now, despite the guilt and remorse I was feeling for abandoning my best friend and causing him emotional pain. Alaric was quite right, it was getting darker; even more so because it was a full moon, and it was definitely time for me to turn and head back to the campsite before Nik had to send Stefan out to go and find me. I just hoped that his hybrid project was coming along smoothly.

The conversation down by the river was continuing and I couldn't resist continuing to eavesdrop.

"Get out of the water, Elena." Damon orders her. I stood up behind the tree and peered out from behind it. Damon was standing beside Alaric, looking down at Elena; who was still splashing around in the probably freezing cold water. Or so I believed. I couldn't see her from my vantage point.

"If I get out of the water, you're gonna make me go home." She correctly guesses.

"Yeah, because I'm not an idiot like you." Damon agrees, with Alaric backing him up.

"Right now, you're both acting like idiots."

Or not…

"You gave up on him, Damon." Elena accuses him, and that's when Damon suddenly stiffens. Possibly, he was remembering his last encounter with both Stefan and myself back at that warehouse in Mystic Falls.

"Grace was there also, Elena. And I didn't give up on him, I faced reality. Now get out of the water." Damon insists, sternly.

"No!" Elena yells back at him, like a child. Damon snarls in frustration and heads down into the water himself to fish her out.

"What's your big plan, Elena? Huh? Are you gonna walk through a campsite full of werewolves, roast a marshmallow, and wait for Stefan to just stop on by?" He asked her, facetiously.

I scoffed. What was more likely to happen in that scenario would be that Elena would run up to the campsite; expecting to find Stefan. Only to come across Nik, who at first would be completely shocked that she had somehow survived dying; then either attempt to kill her again or sic one of his new hybrids on her before she could get the chance to even say 'hi' to Stefan … if he even was there and not feasting on what was left of that man Nik compelled, or out looking for me on Nik's request.

"My plan is to find him and help him." Elena retorted, passionately.

I winced.

I think Stefan is a little beyond help at the moment. _I_ just barely get through to him most days, but I have a feeling it's only because Stefan had wanted me to because I was a friendly face that he could trust, _and_ I was his friend; otherwise, he'd shut me out as well. Stefan would have to want to go back, and even if he could; Nik wouldn't let him leave until he was through with whatever he needed him for.

Elena continued trying to make Damon understand … and was failing rather badly. "Damon, this is the closest that we've been to him since he left. I'm not going home." Elena said. Damon looked like he wanted to strangle her.

"Klaus thinks you died when he broke the curse. That makes you safe. This-" He gestures around the area with his free hand. "—this is not safe." He insisted. But Elena closed down again.

"I'm not leaving before we find him." Elena stated. Damon sighed.

"It's a full moon tonight, Elena." He reminds her. Elena splashes about in the water, probably heading towards the shoreline so she could get out.

"We'll find him before then. Damon, please." She begs. I started to walk away from the tree to go and find Stefan, and warn him that Alaric, Damon and Elena were nearby.

"What about Grace?" I paused mid-step. "She's bound to be out here too. Aren't we going to save her as well?" Damon asked, probably out of curiosity. I waited for her reply. "Isn't she your friend, as well?" Damon pointed out.

"Who cares? She made her choice, and decided to go along with Klaus." I saw red, but I didn't dare budge from my hiding spot to go and confront that selfish little cow. Nobody spoke for a few minutes. Then finally, Alaric broke the silence. He sounded both angry and very disappointed with Elena's reply.

"That's not fair, Elena." I turned back to look down at them all, and was shocked to see Elena backing away from Damon, looking like a skittish rabbit staring down a hungry fox. I couldn't tell what Damon looked like from where I was standing, but I suspected that he was probably glaring at her. His posture was ramrod straight.

"We are out of here before the moon is full and I'm werewolf bait." Damon eventually spoke up, and sloshed his way out of the water himself.

"Thank you, D-"

"Don't!" Damon said, sharply. "I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing it for me, because I want to bring Grace back alive in spite of what Stefan said and what you think." He vowed. "And nobody, not even Klaus is going to stop me." He declared. Both of them got out of the water, and I continued walking back the way I came from to the campsite and ended up nearly running straight into Stefan in the process.

"Stefan?" I gasped, mostly out of surprise and laughed in embarrassment out of instinct. He looked at me urgently.

"Are you alright?" He demanded, searching me. I frowned, not liking the question.

"Why wouldn't I be?" I asked, worried. But before Stefan could reply, he pushes me behind him. I didn't bother questioning his actions, as I knew that he could hear Damon, Alaric and Elena in the distance.

"I guess threatening to turn you into a vampire hasn't worked." Stefan mused to me, and I nodded. "Geez, why can't they take a hint?" He growled.

"I suspect that this might be Elena's handiwork, Stefan." He stiffened and I regretted putting forward the idea. "I was coming to tell you, but I got lost." I fed him a white-lie, and Stefan nodded, probably not believing me entirely, but accepting it nevertheless.

"Grace! There you are!" I turned and saw Nik, walking towards Stefan and me with a very serious, and very grave expression on his face.

"Nik? What's wrong?" I asked, walking towards him so that he didn't see Damon, Alaric or Elena … especially Elena. He ignores my question.

"Are you hurt?" Nik questions me, cupping my face in his hands and physically checking me for injuries.

"I'm fine. What the hell is going on?" I asked, getting annoyed and brushing aside his hands.

"Everything is going wrong." He explained, furiously. "Then Ray ran off." My eyes widened when I realised just how much danger I could've been in if Stefan hadn't found me on my hike back to the campsite.

"Shit…" Was the only appropriate thing to say right then. Stefan approaches Nik, looking troubled.

"Where did he go?" Nik demanded.

"He, uh… he got away. Forget him. Let's go." Stefan lied and moves to walk back towards the campsite. However, both Nik and I spotted something on his arm.

"Stefan, what is that?" I asked, taking his arm. Then swore loudly. "Oh, God…"

Nik takes his arm, then looks up at Stefan unsympathetically. "A fatal werewolf bite. Ouch." I raked a hand through my hair and started walking back towards the campsite, completely over this entire day. But Nik stopped me. "I wouldn't if I were you, darling." He warns me, not taking his eyes off Stefan, who was already starting to sweat due to the werewolf venom in his veins.

"Yeah, I'm gonna need your blood to heal me." Stefan requested. Nik looked at him, coldly.

"Well, I tell you what. You find Ray, and then I'll heal you." Nik said, angrily. I didn't bother to comment. Clearly, in my absence, both Nik and Stefan had had words. Stefan looked mutinous.

"You can't be serious." Stefan protested. Nik didn't blink. Clearly, he was.

"You better hurry, 'cause that bite looks nasty." He stated, before wrapping an arm around me and escorting me back to the campsite. I heard Stefan snarl with frustration and vamp sped away.

At the campsite, all the werewolves that I had last seen alive before my walk were all lying about in heaps, having obviously been killed to trigger their transformations. Derek, the human being used to help the new recruits finish their transition was sitting on one of the logs surrounding an unlit campfire, still looking hypnotized. I shivered as a cold wind picked up.

"I'll get a fire started." I said, and started wondering around the campsite for firewood.

"You don't have to look for firewood, love. It seems this group had planned ahead." Nik points towards a rather large pile of firewood stacked up neatly near some camping supplies.

"Right." I said, feeling awkward. I bit my bottom lip sheepishly and immediately wondered over to gather up an armful of wood before sifting through the long forgotten method of making a campfire from my past life and got to work, with Nik standing by to assist if I got stuck … after all, it had been awhile since I've had the necessity to construct one.

By the time I had a fully functional, roaring campfire up and running, Nik's transitioning werewolves were sitting up, and looking around with confusion. Nik turns towards a still blank faced Derek.

"Bad news, my friend. End of the road for you." He tells the human in a 'sorry, not sorry' tone before Nik feasts upon him and kills him. The female werewolf whom Nik had attempted to strangle before he fed her his blood and snapped her neck, suddenly vamp-speeds in front of him, growling like a wolf. Nik narrows his eyes at her, warningly. "Careful, love. There's only one alpha here." But there was something very wrong: all of them were staggering around their campsite, bleeding from their eyes and looking like extremely delirious zombies.

"Holy shit..." I whispered and started backing away.

"Bloody hell." Nik mutters, looking stunned at first, but then quickly shifted into extremely pissed off, and moved to shield me. I withdrew my dagger, and also instinctively grabbed a hold of Nik's arm for extra protection. "Don't worry, love. I'll protect you. Just stay where I can see you." He ordered. I didn't bother to argue, just started checking my corners for an obvious way out, should the situation go pear-shaped and I needed to escape before I could be mauled.

Suddenly, they all attack and converge on us both, and Nik and I are quickly separated. I immediately swing out and slice my way through the rabid-looking so-called 'hybrids' that Nik had been attempting to make. The blade of my dagger immediately causes their skin to blister and burn from both the vervain and wolfsbane impregnating the surface; but I knew that it wouldn't hold them off for long. I was still a very vulnerable human.

"Grace, look out!" I heard Stefan call out and I dove out of the way of a flying 'hybrid' and tucked and rolled so I could get to my feet again and plan for the next attack. But unfortunately, it seemed that Nik had everything under control, and within seconds; they were all lying on the ground dead, minus their hearts. I sighed with relief and walked back over to the circle, re-sheathing my dagger and sinking down on a log to bury my head between my legs. Stefan saunters up to the campsite with a literally heartless Ray hanging over his shoulders like a side of beef.

He dumps the corpse to the ground, and I jump in surprise before glaring at Stefan. He seemed indifferent to my annoyance. Nik turns on Stefan.

"They went rabid. Some of them, I killed. The others just … bled out." I looked at him, sympathetically. "In the end… they're all dead." Nik declared, and vents his anger and frustration by picking up a discarded beer bottle and hurling it against a tree. I jumped and flinched at the move, and looked at Nik, warily. He screams his frustrations to the night sky. "I did everything I was told!" He screams. "I should be able to turn them. I broke the curse. I killed a werewolf. I killed a vampire. I killed the doppelgänger-"

"And you drank my blood." I supplied, causing Nik to look at me, questioningly. Then my eyes widened in fear and realization. "You don't suppose that my blood—" I trailed off, mostly because Nik instantly comes over and crouches before me and shushes me.

"I doubt it. Your involvement in the curse was a one-time thing. Something that directly related towards me." He reassures me, and kisses my forehead as I sagged with relief and hid my face in my hands. But I could tell that Nik's rage had not simmered down, despite his attempts to reassure me that my part of the curse was over the minute Nik's lips retreated from the palm of my bleeding hand. He looks over at a visibly uncomfortable Stefan. "You look like hell."

Stefan frowned at him. "Last time I checked, I'm dying … and you don't want to heal me." He pointed out. Nik's eyes narrowed even further before shifting to Ray's corpse sprawled on the ground and looks up at Stefan for an explanation. Stefan sighs, regretfully. "I had to take him out, I didn't have a choice." He explained. "I failed you, I'm sorry. Do what you have to do." I immediately got to my feet, worried that Stefan was about to be killed for something that wasn't even his fault. None of us had an explanation for why the werewolves' transition into hybrids was failing so horribly. However, Nik seemed lost in his own thoughts, barely paying either of us any attention.

"It should've worked." He muttered to himself, before turning around and grabbing another empty beer bottle from the ground. He bites into his hand and makes a fist, allowing his blood to drip into the bottle. "Bottoms up." He thrusts the half empty bottle of blood at Stefan, who takes it, looking at Nik guardedly; surprised that he had been spared when it was obvious that Nik did not tolerate unnecessary failure. Nik looks between Stefan and I. "We're leaving." He declared, seizing my hand and leading me away from the campfire. "It appears that you and Stefan are the only two that I have left that I can trust." He declared, bitterly.

I looked over my shoulder at Stefan with a questioning frown, only to receive a perplexed shrug in reply as Stefan drains Nik's blood from the beer bottle and tosses it aside before quickly following us.

"Where are we going?" I asked Nik when we eventually make it back to my car. Even Stefan looked intrigued.

"To the Windy City, my dear." Nik replied distractedly as he impatiently stows away our stuff into the trunk of my car and heads straight for the driver's side.

"Chicago? What for?" I asked, curiously.

"All in good time, Grace. Can't reveal all my secrets to you just yet." He tells me, dryly. I made a face and went to get into the passenger side. But Nik intercepts me before I could. "Not this time, sweetheart." Stefan claps a hand on my shoulder and I glanced back to see an apologetic look on his face. I pulled my hand away from the car door and moved to climb into the backseat, as Stefan gets in and Nik immediately puts the car into gear and drives us out of the woods the second we're both in the car. "Why don't you get some sleep? Stefan and I need to discuss something, and it's better that you don't hear the conversation." Nik suggested and I rolled my eyes, and nodded.

"It's not like I've got anything better to do." I muttered underneath my breath, making myself comfortable against the car window and allowing the car in motion to lull me into sleep. However, this wasn't entirely true; I could do some sketching, and this could give me the chance to catch a snippet of their conversation. But it seemed that both of them were serious about keeping me out of it because they didn't say a word, so I decided to just appease them and relaxed, eventually falling into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

I was rudely woken up when the car unexpectedly swerved and I smacked my head against the car window, jolting me awake.

"OW! Motherf-" I swore colourfully, and looked over and saw a concerned and mildly amused vampire and hybrid looking back at me when I had made that random outburst. I rubbed at the side of my head and glared at them. "If you wanted me to wake up, guys, you could've just shaken me. I'm not that much of a deep sleeper." I told them.

Nik just smirked.

"Oh, I'm very much aware of that." He winked at me and I felt my face heat up out of embarrassment.

"Okay… moving on." I bit back and realised that we had arrived and were parked in an underground parking garage. This immediately reminded me of the 80s movie _Ferris Bueller's Day Off_ and I couldn't help but chuckle at the mental image that immediately came to mind: Nik as 'Ferris', me as 'Slone' and Stefan as 'Cameron'. For some reason it just seemed to work … in an insane world, of course. Nik, Stefan and I got out of the car and I leaned against it yawning deeply as we both listened to what Nik had to say, and our next move now that we had finally arrived.

"Welcome back to Chicago, Stefan. And welcome to Chicago, sweetheart." He [re]introduced us to the city. I paused, taking in the numerous skyscrapers and the general bustling city life I could see from where I was currently standing. Stefan frowned in confusion.

"What are we doing here?" He asked.

"I second that question." I agreed, shrugging on my jacket, while still rubbernecking around on the spot. Nik smiled nostalgically.

"This city used to be Stefan's old hunting grounds." He said, proudly. "I know how much you loved it here." Nik nudged Stefan, earning a slightly annoyed look from the younger vampire. "Does it bring back memories of the good old ripper days?" He asked genuinely, as he passed the attendant my car keys and sternly compelled him to take exceptional care of my car and to not go joyriding in it, or else. (That made me snort and stifle laughter, earning strange looks from both vampire and hybrid in the process). Stefan looked surprised for a moment before his eyes darkened and he avoided Nik's knowing gaze.

"Blacked out most of them. A lot blood, a lot of partying. The details are all a blur." Stefan admitted, grimly. I was intrigued, and wanted to know more about their past. Nik tsked with disappointment.

"Well, that is a crying shame. The details are what make it legendary." He said.

"When was this?" I asked, curiously. Nik linked our hands and started leading the both of us out onto the street.

"During the 1920s." Nik seemed very eager to take a trip down memory lane. My eyes lit up.

"The Roaring Twenties? Oh, wow!" I gushed, earning a chuckle from Nik and a very small smile from Stefan. "All the glitz and the glamour? I'm so jealous right now." I pouted.

"Well, word was the Ripper of Monterey got lonely, so he escaped to the city for comfort. It was Prohibition; everything was off limits back then, which made everything so much fun." Nik grinned at the memories.

"I'll bet it was. What did you both get up to?" I asked, as we continued walking down the street, following wherever Nik was leading us. Stefan took up the story, filling in the details that Nik was unable to give.

"Like I said before, I blacked out most of it. But of what I do remember, I recall making out with a girl in a car but halfway through I ended up draining her of her blood." My excited smile dropped slightly, and I gulped.

"Oh…" I said.

Stefan shrugged. "You asked."

"I know. Just still getting used to the fact that you're a lot more unpredictable when you're on human blood." I stated, quietly. I clear my throat uncomfortably. "What else happened?"

Stefan couldn't help but smirk at the memory. "I decided to check out the nightlife. Ended up going to a bar." He responded.

"Where he first met, Rebekah." Nik interjected, and I brightened immediately at the mention of my other best friend. I looked at Nik with wide eyes.

"Bekah?" I exclaimed, as I turned to look at Stefan. "You knew Bekah?" I asked, excitedly. Stefan frowned and looked at Nik for assistance, but my boyfriend feigned ignorance.

"The name sounds familiar. She must be that girl who I met not long after I arrived." He mused thoughtfully.

"Chicago was magical. Wished I could've shared it with you, though." Nik sounded depressed and I kissed his cheek, trying to bring him some comfort. Stefan snorted, unmoved by my show of affection towards Nik.

"Yeah, well, I'll take your word for it. Like I said, I don't remember most of it." Stefan reminded Nik, who sobered immediately from his depressed thoughts and stopped before a black Jaguar with two of his minions waiting for us. I raised an eyebrow.

"Going to get down to business, then?" Nik asked us, curiously; but was mostly looking at Stefan for confirmation. Stefan and I were confused.

"Why are Grace and I still with you? We've had our fun, but your hybrid's failed." He felt the need to point out and - metaphorically speaking – rub the salt into Nik's already raw wound. "I mean, don't you want to move on?" Stefan wanted to know. I nodded in agreement. Nik turned and nodded towards one of his minions who opened the backdoor and escorted me towards it.

"We're going to see my favourite witch." Nik explained, casually; seemingly not fazed by his hybrid army failure. "If anyone can help us with our hybrid problem, it's her." He insisted. I slid into the car, followed closely by both Nik and Stefan, before both minions got into the driver and passenger seats and escorted us to our next unknown location. Both Nik and Stefan continued regaling me with the glory days of their yesteryear. "The Rebekah that you remember, love, has changed dramatically – and I mean that literally – 910-years after you…"

"Died?" I supplied, bluntly. Nik scowled at me, and I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Yes." Nik reluctantly agreed. "Rebekah developed a bit of a rebellious side." I grinned.

"Way to go, Bekah." I said, approvingly. Nik scowled disapprovingly. "Oh, lighten up, sweetie. Are you going to be like this when she and I eventually reunite and spend some time together? A girl's gotta let down her hair every once in a while." I scolded him, playfully. "She may have changed, but remember so I have I. You seem to keep forgetting that." I said.

"Still, I'd rather you didn't encourage her." Nik responded, stubbornly. I rolled my eyes and looked out of the window.

"So what did she do that you disapproved of?" I asked, curiously.

"Dancing with complete strangers." Nik sounded overprotective. I looked at him blankly.

"Wow, brutal." I deadpanned. "I danced with Damon at the 60s dance and you didn't seem fazed." I pointed out. Nik bristled out of jealousy.

"Because doing so would've blown my cover, sweetheart. Otherwise, he wouldn't be around right now." Nik insisted, and I looked at him in horror.

"Seriously?" I protested.

"Let's move on, shall we?" Stefan interjected hastily. Nik and I scowled at each other, before reluctantly moving on from the subject. "Although, I do agree with Klaus that 'Rebekah' was a bit of a buzzkill at the time." Stefan sided with Nik.

"What were you doing that was pissing her off?" I wanted to know.

"Talking and laughing with some of my friends, while sharing a drink or two." Stefan responded. I paused, giving it some thought before conceding.

"Okay, sounds like Rebekah _was_ being a little petty." I admitted. "What else?" I gestured for more, still fascinated with the history lesson.

"That's gonna have to wait a bit, we've arrived." Nik announced. I leaned over him and looked out of the car's tinted windows. We had stopped at a fairly unremarkable nightclub and bar with a neon sign that read _'Gloria's'_ in garish orange. Without another word, Nik opened the car door and hopped out, proffering me his hand like a gentleman to help me out. We walked in almost immediately.

Inside, it's dim, quiet and empty. Nik turns to Stefan, who was looking around with awe and recognition. "Looks familiar, doesn't it?" Nik said, knowingly.

"I can't believe this place is still here." Stefan admitted, walking around in a circle on the spot to take it all in. A middle-aged African-American woman with a blonde crew cut, whom I correctly assumed was the owner 'Gloria', walked out from a back room and stops dead when she sees Nik and Stefan.

"You got to be kidding me." She exclaimed in stunned recognition. Nik smiles warmly at her.

"So a hybrid walks into a bar, says to the bartender…" Gloria immediately cuts him off mid-sentence.

"You may be invincible, but that doesn't make you funny." She points out flatly. I sauntered passed him, headed for the bar.

"Don't quit your day job, sweetie." I teased him, and earned a flirtatious smirk from Nik in response. Gloria looks at Stefan, curiously.

"I remember you."

Stefan looked confused. "Yeah. You're Gloria. Shouldn't you be…?"

"Old and dead?" Stefan nodded. "Now if I die, who's going to run this place, huh?" She asked, rhetorically.

"Gloria's a very powerful witch." Nik cleared things up for both Stefan and myself.

"I can slow the aging down some. Herbs and spells. But don't worry, it'll catch up to me one day." Gloria explained. I just stared at her, disbelievingly.

"Seriously? Herbs and spells?" I was shocked. Gloria looked at me curiously from where I was perched casually at the bar.

"You I don't recognize." She stated, looking to Nik for clarity. He came over to Gloria, all smiles.

"She is my beloved. The one I lost a thousand years ago." He said, proudly. Gloria looked amazed.

"You're Graínne?" She said, looking surprised.

"Reincarnated, yes." I confirmed, feeling uneasy. Gloria looked oddly frightened by this. But I wasn't sure if she was frightened for me, or by the fact that I was even here in the first place. Either way, I didn't like the expression.

"Stefan, why don't you go and fix us up a little something from behind the bar?" Nik suggested, and Stefan shrugged; for once not being a pain in the arse.

"Yeah, sure thing." He goes behind the bar and pulls out three glasses. I turned to Stefan and gave him a serious look.

"Do you know what they are saying?" I asked him, underneath my breath. Stefan nodded discreetly and craned his head, indicating that he was using his super hearing to eavesdrop for the both of us. I turned my head to look over at Nik, who looks at Gloria and turns on the charm. Stefan relays the conversation:

"You look ravishing, by the way." Nik tells her, and Gloria just gives him a flat look, while I stiffened and felt my eyes narrow with irritation.

Nik isn't the only one who can get jealous and possessive.

"Don't. I know why you're here." She stated. Nik's smile falls a little. "A hybrid out to make more hybrids? That kind of news travels fast." Gloria reminded him. Nik frowned, looking troubled.

"So what am I doing wrong? I broke the curse." He informed her. Gloria rolled her eyes.

"Obviously, you did something wrong." She shook her head and sighed. "Look, every spell has a loophole, but a curse that old … we'd have to contact the witch who created it." Gloria explained and I immediately stiffened at the thought of conjuring up Esther; who had conveniently neglected to reveal that I was the surprise ingredient in her stupid curse-breaker, and at the same moment forbade me from revealing this fact to the point that if I even opened my mouth to say her name I would suffer the mother of all headaches.

Nothing good would come from conjuring up Esther; especially because Nik had been the one to kill her in the first place. Apparently, Nik agreed with me as he also pulled a face at the idea as well.

"Well, that would be the original witch. And she's very dead." He pointed out. Gloria nodded.

"I know. And for me to contact her, I'll need help. Bring me Rebekah." She instructed. Where I all but did a jig in my seat at the thought that I'd be reunited with my oldest best friend and sister-in-law; Nik made an annoyed face. Rebekah and I had so much we needed to catch up on. Stefan finished making my drink and passed it to me. I thanked him, and raised an eyebrow when I saw him wondering over to a random photo on the wall.

"What's that, Stef?" I hopped off my bar stool and walked over to him to look over his shoulder at the old black-and-white photograph.

"What is this?" Stefan asked Nik, looking confused. Nik smiled warmly at him and clapped a hand on his shoulder when he saw the picture.

"Well, I told you, Stefan. Chicago's a magical place." He told him. But Stefan frowned, obviously very freaked out over discovering something that he had no recollection of.

"But this is me. With you." He stated, pointing at it. The photograph was a souvenir picture of both Stefan and Nik, both dressed to the nines with Stefan's arm around Nik's shoulder in a brotherly gesture. Stefan was wearing a black tie and dinner jacket ensemble, and Nik wearing the slightly more formal and well-to-do white tie and waistcoat tuxedo. I had never seen Nik looking so relaxed and genuinely happy in a photo before. I smiled warmly, and glanced up at both men.

"You both shine up like new pennies." I complimented them, before turning and returning to my bar stool and saluting them with my drink. Nik smirked, cocking an eyebrow at my choice of words.

"You stole that from a movie, love. But thank you for the compliment." He said, graciously.

Gloria's bar was rapidly filling up with customers ready for a night on the town with their friends or perspective dates, and it was becoming less likely that Nik could continue having a private conversation with his witch friend without somebody eavesdropping that wasn't supposed to. Nik knocks back his drink and places the glass back on the counter. "Let's get going." He said, and I follow his example and scull what remained of my own drink. However, I was immediately stopped by Nik. "Woah, woah. Where do you think you're going?" Nik asked me. I blinked at him with confusion.

"You told me that I wasn't supposed to leave your side. That I go where you go?" I reminded him. Nik offered me yet another brilliant smile that warmed me up better than the strongest of whiskeys, and steered me back to the bar stool I had just vacated.

"Not this time. You stay here, and Stefan and I will be back shortly. Gloria will take care of you until then." Nik insisted.

"What! Why?" I protested, grabbing his arms. Nik gently disentangled himself from my grasp and smoothed back my hair behind my ear.

"Where we're going is a little too dangerous for you right now, just stay here and have another drink." Nik said, firmly. I frowned at him.

"Nik, I can take care of myself. You know that." I protested once again, feeling a bit offended. Nik rolled his eyes.

"I know you can my _elskede."_ He whispers into my ear tenderly. "Please, just trust me on this." He insists, and quickly kisses me before I could protest further and I reluctantly nodded when he pulls away.

"That was a dirty trick, Nik. Hurry back." I ordered him, sternly. He winked at me and gestures for Stefan to follow him through the thickening crowd. Stefan waves at me as he goes and I nodded and smiled slightly.

* * *

The very second I lose sight of both of them in the crowd, a drunken customer bumps into me and spills their drink down the front of my shirt. I grimaced with disgust and glared at him. His friend winces.

"I'm so sorry." He tells me, before leading his mate away and leaving me in a ripe and sticky situation.

"Fan-bloody-tastic." I drawled with irritation. A tea towel is thrust into my face, and I glanced up to see a sympathetic Gloria smiling at me.

"Isn't it always the way?" She asks me. I shrugged.

"Usually. Except with me, it's blood." I admitted. Gloria frowned at the admission.

"Blood?" She echoed.

"Yep. I'm from Mystic Falls in Virginia. I'm sure you probably heard of it?" I questioned the old witch. Gloria's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Unfortunately." She said. "Come on, I've got something you can wear." She said, leading me towards the backroom. "And then while you're waiting for Klaus to return with Stefan from their 'errand', you can help me bus some tables and serve customers." Gloria suggested. I shrugged. I figured it was one way to keep myself occupied. I followed Gloria towards what looked like her bedroom. She wondered over to an en-suite bathroom and clicked on the light before walking over to a nearby chest of drawers. She turned and gave me a quick glance before opening the drawers. "You look roughly my height, so this _should_ fit you." She said, tossing me a pair of skin tight jeans that hugged my hips and my bum in all the right ways and matched it with a studded belt to hold it up with. Then she went to her wardrobe and skimmed through the choices before eventually selecting and tossing me a tapered _Rolling Stones_ Tank T-shirt with:'It's only Rock 'n Roll but I like it' printed on the front. I retained my Oxford Booties, while stuffing my soiled clothes into a garbage bag to clean later.

"Thanks. It's very generous of you." I told Gloria, who waved it off.

"Well, you can't expect me to just let you sit or stand around in dirty clothes do you?" She asked me, logically. Then she studied me further. "In fact, keep 'em. They were getting too small for me anyway." She suggested. I immediately protested, but it seemed Gloria could go spontaneously deaf when she wanted to as she immediately left the room before I could open my mouth to protest. About ten minutes later, after I had freshened up and replaced my clothes, I sauntered back downstairs. Gloria gave me an approving smile. "Much better." She said.

I still felt awkward taking somebody else's clothes, but Gloria stubbornly insisted and I eventually just shrugged it off and put myself to good use.

"They go great with that necklace you're wearing." Gloria pointed towards Nik's silver wolf tooth necklace.

"I'm gonna put a different song on. Is that okay with you, Gloria?" I asked the witch, who nodded giving her permission. I all but jogged over to the juke box and scanned the options before making my selection and choosing a Joan Jett song, since it turned out Gloria was a fan of rock 'n roll songs; judging by the T-shirt I was wearing. _'Cherry Bomb'_ came over the speakers and I immediately started dancing along and miming the words. I was so into the song that I nearly missed Damon of all people walking into the bar. Luckily, the crowd obstructed his view from me.

"Oh, bloody hell…" I swore underneath my breath and tried to move quickly and silently for refuge behind the bar. Gloria frowned at me with suspicion.

"Are you alright, honey?" She asked.

"Stefan's brother, Damon. He's here; but he can't find me here, or he'll attempt to take me back to Mystic Falls." I explained urgently to Gloria. "But that cannot happen. Nik will kill him if he tries." I warned her. "Please, you've gotta help me by distracting him so I can hide … at least until he leaves." But it was too late, Damon had already spotted her. Gloria pasted on a rather fake looking smile.

"When I give you a direction, head to the back. I'll let you know when it's safe." Gloria promised before stepping towards the counter to greet Damon. "Well, look what the wind blew in." I cursed and attempted to keep my back to Damon who had obviously strolled up to the bar counter to possibly interrogate Nik's witch friend for information on Stefan, Nik and me. "Last I heard, you hated this place." Gloria greeted Damon, as I took in the fact that Damon had apparently been in Chicago before, a long time ago.

"Gloria. Damn!" Damon sounded like he was flirting. But I knew he was fishing for information by laying on the charm. I recognised the technique from when he, Alaric and I were interrogating Jules, back when we were trying to figure out what was going on with the Lockwood Family. Damon's tone was purely professional with a hint of flirtation, nothing more. "If I knew you were going to age like this, I would have stuck around." He complimented her. If I had been looking in their direction, I predicted that Gloria probably would've been smiling a little.

"I always did like you better. But I see your brother is still running in the wrong crowd." I stiffened, hoping that she wasn't going to betray me despite promising to give me the opportunity to escape detection.

"You've seen him?" Damon got serious.

"With Klaus. Bad combo." Gloria confirmed, and I held my breath. Damon started interrogating her.

"Was there a young woman with them?" My heart leapt into my throat, and I busied myself serving a couple of customers. Gloria pretended to give the question some thought.

"Yes, I believe there was. Petite, black hair, heart shaped face with brown eyes and carried a sort of old-soul aura about her?" Gloria accurately described me.

"That's the girl I'm looking for." Damon sounded both triumphant and positively relieved. "You know where she is?" He asked, switching to anxious. Gloria paused; this was the moment of truth. Was she going to rat me out, or keep her promise?

"I haven't a clue. She could be with Stefan and Klaus, if I'm not mistaken." Gloria replied vaguely, and I sagged with relief.

"You know where they went?" Damon was getting a bit impatient with her. I looked at them out the corner of my eye.

"They'll be back later tonight. They're out running a little errand for me." Gloria explained, telling the truth, and not liking the tone Damon was having.

"Gloria…" He cajoled, and she responded by pushing a glass of bourbon towards him across the counter. Damon takes her hand as she turns to walk towards me. "Don't be a tease. What kind of errand?" Damon pressed for answers. Gloria removes her hand from his grip, scowling at him.

"I don't think so. You're cute, but you're still a vampire." She reminded him, before walking over to me. "Go around the tables and collect the dirty dishes and take them out back." She instructed.

I nodded, and retrieved the bussing bucket from underneath the counter and headed out onto the bar floor, scooping up random crockery and bar materials, and wiping down spills before moving swiftly for the back area. Part of me hoped that Nik would be back soon, before Damon could get hurt trying to play the hero and liberate me unnecessarily.

* * *

 **A/N: That's all folks. Stay tuned for the next update ;)**

 **TTFN xx**


	37. Bleeding Love

**A/N: Welcome back to 'A Thousand Years', great to see that you're keeping up so far with this story.**

 **This chapter is where we welcome back Rebekah, which we haven't seen since the prologue and from Grace's various flashbacks. This should be interesting to write. I hope that you find it as interesting.**

 **Please review with your thoughts. You've all been good so far with the lack of flames, please keep up it up!**

 **I don't own** _ **The Vampire Diaries.**_ **Klaus, Damon and the others all belong to author L.J Smith.**

 **I own Grace.**

 **Happy reading ;)**

* * *

 **BLEEDING LOVE**

" _One day someone will walk into your life and make you see why it never worked out with anyone else."  
_ _ **~Unknown.**_

* * *

Nik and Stefan were taking ages dealing with Gloria's errand, and I was beginning to become restless. There was only so many demanding and fussy customers I could deal with before I wanted to throw their drinks in their faces and say 'fuck it' and risk Nik's wrath by going out to find them. Eventually, Gloria could see that I was planning a mutiny and pulled me aside after serving my latest customer.

"Why don't you go and have some fun." Gloria suggested, and I glanced out at the dancing crowd. I hesitated a little; I was never really a party girl, and while I wasn't a bad dancer, it was only because it was what was expected of us a thousand years ago. "Klaus shouldn't be much longer I expect." She promised me. In the end, I shrugged and just tossed the tea towel I was holding in my hands onto the counter and grabbed a beer that Gloria held out to me with an encouraging smirk.

"Turn it up!" I yelled, and almost immediately the volume increased a little and I started mingling with the crowd of dancers. I took a healthy sip from my beer as I relaxed and just let myself get into the dance as I bounced, rolled and swayed my hips along with every song that came up on the jukebox.

But I wasn't an idiot, and I knew not to let my guard down if there was a chance that either Damon would return, or if some drunken moron would attempt to make a pass at me. Every attempt to flirt or dance suggestively was immediately turned down. But it wasn't until somebody was brazen enough to put their arms around my waist and move with me to the music that I cracked it. Whoever it was, was strong and I immediately went on alert as I frowned.

"You've got ten seconds before I beat you to death my fists, if you don't bugger off." I warned.

Instead of letting go, the arms tightened. Whoever it was chuckled at the threat and I was about to follow through and smack him, when a familiar voice mutters into my ear.

"I'll spar with you anytime, sweetheart." I instantly relaxed when I realized that it was Nik, and I spun in his arms and hugged him tight.

"How'd it go? Did you get what you needed to do done?" I asked him. Nik's flirty little smirk softened and he tugged me closer.

"It's in the process. Just got to wait until she wakes up and comes here." He whispers and we sway on the spot together. I was surprised.

"Rebekah?" I queried, causing him to nod. "You daggered her didn't you?" Nik made no comment, which meant that I was right on the money.

"As soon as she wakes up, we'll get the key to bringing back Esther." Nik stated, confidently. He takes my hand and leads me off the dancefloor and towards the bar where Stefan was waiting somewhat impatiently. Gloria hands Nik and Stefan a beer and gestures if I wanted another one. I nodded, and was immediately handed a beer.

"Where's Rebekah?" Gloria demanded, with a raised eyebrow. Nik looked at her sternly.

"She'll be here. I can't just conjure her on demand." He replied flatly, pulling me to him so I could sit on his knee. Nik takes a sip of his beer and observes Stefan curiously.

I did also.

"What's wrong, Stefan?" I asked, and earned an emotionless look back in reply before he continued to observe the other patrons in the bar. Nik snorts, looking a little disappointed.

"I thought Chicago was your playground." He taunts him a little, and Stefan immediately gets a look of realization and becomes angry.

"So this is why you asked me to be your wingman? Because you like the way that I tortured innocent people?" He sounded disgusted. I blinked, pausing mid-sip.

"You did?" I blurted out. Nik shrugged, nonchalantly.

"Well, that's certainly half of it." He admitted. Stefan and I waited for him to continue, but when he didn't Stefan prompted him for an answer.

"What's the other half?" He demanded. Nik responded to 'our' question by pouring some alcohol into three shot glasses and offering one to me. I took it, still waiting for an explanation and intrigued by what might have been discussed during my absence.

"The other half, Stefan, is that you used to want to be _my_ wingman." Nik responded, sliding one of the other shot glasses to Stefan along the counter before picking up his own, and knocking it back as if it was water. "I confided with you – pretty much like what we're doing right now – about my toxic relationship with most of my family, and instead of judging me like I expected you to; you sided with me." He refilled his shot glass with tequila and raises it in a salute. "To friendship." He toasted. Stefan clinks his shot glass with Nik, and both of them clinked with me before we drank.

"So, I'm confused. If we were such great friends, then why do I only know you as the hybrid dick who sacrificed my girlfriend on an altar of fire, and coerced Grace into shedding blood in your ritual? Huh?" Stefan asked, cynically. I stiffened and got off Nik's knee but cuddled up to him, feeling the alcohol making me slightly cloudy in the head.

"I wasn't pressured into that. I willingly donated my blood to save him." I corrected Stefan. Nik tightened the embrace; apparently the alcohol was getting to him as well.

"Something I'll always be grateful for." He murmurs into my hair before kissing the side of my neck; causing me to shiver. "All good things must come to an end." He explained to Stefan, regretfully.

"What do you mean? What happened?" I asked.

"This bar was targeted by cops who knew that most of us were vampires. They started firing wooden bullets all around the room. Rebekah and I had to make a run for it." Nik explained.

"What about Stefan?" I asked.

"To let him come along with Rebekah and I would've been too dangerous, so I compelled him to forget us until I said otherwise." Nik replied. Stefan raised a disbelieving eyebrow.

"You compelled me to forget?" He said. Nik sighed, impatiently.

"It was time for Rebekah and I to move on." He insisted. "Better to have a clean slate." He drains the shot glass.

"But why? You shouldn't have to cover your tracks … unless you're running from someone." Stefan protested, not understanding. My eyes widened in realization.

"Mikael…" I whispered, both fearfully and angrily. I absently rubbed at my birthmark; remembering the sting of his blade piercing through my side. Nik placed a comforting hand over mine; partly to stop me from reflecting upon the memory, and to lend comfort for the both of us.

"Storytime's over." He declared, firmly.

Nik turns to order another drink from the bar, just as Stefan suddenly straightened up and I looked at him with confusion, until I noticed over at the main entrance, Damon motioning to Stefan and momentarily locking eyes with me before walking behind a wall, out of view of Nik. I rolled my eyes. As if Nik wasn't able to sense that he was here.

"I need another drink. A real one." Stefan announced and gets up from his bar stool. Nik nods absently, and I caught his eye mouthing 'what are you doing?' at him. Stefan shook his head and headed for the exit. I swore underneath my breath and took a seat on Stefan's vacated stool.

"Something troubling you, sweetheart?" Nik asks me, leaning against the bar and studying me curiously. I shook my head, solemnly.

"Just remembering." I admitted, making a face. "It's not a pleasant experience." I take a large mouthful of beer to stop myself from saying anything else. Nik's eyes narrowed when he realised what I might be thinking about.

"He can't hurt you anymore, Grace. Don't dwell on the past." He reassured me, firmly. I looked at him shrewdly.

"Do you know if he's dead?" I asked him, using a serious tone. Nik stiffened almost immediately.

"Grace…" He warned me.

"Do you?" I insisted.

Nik narrowed his eyes at me. "No, we've managed to escape him so far. None of us have seen him for nearly a decade." He reluctantly admitted, confirming what Elijah had told me months ago. I sighed, slightly guilty for making him admit that.

"Don't make promises that you cannot keep, Niklaus." I told him. "There will come a time when you cannot protect me, and I will have to defend myself against that son-of-a-bitch. And when that day comes – if it comes – I will show no mercy." I vowed. Nik opened his mouth to protest, but was interrupted by Gloria.

"Last call. Drink 'em up!" She announced to the rapidly thinning crowd. We both groaned, before finishing off our beers. Then Nik stiffened once again, and I froze when I felt somebody's body warmth on my back.

"Long time no see, Grace. Are you alright?" It was Damon; he sounded angry. I closed my eyes and swallowed hard, feeling trapped.

"I see they've opened the doors to the riff-raff now." Nik observes, also looking pissed and possessive.

"Oh, honey. I've been called worse." Damon's voice oozes sass.

"You don't give up, do you?" Nik said. I suddenly wish that I not chosen to sit in this specific spot, as both of them sized each other up and waited for the other to make their first move. I was in the direct line of fire; and I had the feeling both of them were well aware of this fact and were taking advantage of it.

"Give me my brother and Grace back … you'll never have to see me again." Damon bargained.

"Damnit, Damon…" I grumbled, frustrated. Nik's eyes flashed yellow briefly and my eyes widened.

"Well, I am torn." Nik's voice was as smooth as silk. "You see, I promised Grace here—" I felt Damon wrap a hand around my wrist. "—and Stefan that I wouldn't let you die, but how many freebies did I really sign up for?" Nik questioned, rhetorically. "And clearly you want to die, otherwise you wouldn't be here, so…" Nik shrugged nonchalantly, setting down his drink and holding something else in his other hand. But it was hard to tell what it was.

"What can I say? I'm a thrill-seeker." Damon replied, with his smart mouth. Next thing I know, I'm being pulled backwards by my best friend when Nik extends his hand and makes a grab for Damon's throat. I let out a startled scream when this happened, and then grew angry when I realised what Damon was doing.

"Are you seriously using me as a human shield, Damon!?" I snarled at him, feeling my heart hammering frantically in my chest. Nik's eyes instantaneously changed from blue-green to yellow in a split second.

"Let her go!" Nik warned, all pleasantries were thrown out of the window when Damon had done this. Damon smirked at him.

"No can do. Grace is what stands between getting my way and certain death." Damon stated. I twisted in his grip.

"Damon, stop it! This is suicide!" I protested. "I don't want you to die, damn it!" I shouted.

"Shush now, baby. I'm negotiating your release." Damon quipped at me.

"No. What you are doing, Damon, is signing your own death certificate!" I stepped down hard on his foot to get him to release me, but it had no effect. "Damon, I thought Stefan and I told you that we don't need saving. We'll come back to Mystic Falls when we're ready!" I placated desperately. He ignores me.

"You want a partner in crime? Forget Stefan. I'm so much more fun." Damon tried selling himself to Nik. But instead of Nik considering this idea, he liberates me from Damon's grip and sends him flying backwards where he crashes on top of a table, breaking it, and causing him to land hard on the ground on his back.

"Damon!" I shouted, from where Nik had relocated me on a bar stool. Nik walks over to the broken table with Damon sprawled over it, and rips off part of a chair to fashion it as a crude wooden stake. My eyes widen in horror, as Nik crouches over Damon.

"You won't be any fun after you're dead." Nik reminds him as he holds Damon down with one hand and raises the makeshift stake with the other.

"Nik, don't!" I screamed.

Suddenly the stake is set alight and Nik throws it away with a grunt. We all looked around for the source and saw Gloria walking in from out back, with her hand outstretched and glaring furiously at both Nik and Damon, and casting me concerned glances.

"Really?" Nik whines in frustration.

"Not in my bar. You take it outside." Gloria stated, firmly. I sag with relief and hopped off the bar stool as Damon tries to sit up. However, Nik pushes him back down and glares at him.

"You don't have to negotiate your brother's freedom. When I'm done with him, he won't want to go back." He stated. "As for Grace; you do not have the right or any claim on her. Neither do I when it really comes down to it. But she has already made it clear that she only sees a friendship with you. If you wish to live long enough to build on that friendship, do not test my patience. This is the only warning you get." Nik was surprisingly lenient. He takes his hand off Damon's chest before stepping over him and walking over to me.

"Thank you, Nik." I whispered. He only grunts before leaning in to kiss my forehead and wipe away some stray tears from my face.

"Don't be too long. Rebekah is not a patient person." He warns me. I nodded and Nik leaves the bar. Damon finally gets to his feet, and avoids looking in my direction. But I couldn't accept that and immediately stormed over to him.

"What the hell, Damon?" I said, disappointedly. "You can't just be patient and wait until I come back to Mystic Falls?" I stated. He still stubbornly refused to look at me. I took matters into my own hands and stepped in front of him and pulled him into a very tight embrace. "I love you, Damon. Don't make me watch you die, please." I pleaded, my voice breaking. "You're one of my best friends, I need you. Just not the same way as I need Nik." Finally, Damon reciprocates the hug; squeezing my lungs together so I could barely breathe. I could feel something wet dampening my shoulder and I realised that he was also crying.

"I'm sorry." I heard him whisper, and I clung tighter.

"Don't be sorry. Just listen the next time I tell you something. Stefan may say that he's not coming back, but I am. I promise you that I will come back, eventually. But for now, just stay away from us. Alright?" I stated firmly. Damon didn't respond, but I knew that he got it. I pulled back from him and wiped away the frustrated, angry tears that were falling from his eyes. "I gotta go." I pulled him down into another hug and kissed his cheek. "Be seeing you." I promised.

Damon picks up my hand and kisses the back of it, before leaving the bar.

* * *

Neither Nik nor Stefan spoke a word during our trip towards where they had left Rebekah, which turned out to be a nondescript warehouse. Both of them were angry, but for different reasons. This entire situation was getting out of control, and unfortunately I had to be caught up in the middle of it all.

"Wait here." Nik orders both Stefan and I, before walking into a nearby room where Nik was storing the rest of his family's coffins.

"This is probably a stupid question, but are you okay?" I asked Stefan, cautiously.

"You're right. That is a stupid question." Stefan replied, evenly. "But I think she got the message this time." He added, reluctantly.

"I set Damon straight too. And all it took was Nik almost staking him and scaring the shit out of me to get the message home." I reported back, as equally flat as Stefan sounded. He nodded curtly. Then looked up at the door, and grabbed my wrist.

"Klaus is calling for us." Stefan reported, and we walked towards the door and entered the room Nik disappeared into. Stefan walks in first, and I followed close behind. There was a stunned gasp, and Stefan stops short slightly tightening his grip on my wrist.

"Ow!" I grunted, and Stefan immediately releases my wrist.

"Stefan…" My eyes widened when I recognized Rebekah's voice, and I looked over his shoulder to see my other best friend standing just inside the room looking like she had stepped out of the 1920s. Nik looked like the cat that ate the canary as he strolls over and compels Stefan.

"Now you remember." He tells the youngest Salvatore, who blinks like a newborn baby and looks at Rebekah with recognition.

"Rebekah." He whispers and walks closer to her, as she beams at him with joy.

"Stefan." Nik addresses Stefan warmly, and Stefan turns to face Nik and greets him like an old friend. I felt like I was intruding on a private moment and turned to retreat from the room, but froze when Stefan spoke again.

"I remember you. We were friends." Stefan sounded mystified. Nik's smile widens.

"We _are_ friends." He corrects him, then suddenly sees me and frowns. "Where do you think you're going?" I jumped like I had been shot and spun 'round to face him.

"Who are you talking to, Nik?" Rebekah demands, with confusion.

"Just another old friend of yours, sister." Nik responded casually, and encourages me to walk into the room. My eyes widened a little before I stepped into the light and sheepishly smiled at Rebekah.

"Hello, Bekah." I greeted her awkwardly, and waited for her reaction. I didn't have to wait for long.

"Graínne!" Rebekah practically squeals and the next thing I know, I have my arms full of Rebekah who also apparently doesn't know her own strength. "Oh, my God!" She sobs, and I send panicked looks at Nik, who immediately comes over to help. But at the last minute, Rebekah pulls away and glares at me. "What the bloody hell were you thinking!?" She yelled at me, and I blinked at her with confusion.

"Pardon?"

"Do you have any idea what you put me through that night?" She reiterated and I instantly realise what she is referring to. I turned away out of sorrow.

"Enough, Rebekah." Nik stated, sternly. But Rebekah wasn't through with her rant.

"When Nik carried you back into those caves that night looking the way that you did; I was inconsolable, and Kol was literally out for blood. Why did you put yourself at risk like that?! After everything we'd been through with Henrik!" She demanded.

"I said, that's enough!" Nik snarled, and Rebekah glared at her brother. Stefan looked completely confused by our conversation. I turned and looked at her with hard eyes.

"What I experienced that night Rebekah, wasn't exactly something that I had planned on either." I responded, coolly. "But I am sorry, that I put you though that much heartache. Believe me it was done unconsciously." I admitted.

"What are you talking about?" Stefan asked, with confusion. In reply, I simply walked over to him and looked him dead in the eyes.

"I can show you. You're strong enough to look through my memories because you've been feeding on human blood. I know it can be done because I did this once before with Damon when he was trying to understand why Elijah was so angry with me when I was bitten by Jules and had to be healed by him." I told Stefan.

Nik intercepted me.

"What are you doing?" He demanded.

"Helping Stefan understand. You're welcome to help me, if you desire." I explained, without looking at him. Nik frowned.

"I'll leave that up to you." He looked disapproving. But I didn't really care.

Stefan reluctantly nodded.

"What do I have to do?" He asked. I took both his hands.

"Just do what you would do if you were trying to manipulate my dreams. I'll do the rest." I explained. Stefan nodded, and focused deliberately on my eyes. I saw his green eyes dilate and almost immediately I was in the past.

* * *

 **~:FLASHBACK:~  
** **(A thousand years ago –** _ **still**_ **Grace's P.O.V (with Stefan observing))  
**

 **(A/N: The following scenes have been copied from the prologue; just in case you find any of this familiar.)  
**

 _All the villagers were in the caves, along with the Mikaelsons; who were the topic of muted conversation. I could not help but feel disgusted with them at present. Haven't they got anything else to do other than gawk and gossip about them? I returned to my meal with Rebekah, who looked a bit troubled._

 _"Something troubling you, Bekah?" I asked her, kindly. She immediately shook her head, glancing at the entrance to the cave._

 _"Not really. I'm getting worried for Mother, Father, Niklaus and Elijah. They have not arrived yet." Rebekah replied. My head snapped up at this and I glanced about, trying to pinpoint our wayward family members. But I could not find Niklaus anywhere. I frowned._

 _"How odd." I got to my feet, and Rebekah grabbed my wrist._

 _"Where are you going?" She asked, suddenly looking fearful. I gently shook her off._

 _"Relax, sister. I'm just going to look for them. I'll be careful, I promise." I reassured her, before making my way towards the entrance and beginning my search._

 _ **(***)**_

 _Niklaus was being chained up to a wooden cross by Mikael, who by the looks of it was not having any luck at all because Niklaus was putting up a fierce battle against him. But then Mikael moved at an inhuman speed to pin him against the cross and I gasped inaudibly as Niklaus glared at him._

 _"Elijah!" Mikael yelled out, and I glanced over and saw Elijah standing off to the side, looking like he wanted to be anywhere but where he was. "Elijah, hold him down!" Mikael ordered him, fiercely. I glanced at him, shaking my head and silently pleading for Elijah to ignore his father and instead save Niklaus, who appeared to agree with me._

 _"Brother, please!" He pleaded, desperately. Elijah was barely making eye contact with Niklaus. "Don't let them do this to me!" Mikael shoved him violently against the cross, and turned his head towards Elijah._

 _"Do it now, boy! Now!" He roared. This time Elijah didn't hesitate and immediately came over and helped Mikael shackle Niklaus to the cross._ No… Elijah! _I despaired, then felt anger rising in my throat like bile. I noticed the desperate look in Niklaus' eyes as he tried one more time to appeal to Elijah._

 _"Help me…!" Niklaus begged, causing Elijah to pause. But Mikael bodily shoved his second eldest son out of the way, as both parents began what looked like a sacrifice. I couldn't stand by and watch the man I love suffer. I ran out into the clearing without thinking._

 _"NO! STOP!" I yelled. All four heads swivelled in my direction: one startled, one guilty, one outraged and one, the one I was trying to protect looked horrified and then fearful._

 _"Gráinne, get out of here! GO!" Niklaus struggled against the chains. Esther shuddered and the fire burned a little brighter before she walked towards her husband with a sober expression on her face._

 _"It is done." She confirmed, and Niklaus' face fell in anguish. I was confused, what madness did I just stumble upon? But I did not have time to ponder the possibilities as Mikael turned his attention away from his wife and onto me. I did not like the livid expression on his face. I glanced at Elijah who looked horrified as well, and we both watched as Mikael unsheathed his sword. My eyes widened in realisation._

 _"RUN! GRÁINNE!" Niklaus screamed._

 _ **(***)**_

 _Suddenly, Niklaus appeared from out of nowhere, having clearly broken free from his restraints. I immediately started fighting against him, scared out of my mind. But he pulled me down into some nearby bushes and clamped a hand over my mouth._

 _"Hush, love. I'm trying to save you." He reassured me, and I immediately started panicking. "Gráinne, please. Trust me." Niklaus begged, looking hurt that I was frightened of him. I looked into his eyes and realised he was telling me the truth. I instantly calmed down and nodded, and he pulled away his hand and glanced around for any sign of Mikael, Elijah and Esther. "Okay, I think we're safe." It was clear he no longer trusted his family, and I didn't blame him. I saw anger, fear and betrayal reflected his blue-green eyes, and I never wanted to see those emotions in them ever again. They would be his undoing if he wasn't careful. He grabbed my hand and immediately took off in a randomly chosen direction. However, we didn't get far as something inhumanly fast slammed into him, holding him up against the tree trunk. I was thrown to the side, knocking the wind out of me. "NO!" Niklaus yelled, and I forced myself to my knees. "Father, please!" He begged from where Elijah had pinned him against the tree, and was trying to pry his brother's hand from his neck._

 _"Be silent, you stupid boy!" I paled when I realised how close Mikael was. I attempted to quickly get to my feet, but a large hand grabbed my shoulder and pulled me roughly to my feet before shoving me against another tree in full view of Niklaus. Mikael glared at me, and I glanced behind him at Niklaus, who was staring back at me with wild eyes. "Look at me, you stupid girl!" I obeyed him immediately, shaking with tears streaming down my cheeks. Mikael leaned in to whisper into my ear. "Let this be a lesson to you, girl. Never trust a Mikaelson."_

 _Then he stabbed me with his sword._

 _The last thing I was fully conscious of was Niklaus' screams before everything went black…_

* * *

 **~:REALITY:~**

Stefan gasps and stumbles away from me while I watched, feeling solemn and grave, flanked by both Nik and Rebekah; who were also observing Stefan's reaction to our tragic past. Stefan's eyes were wide and horrified as he let the events that lead to Nik being cursed and then the moment that I was brutally murdered sink in. Rebekah rushes to Stefan's side looking concerned, while Nik does the same thing with me.

I avoided looking at him, feeling ashamed.

"What did Graínne show you?" Rebekah asked, frantically. Stefan didn't respond.

"Please, Bekah. Call me, Grace. That's my name now." I insisted, before revealing what I showed to Stefan. "I showed him our brief conversation before I left the caves to search for Elijah and Nik, then the actual curse ceremony from my point of view—" Nik's head snapped in my direction, but I couldn't tell if he was mad or curious. "—and finally what happened after Nik told me to run, up until I was killed." I finished, staring at the floor.

Stefan came up to me and immediately hugged me.

I was astonished.

"I'm sorry." He says to both Nik and I, and Nik looks shocked as well. "I still don't agree with what you did to break the curse; but after seeing how you got the curse in the first place, I can understand your reasons now." Stefan tells Nik who nods stiffly but nothing more. Stefan retreats off to the side of the room, followed by a worried Rebekah.

"We can have our reconciliation later." I told Rebekah. "We're actually here for a different reason." Nik took up the conversation, as I ignored the worried look on his face. I realised that I wasn't as completely over our horrific shared history as I originally believed, and especially felt ashamed that I had revealed something so personal to somebody else … even if it was to help them understand and be more willing to help. I dreaded to know what the expression on my face looked like to be making Nik even more overprotective than he already was.

"Gloria tells me you know how to contact the original witch." Nik explains to his highly suspicious sister.

"The original witch?" Rebekah repeated. Nik looked irritated at the repetition.

"What do you have that Gloria needs?" He demanded, quickly losing his patience. I walked over and linked our hands together, trying to calm him down and avoid him re-daggering Rebekah all over again in his frustration. Nik glances at me briefly and draws in a deep breath before looking at Rebekah with a steely gaze as he squeezes back and rubs the back of my hand with his thumb. She sighs, and raises her hand towards her neck and freezes when she realises something is missing.

"Where's my necklace?" Rebekah gets to her feet and runs frantically at Nik. "What did you do with it? I never take it off!" She yells. Almost immediately after she says this, I get flashes back to my memories of my past life; specifically relating to Rebekah. My eyes widened in realisation and I swore underneath my breath, and glanced anxiously at Stefan who seemed to have come to the same realisation as I did.

Elena had Rebekah's necklace.

Nik looks clueless to Stefan's and my dilemma. "I don't know. I didn't touch it." He responded. Rebekah immediately rushes back towards her coffin and starts tearing it apart, searching for her necklace.

"We need to find it, Nik. Now, I want it back!" Rebekah insists. It only takes Nik a few seconds to realise why his sister was behaving this way and he snarls in anger.

"Tell me that's not what she needs, Rebekah!" He demanded, as Rebekah continues searching through the coffin. But when she realises what she is looking for is not there, she throws it to the ground and starts panicking. I break away from Nik and rushed over to her side before he could stop me.

"Bekah! Bekah, look at me." I insisted and Rebekah stops freaking out and focuses on my face. "We'll find it. Don't worry." I promised her, confidently and sincerely. _Although, I'm not so sure you're gonna like where we're going to find it…_

Rebekah relaxes and pulls me into a hug. "I'm sorry, Grace. I didn't mean to make you relieve painful memories." She said. I smiled warmly and hugged her back.

"I'm sure by the end of all this, I'll probably experience a hell of a lot more. I can guarantee it." I grumbled, breaking away from her and heading for the door; followed closely by her, Nik and Stefan. Then I stiffened, alarming all three of them. "Oh, bloody hell. Not again!" I groaned and felt my eyes roll back into my head as I passed out, in the process of relieving my memories of Rebekah to add on to the ones I already had of Nik and Elijah.

* * *

I woke up to somebody stroking my hair and realising that whatever I was lying on was moving. I groaned, reacting to a slight headache and attempted to sit up.

"Easy. You've only just woken up." I opened my eyes and found myself looking into Rebekah's worried and confused dark blue eyes. I realised that my head was lying in Rebekah's lap, while both Nik and Stefan were in the driver and passenger seats.

"What the hell happened?" I mumbled, sitting up slowly with Rebekah's assistance and raising a hand to my head.

"An excellent question, love." Nik responded from the driver's seat. He looked at me through the rear view mirror. "One I hope you can shed some light on." He requested. All three of them looked extremely concerned that I had just fainted outright with no explanation or even an injury. I sat back in my chair and massaged my temples in an effort to stave off my headache.

"I had begun the process of regaining _all_ of my memories of Rebekah. It's a side effect of my ability." I explained.

"Ability?" Nik echoed, raising an eyebrow.

"What sort of ability?" Rebekah asked. I paused, and drew in a deep breath.

"I was born a Medium. I can see and communicate with ghosts." I explained. All three of them were shocked.

"I thought that was a witch's ability." Nik sounded confused.

"No, it's not. Mother told me once that Mediums were different from witches, in as such that they cannot perform spells." Rebekah explained.

"Another fun part of being a Medium, is that sometimes I can have premonitions, or remember key memories; whether they are mine or somebody else's." I added bitterly, grimacing.

"When did you discover that you were one?" Stefan asked, quietly.

"When I was a toddler, I had what I thought was an imaginary friend. But when I got older and my peers stopped seeing theirs; mine stayed. That's when I realised that I was communicating with a ghost." I replied.

"Do you know who the ghost was?" Rebekah asked, looking intrigued. I stiffened, debating whether or not telling Nik and Rebekah that I could see the ghost of their dearly loved and missed baby brother was a good idea. Elijah had a hard time believing me before he eventually accepted it.

I took a risk. "Henrik." I whispered, bracing myself for their reaction. Nik stomped on the brakes, causing us all to lurch forward and I nearly concussed myself on Nik's chair in front of me, if it wasn't for Rebekah's quick reflexes that saved me.

"Who's Henrik?" Stefan asked, surprised by Nik's reaction.

"Our baby brother." Rebekah whispered, looking at me with a stunned look on her face.

"You're lying!" Nik roared at me, and I shook my head.

"I think you're forgetting that I was close to Henrik too, Nik. I would not joke about something as personal as this." I stated firmly. "Although, I'm not surprised that you're reacting like this. Elijah had a similar reaction, and nearly injured me in the process." I immediately shut down at the angry look on Nik's face.

"Is he alright?" Rebekah begged me, clutching tightly to my hands, as Nik reluctantly resumed driving. His angst was almost stifling.

"He's the same Henrik he's always been. Bares no grudge or resentment towards what happened to him; even blames himself for not listening to Nik when he warned him not to leave the caves that night." I confirmed. Rebekah sighed with relief and shed tears. "I just wish that there was a way for you to be able to see him like I can." I confessed. Nik pulls up to an expensive looking clothing store. The type that had no labels and attendants served you champagne or any other type of drink while you shopped.

"Let's get this over with." He said, sounding livid with me, and almost immediately got out of the car; slamming the door behind him. I felt like he had daggered me and got out of the car glaring 'daggers' at him for his reaction. It's not like I asked to have the ability to communicate with the dead. He did not have the right to behave like a child. I know that Nik still feels extreme grief and guilt over what happened, but he doesn't have to take it out on me. I strode with a determination into the clothing store, and made a beeline for the first attendant I saw to reserve a private room for Rebekah to find and try on her new clothes.

"May I help you?" A snooty looking woman in her late 20s dressed head to toe in labels, looked down her nose at me. I bit back a snide remark and pasted on a fake pleasant smile.

"Yes, hello. I would like to reserve a room for my sister so she can purchase a new attire. Please." I replied with a formal brusqueness. I thumbed over my shoulder at Rebekah who was eying Nik critically, and having a debate with herself. The woman glanced briefly at her before giving me a superior smirk.

"I'm sorry, we don't have what you and your sister are looking for." She tells me 'regretfully'.

Sure they don't.

"Perhaps you should reconsider." I didn't have to glance beside me to know that Stefan had stepped over to assist me, having 'overheard' the conversation from across the room. The woman was about to rebuff Stefan when she suddenly froze. "You will go and see if there is an available dressing room." Stefan compelled the attendant. The woman's eyes glazed over for a split second as she repeated Stefan's words back verbatim. Then leaves without another word. I turned and smiled gratefully at him.

"Thank you." I said. Stefan smiled back a little.

"You're welcome. Are you okay?" He replied randomly. I blinked, not expecting the question.

"I'm fine. A little taken aback, but fine." I responded, curtly. Then sighed. "Why does he have to be such a child?" I groaned. Stefan shrugged.

"His response was a little uncalled for. But at the same time I think I'd react similarly, particularly if I hadn't seen my brother for a thousand years; and then suddenly my girlfriend claims that she could see and hear him. It's a lot to understand." Stefan tried to get me to see things from his point of view.

"Yeah, well. There are ways of expressing your feelings without getting somebody's back up in the process." I retorted. "And I think he's forgotten."

Stefan smirked. "I think Rebekah agrees with you on that." I glanced over his shoulder and saw a less than impressed Rebekah engaging Nik in conversation. "Shall I relay it for you?" He asked, casually. I nodded, trying to be subtle in my observing. Stefan tilted his head slightly and focused his attention on the conversation starting behind him:

"What are you playing at, Nik? That was uncalled for!" Rebekah snapped at him, angrily. Nik scoffed with disbelief.

"You're not seriously telling me that you believe what Grace says do you?" He said, incredulously. "It's not remotely possible for her to claim that she can do this. It's absurd, and incredibly insulting." He spat, just as angry.

"You've been around for a thousand years, Nik. You of all people should know by now that anything is possible, even the most unlikely abilities." Rebekah countered his argument. "Our family is a perfect example of this." Nik paused, seeming to let that fact sink in; before just as quickly dismissing it and turning away. "Why is it so impossible that Graínne … sorry, _Grace,_ could potentially be able to see our brother?" Rebekah sounded almost pleading. Stefan and I were so into the tense argument that I didn't notice another presence appear.

"What'cha doin'?"

I must have jumped ten feet into the air and onto a very startled Stefan who fumbled to keep a hold of me in bridal-style as a result.

"Holy shit!" I hollered in fright, attracting the attention of both Nik and Rebekah, who looked at me like I'd seen a ghost. Imagine how freaked out they'd be if they realised how very true that was. Hysterical laughter caused me to look down from Stefan's arms and see Henrik holding his sides and struggling to breathe. I glared at him. "Don't do that!" I growled.

"Do what? You jumped on me!" Stefan retorted with confusion. I looked back at a frowning Stefan sheepishly and chuckled in embarrassment.

"Heh, heh. Not you, Stefan. I was talking to Henrik. You can put me down now." I suggested. The name 'Henrik' immediately caught not only Stefan's attention, but also Henrik's older siblings who were instantaneously alert.

"Henrik? He's here?" Stefan immediately looked around for a glimpse, while Rebekah vamp-sped into my face; causing me to take an uncertain step back from her.

"Where is he, can you see him?" She asked, frantically. I nodded and pointed reluctantly over to where Henrik was standing beside Stefan and smirking.

"Yeah, he's standing right there." I scowled at him, warningly. "And he's lucky he's incorporeal, or he'd be getting a thick ear right about now." I threatened him. Henrik's response was to stick his tongue out at me.

"Enough of this bullshit!" Nik raged, making all of us jump, including Henrik, and immediately turned to storm out of the shop. Stefan vamp-sped in front of him to stop him from leaving. "Move out of my way, Stefan." Nik orders, and this time Rebekah joins Stefan to stop Nik from leaving.

"Nik, please. Be reasonable." Rebekah pleaded. Henrik immediately stopped smirking and looked lost. I looked at him sternly.

"What I'm doin', is trying to convince your brother that you're really here and I'm not attempting to trick him." I explained to Henrik, firmly. He frowned, looking troubled.

"He's never reacted like this before." He mused. "And I'm assuming you want me to tell you something that only he and I would know, to try and convince him that I'm here? Just like we did with Elijah?"

I nodded. "Quick as you like." I said, and Henrik paused and started thinking; sorting through what would be the easiest and most efficient way of getting through to Nik successfully.

"I've got it." He shouts triumphantly.

"Alright, let's hear it. Stefan is about to get his neck snapped at any moment." I told him, pointing towards the main entrance at an extremely volatile Nik threatening Stefan and Rebekah.

"You gotta perform a secret handshake that Niklaus and I used to do when we were younger. It should convince him, since we never showed it to anyone. Not even Kol." Henrik explained. I blinked owlishly at him.

"You can't be serious." I protested. Henrik frowned at me.

"You want Niklaus to believe you or not?" He retorted. I sighed.

"Alright. How does it work?" I said, reluctantly. Without another word, Henrik immediately instructed me how to perform the handshake.

"The fastest way to remember that is this: shake hands, arm-wrestle, pull away, fist bump, twiddle fingers and freestyle hand-slap." Henrik explained. I made a face.

"That looks so dorky. Why me?" I bitched. But realised I had no alternative and psyched myself up to walk over and initiate the secret handshake on behalf of Henrik.

"Don't worry, I'll be standing right beside you to guide you through it if you get stuck." He promised. I made my way over to the main door and wordlessly thrust my hand at Nik who stopped his attempts to leave and frowned down at my hand.

"What on earth are you doing?" He demanded, frowning at me. I flushed with embarrassment, but stubbornly continued.

"Proving a point on behalf of your brother." I explained. "What have you got to lose?" I challenged him. "At least I won't be looking like a moron by myself." I sweetened the argument. Nik didn't move for a moment, before Rebekah lost her patience with him.

"God, just do it, Nik!" She growled. Nik snarled with frustration.

"Fine. If this will cease this ludicrous exercise, I'll humour you." He stated, and reluctantly took my hand in his. I immediately shifted our hands into the 'arm-wrestling' gesture. Nik froze, looking astonished. We both continued the secret handshake in the same sequence Henrik had shown me, and by the time we had 'freestyle hand-slapped', Nik was in tears.

"How do you know that?" He whispered, tearfully. "Nobody else knew about that except for…"

"Henrik." I finished, deadpanning. Nik immediately backed away looking spooked. "I told you. He's here. In fact he is standing right between you and Rebekah as we speak." I told them both. Rebekah was sobbing, and looking right at the space between them in anguish.

"Translate for me." Henrik requested, standing directly in front of a sobbing Nik. "I love you, big brother. And I don't blame you for what happened. I miss you." He said. I repeated what he said back to Nik, and before I knew it; both he and Rebekah had trapped me in a group hug with them. Startled, I somehow managed to remain standing and tightened my grip around both siblings as they finally let go of their grief.

A thousand years was a very long time to grieve; but better late than never, I suppose.

"Your dressing room is ready." The same attendant from before wondered back over to us, still looking dazed from when Stefan had compelled her to be more co-operative. Nik broke away first, obviously to try and regain some of his dignity and pride as he cleared his throat and wiped the tears from his eyes. Stefan politely looked away, pretending he hadn't seen it.

"Thank you." He croaked to the bitchy attendant, and without another word uttered, Rebekah seized my wrist and dragged me with her towards her dressing room; leaving Nik and Stefan behind.

Henrik remained behind with Nik and Stefan, just observing.

* * *

Rebekah and I walked briskly into a fancy looking dressing room with powder blue walls and matching curtains, _really_ tacky paintings, and chandeliers with teardrop crystals dripping from it, beaded doorframe curtains and furnished with plushy couches in shades of cream, a chaise lounge, you name it; this place had it.

I made a face.

But Rebekah just breezed on in like she shopped here all the time.

"Make yourself comfortable, Grace. I won't be long." Rebekah requested, smiling at me a little. She disappeared around a nearby corner, leaving me standing in the doorway feeling out of place. In the end, I just shrugged, kicked off my booties and curled up on a couch with my feet tucked up underneath me as I fished out my sketchbook. Another attendant wondered in.

"Can I get you a drink while you wait for your sister?" She asked me, flashing a fake wall of white at me.

I nodded.

"A bottle of champagne, please. With four glasses." I requested, coolly.

"Four?" She blinked at me.

"Yes, four. My sister and I are expecting two gentlemen to join us. My boyfriend and _her_ boyfriend. When they arrive could you escort them in here, please." I requested, giving her a 'don't argue with me' stare. The woman faltered a little.

"Very good." She said, before withdrawing from the room.

I turned back to my sketchbook and turned to the sketch I had created of our entire family dressed in our 11th century attire. Only Elijah's face had been drawn in; and I was about to rectify this by filling in Nik and Rebekah's. By the time I was part of the way through sketching my newest picture – Nik, Rebekah and I sitting on a grassy hillside (with me sitting between Nik's legs) just hanging out together dressed in 21st century garb – the attendant reappeared with the requested bottle of champagne and four glasses, and leading in a happier and more relaxed Nik and a neutral looking Stefan.

"What did we miss, love?" Nik asked, sitting and slouching down on another plushy couch. While Stefan sat down on the chaise lounge, looking bored. I glanced up from my sketch, and briefly eyed Nik.

"Nothing much. Bekah disappeared through that doorway and hasn't returned yet." I replied, then set aside my sketchbook momentarily; reaching for the unopened champagne bottle. "Champagne?" I offered them both, removing the foil from around the champagne cork.

"Please." Nik agreed immediately and dodged the cork when it flew right at him when I wiggled it free from the bottle. I winced.

"Sorry." I apologised and started pouring. Nik shrugged and offered me a smile as he accepted the flute from me. I turned to Stefan. "Want one?" I raised the bottle at him. He shook his head.

"I'm after something a little warmer." He admitted. I grimaced, but didn't say anything. Nik clinked glasses with me and took a sip. I returned back to my couch, took a sip of the champagne and resumed sketching, just as Rebekah walked into the room wearing a very short, almost see-through black mini dress.

I nearly choked on my drink.

"There has to be more to this dress." Rebekah stated, looking disgusted. She faltered when she saw both Nik and Stefan. "Oh, you've finally shown up." Nik raised an eyebrow at Rebekah's greeting.

"Hello to you too, Sister." He responded, taking another sip from his drink. Rebekah rolled her eyes and turned to me for an explanation. I shrugged apologetically at her.

"Sorry, Bekah. There's not." I said, truthfully. Rebekah walked closer to us.

"So women in the 21st century dress like prostitutes, then. You know, I got dirty looks for wearing trousers." Rebekah bitched, and I felt a little offended on behalf of my generation.

"Do I look like I'm wearing lingerie to you?" I asked, tartly. This question grabbed Nik's interest just as Rebekah inspected what I was wearing and frowned.

"No, of course not." She responded.

"Then don't assume that we all do." I told her, not unkindly.

"Besides," Nik smirked. "You wore trousers so women today could wear nothing." He commented, cheekily.

"Only in your dreams, sweetie." I muttered, returning to my sketch. The song playing over hidden speakers suddenly shifted and Rebekah's nose wrinkled, like she had smelt something particularly foul.

"And what is this music? It sounds like a cable car accident." She observed. This time I giggled.

"It's dance music." Stefan responded, dryly.

"And not very good dance music either." I added. Rebekah looked appalled, while Nik rolled his eyes.

"People dance to this?"

"Frequently." I confirmed. Nik straightened up in his seat and scowled at the lot of us, impatiently. I swear, Nik's moods shift far too quickly. It's becoming a little concerning and tiresome.

"Are we done yet?" He complained. Rebekah just scowled at him with annoyance.

"Why are you so grumpy now?" She wanted to know. Nik simply glowered at her, as he poured more champagne into his glass and topped off mine.

"I needed one thing from you for my witch to find out why my hybrids are dying. One thing: your necklace. And you lost it." He bitched. Rebekah sighed, apparently used to this.

"I didn't lose it. It's just been missing for 90 years." She corrected him, before looking at Stefan for approval. "So what do you think?" She asked, referring to her less than flattering dress. I frowned; there had to be something better back there.

"I like it." Stefan replied, nonchalantly. Rebekah's smile dropped almost instantly. "What? I said I liked it." He protested his innocence. Rebekah stomped her way back to the fitting room.

"I can always tell when you're lying, Stefan." She replied. Both Nik and I looked at him, disapprovingly.

"Nice one. Good work." Nik growled at him. Thanks to Stefan's less than tactful compliment, we now had to deal with a sulky, petulant Rebekah.

"You're the one that pulled the dagger out of her." Stefan protested.

"I heard that." Rebekah called out from the fitting room. I groaned, and stood up; tucking my pencil back into it's holder in my sketchbook. I think Rebekah required some help from a 21st century woman. Plus I think I had a vague idea what Rebekah's style could possibly be in this century. Flipping my sketchbook back to the first page, I strode deliberately towards Nik and presented it to him. Thankfully, I had just finished the sketch.

"Feel free to flip through that while I go and assist Rebekah." I suggested to him. Nik looked a little taken aback, but set aside his champagne flute and took the sketchbook, looking at it curiously.

"You're an artist?" I heard him ask me, and I paused mid-step halfway to the fitting room. I turned and smiled.

"Yes. It's one of my degrees in College, and a personal hobby." I confirmed.

He looked both impressed and shocked. "And your other degree?"

"Writing." I replied. Stefan also gets to his feet, and heads for the door we first entered in.

"I'm going to get some air." He announced, and passed by me in haste. Nik pours himself some more champagne, absently waving a dismissive hand towards Stefan and proceeds to look through my drawings.

* * *

I disappeared down a corridor and towards where I could see small curtained fitting rooms, and also a selection of different outfits Rebekah must have requested from an attendant based on her specific requirements.

"Rebekah?" I called out, and saw her step out from behind a curtain; wearing yet another disastrous selection. The attendant who found these clothes for Rebekah must be blind or has stale taste. I could tell that Rebekah was getting upset, and I couldn't help but feel sorry for her. "You alright, honey? Do you need some help?" I came up to her where she was standing in front of a mirror, frowning hatefully at her reflection.

"That is the best idea I've heard in ages." Rebekah stated with obvious relief. I nodded and strolled over to the selections and inspected each one of them. "Tell me the truth, Bekah. Do you like any of these?" I asked her critically. Rebekah didn't hesitate to respond.

"Not at all." She said. I nodded sagely.

"I thought so." We both turned towards an attendant who had just entered the room to see how we were fairing.

"How is it going?" She asked, politely.

"None of these are what I am looking for." Rebekah immediately gave feedback. The girl deflated a little, before pasting on a fake smile.

"I see. Would you like me to go and find you something else to try?" She asked, with exaggerated politeness. Clearly, she didn't like the fact that Rebekah rejected her offerings. I smirked unsympathetically at her. She had chosen the wrong girl, no, the wrong vampire to mess with. Rebekah frowned at her with obvious distain.

"Actually, I'd like my sister to go find me something to wear." Rebekah insisted. The girl looked at me and what I was wearing and clearly looked like she wanted to laugh, but wisely held her tongue.

"If you prefer." She replied.

"I do." Rebekah sniffed imperiously. I unfolded my arms and followed the obviously irritated attendant to another part of the shop. The girl gestured for me to make my selections.

"Good luck." She said snidely, and I glared at her.

"I'd watch yourself. Your attitude isn't winning you any favours." I warned her. The girl clearly thought that I was beneath her, simply because of what I was still wearing; which was the nightclub outfit I had given to me by Gloria.

So sue me. My other clothes were currently stuck in the trunk of my car which was back at the underground public carpark Nik had left in the (hopefully) competent hands of an attendant. Plus, she can't exactly brag; her taste in clothing sucked. After a good ten minutes I finally selected two possible outfits for Rebekah to try.

The first outfit I selected for her included: a pair of tight, dark wash jeans, a loose but tapered red tank top with a slight plunge in the neckline, matching red ballet flats and a thin white cashmere jacket. I chose simple and natural accessories to go with the outfit: a brown, khaki green and black decorative stone necklace and delicate chandelier earrings.

The second outfit I chose: smoky grey Capri slacks, a high necked white blouse, a baby pink blazer and camouflage print stilettos. No accessories were required.

Taking my selections with me, I headed back to the fitting room and presented them with a flourish to an extremely relieved and delighted looking Rebekah who squealed happily and tried to smother me in a grateful hug. She tried both of them on and decided to get both, but wore the second outfit. I studied Rebekah's long blonde hair calculatingly and steered her over to a nearby dressing table.

"Take a seat. I'll fix up your hair for you." I ordered.

Rebekah shrugged, apparently not minding because I solved her clothing dilemma for her. I decided to tie Rebekah's hair back in a loose side pony-tail plait. Once satisfied, Rebekah and I walked back to the room we had left both Stefan and Nik in. I went first to give her the opportunity to show off the outfit. Nik looked up the very second I stepped back into the room. He looked extremely bored and irritated, but seemed to brighten up and he sat up straighter, holding out my sketchbook to me.

"This is marvellous, darling. You've got a unique talent." He complemented me, and I grinned; taking back the sketchbook and carefully placing it back into my purse.

"Thank you."

"Maybe later, I'll show you some of my work." He promised. I blinked in surprise.

"You still paint?" I asked, astonished.

"Never stopped." He admitted, shrugging like it was nothing. I nodded uncertainly before I turned back to where Rebekah was still waiting to be revealed.

"Presenting: 21st century Rebekah Mikaelson." I said, and Rebekah stepped out and walked towards Nik who nodded in approval.

"Lovely. Very appropriate." He complimented his sister, warmly.

"Thank you. Grace picked it out." Rebekah told him.

"The attendants here have the taste of a bad pickle." I drawled.

"Shame." Nik deadpanned. "Shall we leave now?" He asked, hopefully. He got to his feet and went to pay for Rebekah's purchases.

"I guess." Rebekah scowled at him, and turned to flounce out of the shop; tugging me along with her in the process.

* * *

I was surprised that Stefan hadn't returned from getting air yet. But Nik seemed annoyed; and remained that way during our car trip back to Gloria's bar, much to both Rebekah and my chagrin. Since I still didn't have a spare pair of clothes to change into, Gloria lent me the washing machine and dryer so I could clean the stain out of my T-shirt and jeans. By the time Stefan finally returned, my clothes were clean and dried and Stefan had some explaining to do.

"You left us." Rebekah accused Stefan, as I stepped back into the room fully dressed in my outfit, pre-drink spillage. Nik reached out a hand towards me, without looking away from Stefan; and I automatically gravitated towards him, taking his hand and allowing him to pull me towards him as he wrapped his arms around my waist and rested his chin on my shoulder.

Stefan had a 'sorry, not sorry' expression on his face as he responded to Rebekah's accusation.

"Yeah, sorry. Retail therapy was making my head explode. But you look really nice." He explained.

"Tell me about it." Nik agreed with him. Rebekah smiled, ignoring Nik's comment. This indicated that Stefan's compliment was definitely genuine this time round.

"I have Grace to thank for that." Rebekah smiled gratefully at me, and I shrugged the shoulder that didn't have Nik's head resting on it, nonchalantly. Stefan looked over at Gloria curiously. The old witch was sitting at a table, hovering her hands above a large tome. The table was filled with candles, and she was obviously focusing intently on what we were looking for … with minimal success.

"What's she doing?" He asked. I felt Nik tense up in obvious anger.

"She's failing." Nik replied. We all watched Gloria roll her eyes at Nik's impatience. Hell, we all prayed that he'd control himself eventually. Clearly, it's going to take a while.

"It's hard to find something when you don't have anything to go on." She reminded him. Rebekah sighed.

"So use me. I only wore the necklace for a thousand years." She pointed out. Gloria smiled at Rebekah approvingly.

"See? Now this one offers a solution." Rebekah rolled her eyes and makes herself comfortable on the table, with her legs crossed. "Alright, give me your hand, sweetheart." Gloria instructed Rebekah who gives it to her without question. That was when reality set in, and both Stefan and I realised that if using Rebekah to scry for her missing necklace worked, then Elena was in serious shit.

"She's, uh, she's looking for the necklace, huh?" Stefan asked, curiously (and nervously). I nodded, feeling nervous myself.

"Looks that way." I agreed, shifting slightly in Nik's embrace. Nobody moved. We were all focused upon Gloria, to see if her spell was working or not. Then she frowned.

"I can sense something." She reported. Both Stefan and I looked at each other worriedly. Then Gloria started chanting in Latin. " _Anta Cotis Syrum, Anta Cotis Syrum…_ " She intoned over and over, before eventually she gasped and dropped Rebekah's hand like a hot potato, looking over at Nik, Stefan and I. "I found it." She announced.

"Where?" I asked before anybody else could. Gloria looked at me with a pained expression.

"It doesn't work like that, doll. I get images. In this case, there's a girl with her friends…" She trailed off, and I bit my bottom lip in my anxiety. Rebekah frowned darkly.

"Yes, a _dead_ girl with dead friends, if I don't get my necklace back." She vowed. Rebekah had no idea how close she was to the actual truth.

"Well, I'll have to dive back in to get the details." Gloria stated.

"So dive." Nik stated, evenly. Gloria scowled at him for his impatience.

"I need more time." She insisted. That only caused Nik to step away from me, abandoning me at the bar while he walked over to the table Gloria is sitting at. The witch stiffened in annoyance. "And space. You're harshing my ju-ju." She complained.

"I'm in no hurry. We can wait." Nik insisted, stubbornly. He perched next to her on the table, and glared down at her.

"I'm sure you can. But that's not what I asked." Gloria retorted.

"Hey. Hey, you know, why don't we just come back later?" Stefan suggested, successfully pulling the attention away from Gloria. "I'm hungry anyway."

I stood up from my stool, agreeing with him.

"Plus we can go and pick up my car and bring it back here. Since when we eventually locate the necklace, we're bound to be hitting the road anyway. Let's save time." I suggested.

"I'll let you pick who we eat." Stefan sweetened the deal.

"But count me out of that." I joked, uneasily. Stefan immediately seizes my wrist and practically dragged me out of the bar, forcing Nik and Rebekah to follow; much to Gloria's relief. Both of them looked extremely confused, and not to mention a little suspicious. "Hey! Easy, Stef. I'm human remember? I bruise easily." I scowled at him.

"Sorry. And thanks for backing me up." He replied, distractedly.

"You're welcome." I replied, scowling at him for dooming us all the day he gave Elena Rebekah's stupid necklace.

* * *

 **A/N: Thanks for reading! Please review :)**

 **TTFN xx**


	38. Hurts To Be Human

**A/N: If you are reading this, it means that you have returned for another exciting chapter for 'A Thousand Years'. Thanks for tuning in!**

 **Suffering from a lack of reviews (and** _ **very**_ **concerned that people may be losing interest in this story). Please give generously, and let me know that I am wrong. Flames will be used to roast marshmallows. :P**

 **I don't own** _ **The Vampire Diaries.**_ **All characters (except for Grace) belong to author L.J. Smith.**

 **Get your fix ;)**

* * *

 **HURTS TO BE HUMAN**

" _My whole life I've been a seeker, searching for something."  
_ _ **~Mike White.**_

* * *

 _I probably should've stayed at the bar with Gloria…_ I found myself thinking, as I attempted to make myself seem as small as possible. I was currently trying (and failing) to avoid looking at three highly dangerous and unpredictable predators feasting on three girls with incredible vigor, while also attempting to keep down the burger I just consumed earlier. Nik and Stefan were sitting on an abandoned couch, each drinking from their victim contentedly, while Rebekah – like me – watched them from her place atop a nearby crate. Only difference was, she looked bored, where I probably looked sick.

"My girl's dead. I'm bored." Rebekah announced, and I managed a very weak, but amused smile. I was getting better at this prediction stuff. Nik seemed to ignore her completely, focusing upon Stefan.

"You weren't kidding about being hungry." He observes as Stefan lifts his head from his victim's neck. Blood is smeared all around his lips and dripping down his chin.

"Yeah. It's been a long day." He said. Nik snorts with amusement.

"Try being related to her." He said, as I shook my head and Rebekah glares at her brother before pouting at Stefan.

"You're being mean." Rebekah scowled at Nik, before looking at Stefan with a 'kicked puppy' expression. "And why are you being mean? You used to love me." She complained.

Nik raised an eyebrow.

"It's been ninety years, Rebekah. Give him a minute." He suggests and both he and Stefan start laughing like Nik had just told a really funny joke. But neither Rebekah nor I thought that that was particularly funny.

"Why are you taking his side?" Rebekah pouted.

"Because, my dear sister, I feel pity for any man who doesn't give you what you want." Nik replied matter-of-factly. My mouth fell open, appalled. _What the hell, Nik?_ Rebekah looked rightly offended by her brother's comment.

"Will you stop make me out to be a brat? I am not a brat." She shouted, sounding exactly like she claimed she wasn't.

"A thousand years of life experience says otherwise." Nik argued. Stefan chuckled darkly.

"Well, you're no picnic, either." He couldn't resist telling him, earning a mildly annoyed look from Nik. "I mean, I've only spent one summer with you, and if it wasn't for Grace, I'd feel like blowing my own head off." Nik scowled as Rebekah rolled her eyes.

"Fantastic." She complimented, sarcastically. Stefan then suddenly drops the dead girl he had been feasting from to the ground and gets to his feet to make a hasty retreat from the room. The poor girl's open petrified eyes stared unseeingly in my direction and I shuddered and turned to pointedly look out of the window I was sitting beside.

"I need to go." Stefan announced, as he disappears from view. The only person who didn't seem surprised at his random departure was Nik. Rebekah and I looked after him with confusion.

"Where's he going?" Rebekah wanted to know. Nik finished his meal and shoved his girl aside, wiping his mouth free from her blood before he responded to Rebekah's question.

"To write a name on a wall." He guessed, then got to his feet and stretched. "It's a long story." He said when Rebekah opened her mouth to question him further. "Are you alright, darling? You're a bit pale." I just turned and gave him a look. Nik looked a bit concerned and my eyes zeroed in on a trickle of blood still on the corner of his mouth.

Was he for real?

I got up from the window ceil and walked over to him, using my thumb to wipe away the blood and showed it to him, pointedly, as I replied.

"Pale? Why shouldn't I look pale right now? The adrenaline in my system is rocketing sky high, and every instinct I possess is sending me urgent fight or flight messages." I responded dryly. "Me, pale? Nah, why would you think of a silly thing like that?" I asked. Nik looked mildly irritated and sighed tiredly.

"Your point is noted, darling." He replied, before going back and resuming his seat back on the couch.

"I'd like to know what we have missed in your life since your … death." Rebekah expressed her interest, hesitating on the word 'death' in the process. I paused, thinking this request over as I watched Nik effortlessly drag off the corpses of the three girls for disposal. Rebekah's request wasn't a bad one, and I was also interested in hearing what my second family had gotten up to after I had been killed.

Hell, I already knew one thing that Nik had done that none of his siblings knew about (with the exception of possibly Henrik, of course), but I was eager to learn what happened; regardless if it was intolerable or not. And, it would kill time between now and when Gloria finally figured out that Rebekah's necklace was currently in Mystic Falls; and worn around the neck of the very person Nik believed to be six-feet-under, and whom was trying every trick in the book she could think of to bring back her 'beloved' Stefan by any means necessary (and fuck the consequences).

That would be my condition, if they wanted to know how I grew up in my reincarnated life. I turned and smirked at them both. "What's with that look?" Rebekah demanded, looking wary.

"I will reveal my new life to you, if you extend the same courtesy towards me." I bargained. Both Nik and Rebekah stiffened almost immediately. "It would be beneficial to both of us if I knew what went on after I died that night. Just in case your enemies somehow kidnapped me and/or tried to turn me against you with things that I would not know about." I pointed out. "It's only fair." Still, Nik and Rebekah hesitated; which made me question what was so bad in their thousand year history that they wouldn't be willing to share. Eventually, they nodded to each other reluctantly.

"You strike a fair bargain. Provided that you go first, love." Nik agreed.

"Deal." I got up from my perch on the window ceil and decided to pace in front of them while I revealed my life story. Partly, because my legs had fallen asleep. But also because I was feeling somewhat agitated and restless being cooped up in a strange place, while my vampire/hybrid family and friend devoured humans in front of me. "I was born in London, England back in 1989, and lived in the UK until I was ten. Then my parents relocated us to San Francisco, California for a job opportunity." I began my life story. "In the ten years that I lived in England; I grew up in what was known then as the 'Cool Britannia' fad, which mostly was inspired by 1960s pop culture." I said, and smirked when I noticed Nik shuddering.

Clearly, I had brought up some bad memories for him.

"Please don't remind me. It was bad enough that I had to relieve the 60s for that bloody Decade Dance at that High School." He pleaded. I grinned and rolled my eyes at his whining.

"I developed a liking for Britpop music, including the Spice Girls, and collected magazines about them and the latest trends, so I could fit in with my peers. Up until I realised that I didn't really want to fit in with them because they were trying too hard to outdo one another, instead of choosing something they enjoyed personally and developing on that interest." I said, tiredly.

" _Spice Girls?_ " Rebekah made an appalled face. "What on earth is that?" She wanted to know. Nik snorted, as I raised an eyebrow over the fact that that was the _only_ thing that Rebekah had taken in during that part of my story.

"A music group that consisted of girls who sang atrocious songs during the early 90s." Nik explained, and I sniggered.

"They're still around now, Nik. They're just taking a brief hiatus right now. But I suppose I'm not surprised that you don't like them, Nik. They are an acquired taste." I teased, poorly.

Rebekah nodded, taking it in.

"So what happened when you moved to America?" She asked, curiously. I stopped pacing and thought back.

"I was quietly resenting my parents mostly." I replied, honestly.

Nik and Rebekah frowned. "Why?"

"Because I had been taken away from my home country and thrown into an entirely unfamiliar one; where I had to make new friends, and adapt into an entirely different culture so I didn't become an unnecessary pariah with my classmates." I stated, matter-of-factly. "Children can be very cruel when confronted with something different." I explained, sagely.

Then I scowled playfully at Nik. "As I recall during my first childhood, Niklaus, when you were twelve, you found it amusing to find earthworms and chase after me, dangling them in my face until Elijah made you stop before Mikael could get involved." I reminisced, earning a crafty smirk and a wink from my boyfriend; that told me he wasn't at all remorseful for terrorizing me like that. I poked my tongue out at him. "But I digress. At that point, fitting in with my peers wasn't really a high priority. I was too busy trying to decipher some very strange, and yet very familiar dreams that I had been getting ever since I realized that my imaginary friend turned out to be very real." I explained.

"Henrik was responsible for that?" Nik sounded surprised.

"Yeah. I was remembering fond memories of our childhood when we would play in the woods after we had finished our chores and studies, or laze about in the meadow just enjoying the sunshine, or even watching Finn and Elijah sword-fight or teach you, Nik, how to sword-fight." I grinned, happily.

Both Rebekah and Nik grinned at the memories as well; both looking somewhat pleased that I had somehow managed to remember such wonderful, happy memories of them at such a young age without truly knowing them yet.

"But then came the nightmares of my death." The smiles vanished. "I remembered the first night that happened vividly. I was thirteen." I said, sitting down on the red couch beside Nik, deep in thought.

"It was dark at first, and I could mostly hear my heartbeat thudding ominously in my ears as well as my own anxious breathing. Then came the rushed rise and fall of running footsteps, bushes and tree branches being disturbed…" I barely registered the stricken expressions on both Nik and Rebekah's faces. "Then I heard your voice, Nik." He flinched. "It was anxious, urgent. You were yelling: _'Run, Graínne! Run!'_ and at the time, I wanted to go and find this 'Graínne' person and help her escape whatever she was running from." Nik wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me towards him. I lay my head against his shoulder, absently still thinking about the memories of that first nightmare. "Then this tall man with long blonde hair and stubble face, and dressed in extremely old-fashioned clothing suddenly appeared wielding a sword and glaring down at me."

Nik's unoccupied hand clenched into a fist.

"Mikael…" He growled.

I nodded. "These nightmares continued for a while, each progressing more and more; until I got the full picture one night when Mikael stabbed me, and I woke up screaming." I said, causing Rebekah to shudder. "That was also the same night I discovered my birthmark, which hadn't been there until _after_ the nightmare had come and gone." I explained. Nik nodded sagely.

"That was when you asked your parents for your self-defense classes?" He guessed. I smiled warmly, pleased that he remembered.

"Yep. Then gradually the nightmares went away, and halfway through high school I signed up for sword-fighting classes." I said proudly, causing Nik to beam at me and Rebekah to look stunned. "Even picked a favorite sword-fighting style." I grinned.

"Which is?" Nik prodded, playfully.

"Quarterstaff." I replied. Nik raised an eyebrow at the rarely used form of sword-fighting.

"Unusual." He observed.

"Yeah. But this is my second favorite weapon to use during combat." I said, unsheathing my simple silver dagger from my thigh sheath and started playing with it. Nik reached for it, curiously. "Careful." I warned, earning a slightly insulted look from Nik in the process.

"Silver won't harm him, Grace." Rebekah reminded me, assuming that that was why I was suggesting caution.

"That's not why I'm stressing caution." I replied, flatly.

"Why then?" Rebekah asked. In reply, I simply lightly touched Nik's hand with the blade. He instantly hissed and drew back when his skin started smoking and blistering. "Vervain." Rebekah muttered, sounding reluctantly impressed.

"And wolfsbane." I added. "Learned _that_ lesson the hard way." I stated, bitterly and re-sheathed my dagger.

"How?" asked Rebekah. I went to pull down my shirt to reveal my shoulder, before I remembered that Nik had already healed me, and I sighed.

"I was bitten badly by a vengeful werewolf. But it was my own fault for provoking the bitch – pun intended - in the first place. It left a gruesome bite mark on my shoulder in the process." I replied, sheepishly. Nik tightened his arm around my waist. He too was remembering what I had told him. Although, I knew it was partially because Elijah hadn't healed me properly and had left the bite mark as a punishment and reminder. "I scared the hell out of Elijah, and he healed me." I explained to a horrified looking Rebekah.

Nik growled.

"I wouldn't call what he did 'healing', sweetheart." He felt the need to remind me. Rebekah looked sharply at Nik, not looking surprised but more curious about her brother's reaction.

"What do you mean?" Rebekah asked, before looking at me when he refused to reply. "What does he mean?" She demanded, narrowing her lovely eyes a little. I paused, feeling a little taken aback by her commanding attitude. Rebekah really had changed from the sweet, innocent, if not slightly naïve girl I once knew.

"Do you remember how horrific Henrik's wounds looked when Nik carried him back to the village?" I asked, hating myself for bringing back that traumatizing image. Rebekah paled, but nodded shakily. "Well, he had several. I only had one, right here." I pointed to my shoulder. "But it was enough to frighten both Elijah and myself at the time, and brought back bad memories. So as punishment, Elijah only healed me enough that I wouldn't die from blood loss, but that the wound was prominently displayed." I explained.

Rebekah's eyes narrowed.

"For once I agree with you, Nik. That was an unnecessary punishment. Regardless if Grace was reckless. It's also unusually childish of him." She observed, thoughtfully. I decided to steer the discussion back to my life story.

"Moving on from this morbid topic – I'm sorry I even brought it up – I eventually graduated from High School and ended up getting an acceptance into Yale University, where I pursued an interest in studying a degree in Fine Arts with a minor in Creative Writing." I boasted proudly.

"So why aren't you in Connecticut?" Nik wanted to know, frowning a little. I deflated; feeling a little uncomfortable.

"A couple years into College, both my parents died. My mother from an aggressive strain of Cancer, and my father from grief." I replied succinctly. "Since I was already almost finished with the course, the dean allowed me to finish by correspondence. And ever since, I've been traveling like a vagabond for the last few years." I said, bitter sweetly. Rebekah looked guilty, probably for bring up the topic; while Nik was quiet and looked troubled. "Hey, don't look so upset. Sure, it still hurts every now and then; but I've accepted it and I've moved on with my life. Henrik helped me a lot, and I've found you both again." I reminded them, leaning over to kiss Nik's cheek and grinned warmly at Rebekah.

"So what inspired you to go to Mystic Falls, of all places?" Nik asked, curiously.

"A feeling. Like I was supposed to be there for some reason. That, and the pen pal I was chatting with also happened to live there and I wanted to finally meet her." I replied, honestly.

"Who was your 'pen pal'?" Rebekah asked, frowning at the unfamiliar term.

I grimaced.

"Elena Gilbert." I replied, reacting like a bitter taste had appeared in my mouth. Rebekah turned to look at her brother questioningly when he started to chuckle in both disbelief and amusement.

"And how did that turn out exactly?" Nik smirked at me, unsympathetically. I scowled playfully back at him.

"Hardy har har." I retorted, and squealed with both delight and annoyance when he started tickling me without mercy. Rebekah looked annoyed.

"Is anyone going to tell me who this 'Elena Gilbert' person is? Or am I supposed to guess?" She asked, dryly, ignoring the fact that her brother was trying to tickle me until I threw up from laughing too hard. We both paused our fun, and I had to elbow Nik in the gut before he could reply with a caustic remark at Rebekah's insolence and replied for him.

"She was the Doppelgänger Nik required to break his curse. The spitting image of both Tatia and Katerina (who is also dead by the way), and just as bad as they were personality wise." I reported.

Rebekah made a face. "Oh."

"And apart from the randomness that is my life currently in Mystic Falls and right here, right now; you've pretty much caught up with my life." I said, before immediately pulling away from a disapproving Nik, who was obviously content with me in his arms, and giving both him and Rebekah my undivided attention. "Your turn. Ready for the history lesson." I prodded, beaming at them both. Both Nik and Rebekah looked amused and slightly mystified by my random happy-go-lucky attitude, and exchanged looks between them.

"It is quite a long tale, darling. Are you sure you want to know?" Nik asked, warningly.

I pouted.

"Hey, I told! Don't welch out of the deal now." I argued, folding my arms across my chest. Rebekah giggled, and Nik rolled his eyes.

"Alright, darling. But I can't promise that you won't be disturbed by what we've got to share with you." He warned. I nodded, sincerely.

"I don't doubt that for a minute." I agreed.

Nik smiled.

"What do you remember of the night that you were killed?" He asked, seriously. I furrowed my brow, slightly thrown by the question.

"I'm assuming this has something to do with the history that I wasn't apart of?" I enquired. He nodded, as I wracked my brains to remember. "It's a little blurry, but I guess the last thing I remembered was running into you after you and Elijah told me to run shortly after I witnessed Esther casting the Hybrid Curse upon you. I was really scared, and you seemed hurt that I didn't immediately trust you." I looked at him awkwardly. "I do apologise for that by the way." I told him, and Nik shrugged that off dismissively; citing that it had happened a long time ago. "Eventually, we started to make a run for it and you were blindsided by Elijah, and I fell to the ground with Mikael closing in and cutting off any escape routes. You pleaded with him to stop, but he ignored you as he pulled me to my feet and threatened me with: _"Let this be a lesson to you, girl—""_ I relayed with a poor imitation of Mikael's deep voice, and was unexpectedly cut off by Nik, who had a look of cold fury on his face.

"" _Never trust a Mikaelson.""_ He confirmed.

"That's right. Then he stabbed me with his sword, and everything went dark." I finished my explanation; frowning as I could've sworn there was something that I was forgetting about that night. Rebekah went paler than she already was.

"Father really said that?" She whispered, horrified.

"Word for word." I confirmed. "What happened after that?" I asked, both wanting to know and dreading it at the same time.

"I shoved Elijah away from me, and Mikael tried to stop me from attending to you. I fought him off and he fled, as I begged Mother to heal you. But your wound was too severe, and I knew I had seconds so I leant down to whisper in your ear—"

"" _I love you, Graínne, so much."_ I recited, a whimsical smile on my face as I finally remembered what I was forgetting. Nik looked shocked. _"And I want you to know, that no matter how long it takes or how long I search; I will find you, and I will never let you go. I love you, always and forever.""_ I repeated from memory, grinning at the expression on Nik's face.

"You remembered." He muttered.

I chuckled.

"Of course, I did. I told you I remembered that when we re-visited the caves on the night of the ritual." I attempted to jog his memory.

"Yeah, but I didn't think that you'd remembered it _all_." Nik sounded mystified.

"Well, you were wrong." I said, smiling warmly at him.

* * *

 **~:STEFAN'S P.O.V:~**

I made my way back to Gloria's bar to check up on the mysterious witch that I only remember from my reawakened memories of 1922 when I had first met Klaus and Rebekah. Something just didn't seem right about her, which was why I suggested going out and getting a 'bite' to eat while we left Gloria to her own devices.

It was also a bit of a risk taking along Grace with us, when it was clear that we would be hunting for unsuspecting victims to feed upon, instead of leaving her here at the bar. But I also knew that Klaus and Rebekah wouldn't let anything happen to her, and I didn't trust Gloria to pull a fast one behind our backs by using Grace - basically an innocent in all of this - as leverage.

But it was only a matter of time before Gloria eventually locates that necklace back in Mystic Falls, and I was dreading it. I paused momentarily when I finally got there, before I shoved aside my insecurities about this whole ordeal and walked in. But I wasn't expecting what I found, and my eyes narrowed suspiciously.

As though sensing me, Gloria turned and fixed me with a calm unassuming expression. That just continued ringing alarm bells in my head.

"There you are." She greeted me.

"Thought you were resting." I said, cautiously. She shrugged in reply.

"Well, now we both have a secret." Gloria continued with what she was doing, while I observed her.

"What did you see?" I asked. Gloria offered a deceptively kind smile.

"It's what I _heard_ that's interesting." She responded, a little too innocently. "You know, the girls with the necklace, they were talking about you." She stated, and I stiffened; questioning her motives.

"Yet you didn't tell Klaus. Why?" _And the answer better be good._ Gloria snorted derisively.

"‛Cause I wouldn't help that hybrid half-breed with anything." She admitted, honestly. "The necklace is a talisman from the original witch herself. I want it." She stated.

If the reaction Rebekah had when she realised it was missing said anything, it probably meant that it wasn't just Gloria who wanted it; it was any witch who knew the history that talisman represented. It also told me that if that talisman went into the wrong hands, we'd all be screwed.

"Well, I'm sorry. I can't help you." I responded. I may not agree with everything Klaus is doing right now, which includes forcing me to kill and drink human blood; but until he no longer requires my help, my loyalties lie with him. Gloria narrows her eyes at me with disapproval.

"Don't be difficult. You know, I'd hate to have to tell Klaus what a liar his sidekick is." She threatens me. I immediately ran at her, aiming to incapacitate her but stiffened like I had been shot the second she turned her head and looked over at me. A searing pain rips through my head, and I couldn't help but grit my teeth. "Guess I've got to get it out of you the hard way, huh?" More pain ripped through my head and then nothing…

* * *

I woke up lying shirtless on a table. _What the hell?_ There were lit candles all over the bar floor and Gloria standing off to the side holding a very sharp knife. My eyes widened and I attempted to sit up, but didn't get very far.

"What's going on? Why can't I move?" I demanded. Gloria approached the table and waved a flippant hand.

"Relax. It's just a little paralysis spell, nothing major." She said, like it was another odd occurrence that could happen to everybody. Yeah, right! I hiss in pain when the bitch suddenly cuts my forearms with the knife. My blood pools into receptacles on the floor. "Just got to get the information out of your pretty little head." She tells me, and I snarled in anger. Something that she ignored. "You know, witches nowadays, they're into that new age stuff, but … I'm a little more old school voodoo." Gloria then takes some little iron hooks and puts them in the wounds she had made in my arms. I screamed out in pain. "This will stop that pesky healing." She said.

I glared at her.

"I won't tell you anything." I gasped. She smirks at me, nonplussed.

"You don't have to." The blood Gloria cuts from my wrists falls into some more glass receptacles that were underneath them. A cloud of vapor rises from them. "You feel that?" Feel what? "That's your essence. Your spirit. It lets me make a connection. Herbs help, too. Diviners, sage, witch hazel." She reaches for something that I couldn't see. "But my personal favourite…" She rubs her hands together with whatever it was in her hands. "Vervain."

 _Oh, shit!_ I struggled to free myself as Gloria places her hands on my chest, causing my skin to start burning from the herb. I screamed in pain.

 **(Ten minutes later)**

Gloria then takes some red powder and repeats what she did with the vervain, and rubs it into her hands. Gloria hums underneath her breath and looks down at me with interest.

"I'm impressed." She muses. "You've got discipline, Stefan. It's not going to do you much good, but … just let go, honey." She puts her hands on my chest and I scream out in pain as my skin starts burning again. Gloria's eyes closed as she studies something in her mind. "There you go, there you go. There's the girl with the necklace." My heart sinks. "You love her. You'd do anything for her, and you have." She sounded surprised by this. "A lot of darkness, a lot of guilt. All to keep her away from Klaus. Why would he be interested in one girl?"

Nothing good can come from Gloria continuing to torture me for the information she needed. Especially if she realizes what Elena's purpose with Klaus was.

"Don't do this. Don't do this." I urged on deaf ears. Then Gloria grinned triumphantly, and swore underneath my breath.

"She's the doppelgänger." She breathed, surprised. "She's supposed to be dead, and that's why Klaus can't make hybrids, isn't it?" Gloria laughs at her achievement, and is so distracted by this that she fails to notice one of Klaus' minions standing behind her. I smirked, drawing her attention before she realizes that somebody is behind her and is instantly killed by the minion.

"Thanks." I said, begrudgingly, and pulled the iron hooks out of my arms and let the wounds heal over. Normally, I'd be annoyed that Klaus had had me followed (which tells me that he still doesn't trust me). But this time I'll make an exception. However… I hopped off the table and immediately plunged my hand into the minion's chest, ripping his heart out. "Can't let you go crawling back to your boss and blowing my cover, now can we?" I say to the corpse, as I pulled my shirt back on and then rolled up both Gloria and his corpse before dumping them in a dumpster and setting it alight.

Time to return to the warehouse before they notice I've been gone too long.

* * *

 **~:GRACE P.O.V:~**

Well, that was an interesting history lesson I must say. I never knew that the family I was about to marry into a thousand years ago, would turn out to be this dysfunctional. And all of this was sparked because Mikael didn't like the fact that his wife had cheated on him with Nik's father (who turned out to be the Chief of our werewolf neighbours' pack) and thus sentenced Nik to a life of torment by killing off his werewolf family and forcing Esther to curse him.

I found myself sitting in the room where Nik was keeping his siblings' coffins, brooding, soon after Nik left to go and check up on Gloria's progress. But Rebekah (and to an extent me) was more concerned about the fact that Stefan was still yet to return from whatever the hell he was doing, and was gone looking for him. As I sat there, deep in thought; I couldn't help but go over what I had just learned hours ago from my boyfriend and my best friend, so I could be forewarned in the future against any enemies the Mikaelson's made over the thousand years we'd been apart.

For starters, I wasn't really that surprised that Nik had deliberately omitted the part where he had single-handedly killed his own mother out of retribution and then framed Mikael for the murder.

Justifiably, of course.

But it was frustrating when I knew that I had to keep it under wraps, that I knew the real truth. Or when I learned from Rebekah, seconds after Nik had left to check on Gloria, that his fuse was shorter than it used to be, and that he tended to be 'dagger happy' when any of his siblings crossed him, or ruined his plans.

I saw it as a slippery slope. One that I hoped that Nik would be able to continue keeping his footing on. Because I sincerely doubted that any of them (in particular, Rebekah) were likely to forgive him easily. My head shot up when I heard the sound of the warehouse doors open and close, and I glanced over when I saw Stefan standing in the doorway, looking determined for some reason. I frowned.

"Stefan? Where did you wonder off to?" I asked, a little annoyed. He glanced over at me briefly.

"Running an errand." He replied, vaguely. He looks over at the coffins and stops in front of one. I raised an eyebrow, feeling suspicious all of a sudden.

"For nearly three hours?" I sounded skeptical. Stefan glowered at me.

"Is that a problem?"

"I don't know. The fact that you're getting defensive over a couple of harmless questions from a worried friend makes it seem like it could be a problem." I pointed out. Stefan remained quiet still focusing on one of the coffins, looking like he was about to touch it. "Sharing is caring, Stef." I prodded.

Stefan touches the coffin.

"Stop imitating Damon, Grace. It's really annoying." He stated, then looked at me questioningly. "Why are you in here anyway?" He wanted to know. I was suspicious by the abrupt change in topic, but decided to just humour him and go along with it.

"Nice place to think." I responded. "Nik and Rebekah told me about their family history while you were AWOL." I added. Stefan raised an eyebrow.

"Bit morbid sitting in a room with occupied coffins, don't you think?" Stefan observed, and I frowned.

"The occupants of those three coffins are my family. I know it sounds weird, but being here brings me some comfort." I retorted defensively. Before Stefan could say anything else, Rebekah enters the room looking just as worried as I did. Stefan quickly removes his hand from the coffin in the process.

Nah, that didn't look at all suspicious or like he was plotting something bad. Not at all…

"You're back." Rebekah exclaimed, walking over to stand beside me. "Finally. Nik went to check on the witch." She explained Nik's absence to Stefan. I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure that Stefan stiffened when Gloria was mentioned. Why?

Rebekah looks at the coffin Stefan was examining before she had come into the room. "Dreary, isn't it? The family cargo." She stated, sadly. Stefan nodded in agreement.

"Why don't you undagger them?" He wondered. Rebekah frowned and I bit my bottom lip.

"Nik wouldn't be happy." I explained, logically.

"He would hunt me down and kill me." Rebekah agreed. "He's a vindictive little bastard, my brother." I nodded, agreeing with her there. Having observed him since we started this road trip for werewolves, it wasn't hard to figure out that Nik had the potential to be lethal when crossed or if plans went awry.

"But you still care about him. Why?" Stefan was curious. Rebekah sighed with resignation.

"Well, I hated him for a long time. It was exhausting." She explained, as she hoists herself up onto the coffin Stefan was about to examine. Stefan follows her example, while I went to the window and perched on it choosing to observe Stefan while he continued his conversation with Rebekah.

"You know, when I met you two, you were both on the run." He said.

"Also exhausting." Rebekah stated, bitterly.

"Who were you running from?" Stefan asked. I straightened up almost immediately.

"What do you mean?" Rebekah hesitated, looking worried about why Stefan was asking such a personal question.

"Stefan, that's none of your business." I scowled at him, but he ignored me completely.

"Last night I saw you, there was a man looking for you. You both seemed afraid. I just… I wouldn't think Klaus would be afraid of anybody." Stefan was intrigued.

"If you knew the bastard, Stefan, you'd be afraid as well." I spoke up, getting a grateful expression from Rebekah in the process. Stefan frowned over at me.

"You know who I'm talking about?"

"Unfortunately." I stated. Rebekah steered the conversation back towards her.

"No one in this world is truly fearless, Stefan. Not even Niklaus." Rebekah explained sagely to him. But Stefan was persistent.

"Who was that man?" He pressed for an answer. Rebekah suddenly looked like a cornered puppy.

"I can't. Please." She begged, getting up from the coffin. "If Nik knew we were talking about this, he would…"

"Kill us all in our sleep." I supplied. Stefan immediately backed down, when Rebekah didn't confirm nor deny what I said.

"I'm sorry." He gets up from the coffin as well. "Forget what I asked. Okay?" He suggested. Rebekah hugged herself.

"He told me about the girl you loved." Rebekah stated, turning towards Stefan with large doleful eyes. "The one that died. He also told me that you're only with him because he saved your brother, alongside Grace." Rebekah looked over at me, and I nodded in confirmation.

"It's true." Stefan said, quietly. Rebekah smiled a little at the admission.

"I think he secretly admires that about you." She told him. "You'd sacrifice anything for family." Her smile faded a little. "Don't tell him I told you that." She added, somewhat lamely. Stefan smirked, while I rolled my eyes.

"Your secret … is safe with me." He promises, then goes to turn around. However, Rebekah grabs him and pulls him into a passionate kiss. I cleared my throat uncomfortably and turned away to give them privacy; unaware that Rebekah was actually testing him.

"Do you think that you'll ever love anyone like you loved that girl?" Rebekah whispers, hopefully. I winced, already knowing that Stefan was going to lie and that she was going to catch that.

"One day, maybe." He shrugged, nonchalantly.

 _You're a fucking fool, Stefan…_ I couldn't help but think, as once again Rebekah frowns at his answer. The shit was about to hit the fan.

"I can always tell when you're lying, Stefan." Rebekah doesn't hesitate to remind him, and Stefan stiffens.

"What? I'm not…" He starts to protest his innocence, but Rebekah had already turned away and walked over to me, looking both angry and anguished.

"Don't bother. Your kiss already gave you away." I reached out a comforting hand to her, and she took it without hesitation; looking genuinely hurt. Just then Nik walks in looking pissed.

"Gloria's gone. She's cleared out." He announces, confirming my suspicions that Stefan had been up to more than just an errand when he was absent from our little group for more than three hours. Part of me wondered if it had anything to do with concealing the location of Rebekah's necklace. "We need to find a new witch immediately." He stated. Then Nik took a real look at us all; at the sorrowful, hurt expression on Rebekah's face, the alert and serious one on Stefan, and the highly suspicious one on mine. "What's going on?" He demanded, urgently.

Rebekah became serious.

"Something's wrong. He was asking about Mikael." She reported to Nik, who immediately frowned at Stefan. "He's not with us, Nik. I can sense it." Rebekah insisted. Stefan was quick to act.

"She's wrong. Klaus…" But he didn't get time to state his side of the story before Nik rushes over to him, a cold expression on his face. He immediately knocks out Stefan, and I winced sympathetically.

"What's the plan now?" I asked Nik, who looks at me sharply, as though trying to work out if I was in league with Stefan. But after a few minutes, he relaxes. He had obviously realised that I was just as confused as Rebekah was. He walks over to us, smiling pleasantly.

"I'm not sure just yet, sweetheart." He said, pulling me towards him and wrapping his arms around my waist as he addresses Rebekah. "How can you tell that Stefan isn't on our side, sister?" He asks. Rebekah was studying an out cold Stefan, curiously.

"I think that there's something that Stefan is keeping secret from you. A piece of his old life." She explained. Then looks at me. "Do you know what that could be, Grace?" She asked, studying me. I shrugged.

"Stefan has many secrets from his old life. It would be hard to determine which one he could be hiding from Nik." I worded my response carefully; hoping that Rebekah wouldn't get suspicious. Luckily, Rebekah seemed to accept my answer without too much of a delay.

"Then it's settled. We're going back to Mystic Falls to find out what Stefan is hiding." Nik declared. Part of me was relieved that I was finally going back home, while another part was also freaking out at the fact that Elena was about to be uncovered.

Of course, I can't say that I wouldn't be pleased to see her reaction when Nik did find her. The little bitch sort of deserves a wakeup call for dismissing that we had once had a friendship or even had the inclination to save me with her beloved Stefan (even if I had wanted to be saved).

* * *

 **MYSTIC FALLS, VIRGINIA.**

 **DUSK, 2010.**

By the time we arrived back to Mystic Falls, dusk was falling. And despite the pleasant demeanor Nik seemed to be adopting, it was clear to both Rebekah and I that Stefan, who was still out cold, was definitely in the doghouse. Nik pulls up the truck he was carrying around the three coffins in, and turns to his sister and me; still smiling that rather creepy pleasant smile.

"Home sweet home. Won't be long, then Grace and I will go out and find Ms. Gilbert for a little reunion." Nik promised before hopping out of the truck and heading for the back. We both heard the roller door of the truck slide up, and the trunk bounced a little on its tires as Nik jumped into it before closing the roller door again. I shuddered and looked at Rebekah.

"He's definitely pissed." I stated. Rebekah nodded in agreement. But she didn't say anything. "So how do you feel now that you're back in the place of our birth?" I asked her, curiously. Rebekah hesitated and glanced about our surroundings with a curious eye.

"It's hard to say. It's been a thousand years since I've last been here." She admitted. I opened my mouth to say something else, but Rebekah clapped a hand over my mouth, indicating for silence before pointing to the back of the truck where Nik had stashed Stefan with the three coffins.

"Just give me a chance to explain myself, okay?" Stefan pleaded, using a tone best suited towards somebody trying to talk somebody out of jumping from a high ledge. Rebekah rolled her eyes, and I remembered that she wasn't exactly known to be particularly forgiving if she had been slighted.

"No need. I'm not mad, I'm just curious." Nik falsely reassures him. "Rebekah seems to think you're holding onto something. A piece of your old life." He explained to a strangely silent Stefan. "The thing is, she's got flawless instincts, borderline supernatural. So I thought I would check it out. See for myself what it is you've been hiding." Nik paused momentarily to slide up the roller door, and Rebekah and I heard Stefan take in a strangled breath when he realized where we were. "Welcome back to Mystic Falls, Stefan."

I flinched when I heard the sound of Stefan's neck being snapped again.

"Subtle, Nik." Rebekah muttered.

Nik returns to the driver's side and reopens the door, still smiling that smile; only this time, his blue-green eyes were hard and flinty. And he looked like he meant business. And he expected me to follow him wherever we were going to find Elena, when he was in this sort of mood? It would be like walking with a live grenade minus the pin.

"Shall we, my dear?" He 'asks' me, extending his hand to help me down from the truck. Not wanting to push my luck, I immediately took his hand and accepted his help coming out.

"Good luck…" I heard Rebekah wish me, and I winced; realizing she'd only be saying this if I was at risk of Nik losing his shit with me, despite the fact that I was his girlfriend.

"No pressure." I responded underneath my breath, as Nik took my hand in his and turned to address Rebekah with a cold smile.

"Why don't you keep Stefan company, sister? We'll be back soon." Nik 'suggested' and Rebekah scowled and walked over to the back of the truck and hoisted herself up to sit down beside Stefan's unmoving body.

"If you insist, Nik." Rebekah replied, giving Nik a sarcastic smile back. I rolled my eyes at their attitudes. I was really feeling the unconditional love between them. Nik then proceeded to lead me back into town.

* * *

 **A/N: Look out, Elena! Klaus has returned for you. Stay tuned for the next update. Please review! TTFN xx**


	39. Fool Me Once

**A/N: Shout out to reviewers: Layla347, hahahopelove, Jezabelle31415, evil genus, firehottie, 19vanelkc, and NotRob for alleviating my fears that people were growing disinterested in my story. Just a simple review was required to let me know if people were still eager to learn more about my story. I thank all seven of you for yours! Please keep it up!**

 **If you haven't previously reviewed, please do so. But no flames will be accepted.**

 **I don't own** _ **The Vampire Diaries.**_ **All characters are owned by author L.J. Smith, with the exception of my OC Grace. She belongs to me.**

 **Enjoy xx**

* * *

 **FOOL ME ONCE…**

" _The worst feeling in the world is knowing you've been used and lied to by someone you trusted."_ _ **~Unknown.**_

* * *

When I was in my pre-teens, I had always thought that the teachers at my school never went home, but in actual fact slept at the school. I also believed that going into school grounds after hours was extremely weird and never felt right; and I was shocked to realise that that belief had never truly faded as I found myself wondering the moon drenched corridors of Mystic Falls High School with Nik, searching for Elena.

To both our surprise the school was actually crawling with teenagers racing around and pulling pranks, and part of me wondered how in the hell were they actually getting away with this without being caught by the cops? I knew that all students hated going to school, but this was ridiculous. Plus, these students must be blind; or just really oblivious to the fact that two complete strangers were roaming the corridors, looking for all intents and purposes on the prowl for one of their classmates.

At one point, I actually spotted that cute blonde busboy from the Grill; Matt Donovan, I think his name was… using a bench press in the school's weight room in the gym. Nik and I exchanged glances with each other before shrugging and moving along, still searching for Nik's target. I had to stifle a giggle when I heard what sounded like a hell of a lot of mousetraps being set off prematurely.

"Ohh! Oh, come on! Seriously?!" I raised an eyebrow. That sounded a lot like Caroline Forbes whining in frustration. "Do you know how long it took for us to set all this up?!" I wondered how she was going lately. Since the last time I had seen her was back at the Boarding House, when we were plotting how to deal with Nik during the 60s Decade Dance.

How time flies when we're having fun, and also concocting plans.

"Forgot about senior prank night, huh?" A cocky male's voice, whom I recognized as Tyler Lockwood (who I didn't even realise was back in town since the werewolf debacle) teased. I frowned with confusion. Senior prank night? Is that really what happens here at Mystic Falls every year? I made a face, and poked my tongue out at Nik when he sniggered at my disapproval.

"Clearly." Came Matt's dry response.

"How could you forget?" Caroline sounded appalled by the very notion that somebody could forget something like this. "We've only been waiting for this since like freshman year." She explained. I think it's safe to say that I'm glad I'm not American, because I don't understand what goes through teenagers' heads nowadays.

And God, did I sound old thinking that just now…

"Yeah, Matt." Both Nik and I were immediately alert, and Nik looked positively gleeful and triumphant. So Elena _was_ here too. Perfect! "If I'm doing this, you're doing this." She insisted. All we needed to do right now was wait till Elena split off from her friends and then we'd corner her wherever the hell she went off to.

"I'm kinda surprised any of you are doing this." Matt admitted.

"Caroline's making us." Bonnie insisted, and I scoffed underneath my breath at same time that Nik did. I bet she really had to twist their arms to get them to do this. Caroline made a frustrated little noise.

"We're about to be seniors. These are the memories that will stay with us forever, and if we don't…"

"And if we don't create these memories now, then what's the point of it all?" Elena cut her off and filled in the gaps.

"Go ahead and make fun, I don't care." Caroline stated.

"You're all lame. And I've got ten more classrooms to prank." Tyler announced, before he dashes away to commit more mischief. Somebody else gets to their feet, attracting Bonnie's attention by the sound of her disapproving voice.

"Hey! Where are you going?" She wanted to know.

"To superglue Alaric's desk shut. I'm making memories." Elena was finally breaking off from her friends and Nik grinned at me before we set off towards where we remembered Alaric's history classroom was so we could ambush her. We make it to a set of double doors that Elena had to pass through in order to make it to the classroom. I stepped out from a nearby empty doorway; just as Nik and I had planned minutes before.

"Hello, Elena." She jumped and spun round to face me, her mouth falling open in surprise. "Long time no see?" I muttered, coldly. Elena took a cautious step away from me, unsurprisingly.

"Grace? Haven't seen you around lately, where did you go?" Elena fished for answers, and I offered her a deceptively kind smile as I shrugged.

"I've been around. What's going on here?" I asked, buying time for Nik to get into position behind the door Elena was intending on passing through. She frowned.

"It's senior prank night." She replied, looking suspicious. "Weren't you with Klaus?" She asked. I smirked, enjoying the uncomfortable expression on her face, surprisingly. I glanced over her shoulder at Nik who was also smirking.

"I don't know. Was I with you, Nik?" I asked him, causing Elena to pale dramatically and spun round to find herself face-to-face with Nik. He offers her a smile.

"There's my girl." He addresses her, condescendingly.

"Klaus!" Elena exclaimed, fearfully, and turns around to run by me and get the hell out of there. But Nik uses his vamp-speed to get in front of her first. He clicks his tongue with wonder.

"You are supposed to be dead." He scolds her, frowning with confusion. "So what are we going to do about that?" He muses. He looks over at me and smiles warmly. "Any ideas, love?" He questions me, and I shrugged.

"Not really. I'll leave it up to your best judgement, sweetie." I replied. Elena glares at me heatedly.

"You really are on his side, I knew it!" She exclaimed, angrily. I narrowed my eyes at her, getting annoyed.

"How easily you forget, Elena. I've always been on his side from the day I first met him when I was a newborn in my past life. You've seen the sketch." I reminded her, and caught Elena's hand when she took a swipe at me. "But I can also choose to remain neutral, when I want to be." I added. "This is not one of those times." Nik grabs onto one of Elena's arms forcefully and starts frog marching her through the school hallways. "Now, I'd cooperate if I were you, Elena. Nik's in a foul mood, and it's down to Stefan's foolish actions." I reported.

Elena's head turns towards me so fast, I could've sworn she'd got whiplash.

"Stefan?! Is he okay? What have you done to him?" She demanded, anxiously. Both Nik and I rolled our eyes.

"He's fine, sweetheart. Nothing that he won't recover from quickly. But let's just focus on you for now, shall we?" Nik responded flatly. Elena attempted to free herself, even going as far to alert somebody else in the area to her predicament, but Nik grabs her chin and holds her mouth shut before she could. "I wouldn't do that, if I were you. Not unless you want to be responsible for unnecessary deaths?" Elena's eyes widened and she immediately shook her head. "Wise move." We continued walking through the hallways, headed in the direction of the gymnasium.

"You put a rather large kink in my plans, sweetheart." Nik tells Elena, who continues scowling at the both of us, and looking unsympathetic. "The whole point of breaking the curse and becoming a hybrid was to make more hybrids. I haven't been able to do that." He tells her, smiling pleasantly, but his eyes were steely and cold. "Now my bet is, it has something to do with the fact that you're still breathing." He theorized.

"If you're going to kill me, just do it!" Elena yelled.

"And still a martyr." I muttered, underneath my breath so that only Nik could hear me. Which he did and he raised an eyebrow at my comment.

"Not until I know I'm right. But I do have ways of making you suffer." He promised, making Elena pale even further as he leads both Elena and I into the gym, where we discover a group of students setting up their pranks and sniggering to themselves. Nik clears his throat and calls out to them with a flawless American accent. "Attention, seniors. You have officially been busted. Prank night is over. Head on home." He stated with a 'don't-argue' tone. Students groan and scatter, however Nik pauses and studies two students nearby. "You two. I remember you." A girl and boy stop and look at Nik with confusion.

"I'm sorry. Who are you?" The girl asks. Nik smiles at her, pleasantly.

"Oh, don't worry, I wasn't in my right head last time we met." Nik explained away his mistake. Then he leans forward to compel the girl. "Lift your foot up, please, Dana." He says. Dana obediently lifts up her leg and holds it in midair. Once she does this, Nik turns to the boy and compels him. "If she drops her foot, Chad, I want you to beat her to death. Understood?" Chad nodded, and Elena looks horrified; while I merely look intrigued by the uses of compulsion. That's not to say that I would be pleased if Dana was beaten to death due to fatigue.

"Don't, Klaus. You don't have to hurt anybody." Elena insisted, and I snorted.

"Oh, honey. Of course he does." I corrected her, before Nik could even open his mouth to respond. Elena looked at me aghast.

"What the hell has happened to you?" She blurted out. I chuckled humorlessly.

"Maybe I've seen the light, and realized that I'm sick and tired of catering the whims of a selfish little girl with a martyr complex, who manipulates the situation to get her own way." I responded, brightly. "Maybe I'm jaded by the world, and being reunited with my long lost love – despite his inflicted flaws – is making it seem that much better. Take your pick." Elena looked horrified.

"Why, thank you, sweetheart. I'm touched." Nik piped up, smiling at me tenderly. Dana grunts and we all look over at her as she struggles to maintain her balance. "Keep it up." He tells her.

"Where's Stefan? What did you do to him?" Elena tried again.

"Stefan's on a time out." Nik responded, matter-of-factly. Suddenly the doors to the gym open, revealing both Bonnie and Matt. They stop dead when they clapped eyes on both Nik and I apparently holding Elena, Dana and Chad hostage. Elena's eyes widened fearfully.

"Bonnie, get out of here!" She urges her, frantically. But before either Bonnie or Matt could react, Nik rushes over to Bonnie and blocks her exit. The little witch glares at him.

"Ah, I was wondering when you'd show up. Now we can get started." Nik announced, brightly. He looks over at a still struggling Dana. "Ah, Dana, why don't you relax? You and Chad sit tight." Dana relaxes and lowers her foot. Chad doesn't attack her, thankfully. Nik returns his attention to a hostile Bonnie. "I assume you're the reason Elena's still walking around alive?" He guessed.

Bonnie's eyes narrowed. "That's right. If you want to blame someone, blame me." She suggested.

Nik smirked.

"Oh, there's no need for blame, love." He reassures her. "Just your witch interference seems to have caused some undesirable side effects. And since you caused the problem, I'm going to have you find the fix." And as if on cue, Rebekah walks into the gym dragging Tyler along with her. I immediately realise what is about to happen, and shake my head exasperatedly.

"Get off of me!" Tyler growls like the werewolf he is. Rebekah isn't fazed by him.

"Hush now." She talks down to him like he was a misbehaving toddler. I attempt to stifle a giggle, as Nik introduces his sister to the frightened group of teenagers.

"I'd like you all to meet my sister, Rebekah." He says, as Rebekah strides up to him. "Word of warning … she can be quite mean." He cautions, still smirking. Rebekah scowls at him in annoyance.

"Don't be an arse." She scolds him, as she throws Tyler at Nik. I sidled up to Rebekah and muttered into her ear.

"Does calling him an arse actually work?" I grinned at her. Rebekah offered a barely noticeable smile back.

"Hasn't so far." She replied. Elena looks beside herself with fear, while Bonnie looks incensed and Matt a mixture of confused and wary. Tyler struggles uselessly in Nik's arms.

"Leave him alone!" Elena begs Nik. He ignores her, focusing upon Bonnie as he continues on with the next step of his plan to figure out why making a hybrid from a werewolf was such a chore.

"I'm going to make this very simple … Every time I attempt to turn a werewolf into a vampire hybrid, they die during the transition." He explains, grimly.

"It's really freaky." I added. All the teenagers looked horrified by my admission.

"You were there?" Bonnie said, disgusted.

"Just at the end when they all started going rabid. It's not pretty. Blood leaking out of their eyes and everything." I revealed, shuddering at the memory. Nik takes a bite out of his wrist, and force feeds Tyler his blood.

"I need you to find a way to save my hybrids, Bonnie." He pulls his wrist away from Tyler's blood smeared mouth, then grabs him in a half-nelson. "And for Tyler's sake … you better hurry." He suggests as he then promptly twists Tyler's head and snaps his neck like kindling; killing him. I winced; that never fails to make me cringe.

"Ouch…" I muttered, rubbing a phantom pain in my neck empathetically. Rebekah nods in agreement, while the teenagers look at Nik with shock.

"He… he killed him…" Matt stutters with horror. Elena stares at Tyler's lifeless body grimly.

"He's not dead. Klaus' blood will turn him into a vampire." Elena explains to him.

"And if Bonnie's successful, he'll live through his transition." Nik added, smiling proudly and turning towards Bonnie, looking pointedly at her. "Go on, then. Go and fetch your grimoires and enchantments and what-not. I'll hold on to Elena … for safe-keeping." Nik orders, impatiently, and grabs Elena's arm and looks at her. She gives a sign to Bonnie and she leaves with a shocked Matt in tow. Rebekah studies Elena curiously, and doesn't look impressed with what she sees.

"So this is the latest doppelgänger. The original one was prettier." She stated, and I made a face.

"I honestly can't tell the difference. They're all two-faced." I commented. Nik looked at us impatiently.

"Enough, ladies." He insisted. "Rebekah, take the wolf boy elsewhere, would you?" Nik orders his sister, and Rebekah nods curtly and seizes Tyler by the arm and drags him away, leaving Elena alone with Nik and I. Dana and Chad continue standing where they were, still hypnotized from Nik's last compel.

"Just ignore her. Rebekah is a petty little thing." Nik insisted. Elena glowers at me.

"What about your girlfriend?" She spat, hatefully.

"What about me?" I retorted, daring her to reiterate. "Everything I said was true." I insisted. I moved to sit on the bleachers as Nik chuckles. Elena gives up and instead attempts to comfort Dana when Stefan suddenly enters the gym. His expression is unreadable.

"Stefan…" Elena mumbles. He ignores her, focusing mostly on Nik.

"Klaus." He addresses my boyfriend, formally. Nik sizes him up.

"Come to save your damsel, mate?" He asks him, curtly. Stefan shakes his head, and I watched Elena's face drop.

"I came to ask for your forgiveness. And pledge my loyalty." Stefan insisted. Nik frowns at him, not believing him for one second.

"Well, you broke that pledge once already." He reminds Stefan.

"Elena means nothing to me anymore. And whatever you ask of me… I will do." Everybody noticed him hesitate a bit. Nik nodded, seemingly accepting Stefan's apology and shrugged.

"Fair enough. Let's drink on it." Nik points towards Dana and Chad. "Kill them." He orders, and raises an eyebrow when Stefan doesn't immediately start ripping into their necks and draining them down like juice boxes.

"You're wasting your time with him, honey. He's not gonna do it." I told him from my place on the bleaches. Nik looks at me sternly, and for a second I thought that he was going to chew me out for interfering.

"How do you figure?" Nik asked me, half-curious and half-irritated.

"It's my rare sixth sense. As a Medium, I sometimes get these intuitions. Hasn't failed me so far." I explained, feeling a bit apprehensive. To my surprise, Nik merely returns his attention back to Stefan.

"What are you waiting for? Kill them." He orders him, but Elena suddenly calls out to Stefan.

"No! Stefan, don't. He's not going to hurt me. He already said…" Nik backhands Elena, calling her bluff. She falls to the floor, which causes Stefan to launch himself at Nik; fangs out and snarling ferociously. In response, Nik seizes him by throat. The allegiance has been made clear, and Nik was furious. My eyes widened in horror; sometimes I hate being right.

"She means nothing to you, huh?" Nik snarls, angrily. "Your lies just keep piling up." Stefan stares down Nik, defiantly.

"Let her go! I'll do whatever you want, you have my word!" Stefan attempts to bargain with him.

"Your word means nothing. I lived by your word all summer, during which time I never had to resort to this." Nik retorted, and forces Stefan to look him in the eye. Stefan starts to struggle when he realizes Nik's intention. However, this only makes Nik tighten his grip on Stefan's arms. "Stop fighting." He orders him.

"Don't do this, don't do this." Stefan pleaded.

"Don't do what?" Elena demanded from her place on the floor, still looking a little dazed from the strike Nik had dealt her. I hopped down from the bleachers and walked back over to them, sighing unhappily.

"I didn't want to. All I wanted was your allegiance. Now I'm going to have to take it." Nik said. Stefan's eyes widen in fear. "You will do exactly as I say when I say it." Nik orders harshly. "You will not run, you will not hide, you will simply just obey." He added. Immediately, Stefan's eyes glazed over as the compulsion takes effect.

"No. Stefan!" Elena screams. Nik turns Stefan in the direction of both Dana and Chad.

"Now kill them. Ripper." Nik orders, darkly. Stefan vamps out, rushes over to Dana and kills her by drinking her blood; much to Elena's anguish.

I shudder, despite the fact that I should be used to seeing this by now, since I had spent all summer with both him and Nik. I walked over to Nik's side watching the grisly display. Once Dana has been drained of all her blood, Stefan moves on to Chad and repeats the same process. Nik steps behind me and casually wraps his arms around my waist and kissed my temple. He usually did this when he could tell I was uncomfortable or afraid.

"Satisfied now, Nik?" I asked him, slightly disapprovingly. Nik rests his chin on my shoulder.

"Yes. It's always nice to see a vampire in his true element. The species has become such a broody lot." Nik observes.

I shook my head. "Nah, that's just typical Stefan." I responded, causing Elena to snap her head in our direction; glaring at us tearfully.

"No. You did this to him." Elena retorts.

"I invited him to the party, love. He's the one dancing on the tables." Nik insisted, cheerfully. Rebekah chose that opportunity to burst back into the gym, and made a deliberate beeline towards Elena.

"Where is it?!" She screams into her face, causing Elena to take a step back from the enraged blonde female vampire. "Where's my necklace?" She demanded. Nik frowns at her.

"What are you talking about?" He asks. Rebekah brandishes a mobile phone in Nik's face, so he could see the picture.

"She has my necklace." She insists, and I take the phone from Rebekah and enlarge the image.

"Well, well. More lies." Nik observes. Rebekah gets into Elena's face.

"Where… is it?" She hissed. Elena recoils in fear.

"I don't have it anymore." She replied, cautiously.

"You're lying!" Rebekah insisted, and lunged at Elena, biting into her neck causing the doppelgänger to scream. However, before she could do any real damage; Nik steps away from me and stops her, pulling Rebekah aside.

"Knock it off!" He reproaches her, sternly. But Rebekah isn't satisfied with that.

"Make her tell me where it is, Nik!" She yelled. Nik sighed, and looks at Elena.

"Where's the necklace, sweetheart? Be honest." Nik ordered her, firmly. Elena frowns back.

"I'm telling the truth." She insists. "I lost it before the ritual, and I haven't been able to find it since." I groaned, while Nik narrowed his eyes and Rebekah yelled out in frustration.

"Well, that's unfortunate." I commented, knowing this wasn't going to end well for her.

"Agreed. If we had the necklace, it would've made things a whole lot easier for your witch. But since we're doing this the hard way, let's put a clock on it, shall we?" Nik presses a button on a remote, which puts on the clock on the score board. Then he walks over to Stefan and compels him once again. "Twenty minutes. If Bonnie hasn't found a solution by then, I want you to feed again." He instructs Stefan, who nods. "Only this time, I want you to feed on Elena." Elena's eyes widen and so does mine. "You know you want to." He entices the blood-lusting vampire.

"Interesting punishment, Nik." I mumbled, feeling slightly surprised by the way my boyfriend's mind ticked. Nik smiled a little.

"Yes, it is. Isn't it?" He replied, smugly. Elena looked horrified.

"No, Klaus! Don't do this to him!" She pleaded, uselessly. He ignores her.

"No one leaves." He says to both Stefan and Elena, before focusing on Stefan. "If she tries to run, fracture her spine." He instructs Stefan, cruelly. Nik then promptly turns on his heel and strides from the gym; followed closely by Rebekah and me.

* * *

Three minutes later, I'm sitting in a classroom with Rebekah, Caroline and a still very dead Tyler. Rebekah checks how much time Elena has left on the phone she had shown Nik the picture of Elena wearing Rebekah's necklace. Suddenly, Tyler wakes up with a gasp. Caroline is almost immediately by her friend's side.

"Where am I? What happened?" He demanded, fearfully.

"Tyler." Caroline exclaimed, concerned and anguished. Rebekah rolled her eyes.

"Don't be shy about it." She orders, bored. Tyler narrows his eyes at her, and by association me.

"What's going on?" He demands, angrily. Caroline answers his question.

"Klaus is turning you into a vampire. A hybrid. You're in transition." She tells him, sorrowfully.

"Don't leave out the hard part, sweets." Rebekah pipes up from where she is perched on the teacher's desk. "You'll only survive if your witch is successful. If not … you're pretty much dead." Rebekah doesn't hesitate to remind them. Caroline ignores her, focusing upon Tyler.

"You're going to be okay. Okay? It's going to be okay." She attempts to reassure him. I checked the timer on Caroline's phone.

"Two minutes left." I deadpanned, earning Caroline's attention. She glowered at me.

"How could you be helping them?" She accused me. I gave her a hard look in response.

"When you find somebody you love with all your heart and soul, lose them, then find them again after searching or waiting for a thousand years; ask me that question again." I instructed her. "But by that time, if it comes; you will probably have your answer, and realise how stupid your question truly is." I stated.

Rebekah takes my hand, and squeezes, causing me to look at her questioningly. I was surprised to see a look of disgust on her lovely face aimed right at Caroline, who seemed lost in thought over what I said.

"Tick tock goes the gym clock." Rebekah taunts them both with the very real possibility that Elena would probably be mauled to death by Stefan, and Tyler will succumb to whatever it was that was preventing Nik from creating his hybrids, should Bonnie not succeed in finding a solution to the problem. I sighed, letting go of Rebekah's hand and walking towards the classroom door.

"I'll be right back." I told Rebekah, who nods absently. Caroline scowls at me, suspiciously.

"Where are you going?" She demanded. I looked at her sharply.

"To use the loo?" I replied. "Anything else you want to know?" I asked her, scathingly.

"Yeah. Why have you suddenly turned into a bitch?" Caroline wanted to know, earning a protective hiss from Rebekah.

"For survival. Getting back your memories from an ancient past life will do that to you." I replied, flippantly. "Ask Rebekah what I mean. She may or may not respond." I suggested. I walked out of the classroom, headed for the nearest bathroom. After I finished with that, I decided to take a leisurely stroll back to the classroom; only to collide with a fleeing Elena in the process. It took a bit for us to detangle ourselves from the floor, but by the time Elena frees herself; Nik arrives, summoned by the loud noise.

"My, my. What do we have here?" He asks, slightly amused. I get to my feet and glared at my boyfriend, unamused.

"Rebekah is right. You are an arse, sometimes." I stated, stopping Elena from making a run for it. Nik rolled his eyes.

"Keyword: 'sometimes'." Nik stresses, and I blink at him with surprise.

"So you're admitting it?" I asked. He narrows his eyes at me.

"No comment." He responds, sternly. I shrugged, and followed Nik as he half-drags, half-leads Elena through the school; in search for Stefan. We eventually find Stefan in the cafeteria trying to impale himself in the stomach with a broken broomstick handle. Nik raises an eyebrow. "Now this is fascinating. I've never seen this before." He admits, sounding reluctantly impressed. "The only thing stronger than your craving for blood is your love for this one girl." He indicates to a tearful Elena. "Why don't you turn it off?" Nik suggests, and both Elena and I widen our eyes in dismay.

"No!" Stefan shouts.

"Nik, is that a good idea?" I asked, wondering why he was resorting to making Stefan switch off his emotions.

"I think it's a brilliant idea, sweetheart. Don't question me." Nik warns me, sternly. I backed off almost immediately, as Nik sits on a nearby table. "Come on. Your humanity is _killing_ you. All the guilt must be exhausting. Turn it off." He orders Stefan.

"No!" Stefan yelled. Elena looks at Stefan helplessly.

"Stefan…" She despaired. Nik frowns at Stefan's stubbornness and walks up to him with a determination on his face.

"You're strong." He observed, yanking the makeshift stake from Stefan's gut. "But you're not that strong. Turn. It. Off." He compels him.

"No!" Stefan once again defies Nik and struggles to keep his switch intact as he shoves the hybrid away. However, Nik proves once again how much stronger he is against the youngest Salvatore, and shoves him against the wall hard, compelling him; yelling in his face.

"TURN IT OFF!" He roars, his blue-green eyes flashing into gold for a split second as he re-inserted his dominance against Stefan. Almost immediately, Stefan's face and personality shifts. I gasped at the aloofness that overcomes Stefan's face as he becomes completely blank.

 _Oh, shit…_

Elena glares at Nik in outrage. "What did you do?" She demanded, and Nik merely looks at her sharply. Not all surprising really, because Elena was primarily the source of all his problems at present. Which meant that only she was to blame for Stefan being forced to switch off his emotions, because he had pissed off one of the strongest vampires in all of history and the world.

"I fixed him." Nik responds harshly. "But I think a test is in order, don't you?" He asks her, rhetorically. He walks around and stops behind her looking at Stefan, raising an eyebrow at him. "Ripper … perhaps you'd like a drink … from the doppelgänger's neck?" Nik suggested, causing Elena's eyes to widen in horror. This time, Stefan didn't hesitate and before our eyes his face changes and he immediately launched himself at Elena, sinking his fangs into her neck. She screams in pain. It wasn't until I caught a glimpse of Elena's blood, that I suddenly had an epiphany, and decided to share it with Nik.

"You know, Nik. I've got a theory about what your problem could be." I called out, grabbing his attention. He wonders over.

"Go on, love." He requests, curiously.

"Remember when I freaked out when I thought that my blood was required to help your hybrids complete transition?" He nods. "Well, what if it's not my blood that's needed? After all, there were two humans who shed blood that night." I pointed out. Nik frowned before he realized what I was getting at.

"That's not a bad idea, sweetheart. Let's test that theory, shall we?" He grinned, kissing my temple in gratitude and leads me over to where Stefan was restraining a struggling Elena, who had betrayed tears streaming down her olive face. "Would you like to do the honours?" He asks me, and I nodded and produced my dagger; shallowly cutting Elena's hand and milking some of her blood into a test tube Nik magically pulls from out of nowhere. Then he escorts me back to the classroom Rebekah was keeping Caroline and a slowly dying Tyler hostage in. Nik threw them all a triumphant grin.

"Well, the verdict's in. The original witch says the doppelgänger should be dead." Both Caroline and Tyler looked horrified while Rebekah gets up from the teachers desk, looking delighted.

"Does that mean we can kill her?" She asked, hopefully. Nik shook his head, making her pout with disappointment.

"No, I'm fairly certain it means the opposite." He explained. The happy grin on Rebekah's face, immediately dropped and she looked outraged.

"What?!" She yelled, before grabbing Caroline and locking her grip on her arms as she pulls her back to her.

Nik shrugged. "Call it a hunch that Grace came up with, and we're just seeing if it's factual." He declared. Nik produces the test tube with Elena's blood and shows it to Tyler, who eyes it warily. Rebekah successfully manages to keep Caroline at bay. "This is Elena's blood. Drink it." He orders Tyler. Caroline's eyes widened with dismay.

"No! No, no, no, Tyler, don't!" She screeches, desperately. Nik rolls his eyes at her.

"If he doesn't feed, he'll die anyway, love. Consider this an experiment. It's okay." Then he proceeds to force feed Tyler Elena's blood. "Good boy." He cooed at him.

Tyler coughs, rolls over the desk he is perched on and falls to the floor, screaming and groaning and writhing. Caroline watches helplessly as he holds his head and screams; while Nik, Rebekah and I watch this, intrigued. Finally, Tyler's face changes, as his eyes turn yellow, and develops fangs and black bruise-like veins form under his eyes. Nik is relieved.

"Woah, I can't believe that worked." I exclaimed, feeling mystified. Nik grinned.

"Well, that's a good sign." He agreed, and pulls me towards him; kissing me deeply. "Thank you, darling." He praises me, and I grinned back, pleasantly surprised and slightly caught off guard.

"Don't mention it." I gasped. Rebekah looked confused by Nik's reaction, while Caroline looked revolted by our public display of affection.

But I don't give a shit.

"Well, let's go harvest some more." He announced, cheerful now that we had finally found the solution to his problem; ironically found within the person who forced Nik to compel Stefan into a more obedient little puppet for his plans. Which reminds me…

"Absolutely. Before Stefan drains the whole supply…" I hinted. Nik's eyes widened a fraction.

"Oh, yes. I nearly forgot. Won't be moment." He said, before vamp speeding back to the cafeteria where he had left both Stefan and Elena. I rolled my eyes at his absent-mindedness with affection before giggling and taking a seat at the nearest desk, feeling like I was walking on air.

"What are you going to do with Elena?" Caroline was strangely curious.

"Take care of her, of course. Nik isn't a complete arsehole, contrary to what people believe." I replied, a little defensively. Rebekah tried to hide a smirk, and failed, which only made the younger blonde vampire and the new Hybrid even more curious and suspicious of our actions. Nik reappeared with Elena in his arms, passed out. There was a grisly looking bite mark on her throat, and no sign of Stefan.

Not sure if that was a good thing or not…

"Let's go, ladies." Nik announced, brightly, adjusting Elena's weight in his arms. Rebekah obediently hops down from the teacher's desk and trots over to him without a backwards glance over to Caroline and Tyler.

"Are you coming, Grace?" Rebekah asks, smiling at me a little. I nodded and got up from the desk I had sat down at and followed her out of the classroom and fell into step beside Nik as we made our way out of the school.

"Wait a minute!" We paused and turned back to see Caroline had followed us out to the corridor, looking alarmed. Both Nik and Rebekah looked annoyed, while I maintained a poker face. "Where are you taking her?" She demanded.

"The hospital of course. The poor girl's been through a terrible ordeal." Nik responded, like it should've been obvious.

Caroline scoffed. "Yeah, no thanks to you." She spat. Nik shrugged before he turned and continuing walking. But I caught the devilish smirk on his face that spoke volumes.

* * *

Rebekah and I waited outside the hospital, while Nik admitted Elena to take care of her wounds … and then some.

"So the doppelgänger isn't the problem. Her blood is the solution." Rebekah observed casually, leaning against my car next to me.

"Seems so." I agreed, sitting on the hood. One of Nik's minions drove it back to Mystic Falls for me when we made our plans to leave Chicago, while I travelled in the truck with him and Rebekah. She frowned at me curiously.

"How did you know?" She wondered.

"Well, you know how much the original witch hated me." Nik answered her before I could as he strode out of the hospital, a superior smirk on his face. "Do you honestly think I would do anything other than the opposite of what she says?" He asked her, wrapping an arm around my waist.

Rebekah rolled her eyes.

"A thousand years in the grave and she's still screwing with you." She commented, dryly. I made a face; Nik wasn't the only person Esther was manipulating recently.

"Well, it makes sense if you think about it from her perspective. It was her fail-safe in case I ever broke the hybrid curse." Nik pointed out, logically. "The doppelgänger had to die in order for me to become a hybrid, but if she was dead…"

"Then you couldn't use her blood to sire yourself a new species." Rebekah concluded.

"Leaving me alone for all time." Nik added, making a sour face. I nudged him lightly in the ribs as I hopped down from the hood of the car.

"And what am I exactly? Chopped liver?" I demanded, playfully. Nik smiled and pulled me closer, wrapping his arms around me. Rebekah frowned at him.

"Is that what this is about? Your obsession with Hybrids? You just don't want to be alone?" She sounded a little offended by the idea. Nik huffed impatiently, squeezing me tight and kissing the crown of my head.

"What I want to is to take my girl, the doppelgänger, take my hybrid, and get the hell out of this one-pony town." He told Rebekah, who deepened her frown. "You know, why don't you, uh, why don't you get the truck? I'll get Elena." He suggested. Rebekah walks away, and Nik leads me towards the driver's seat of my car. "Why don't you go home? I'll come by and pick you up on my way out of town, huh?" He said. I nodded, but before I got into the car; I reached into his jacket pocket and withdrew his phone, much to Nik's confusion. There was something that I had been meaning to do for a while, but it kept slipping my mind.

"Before I forget again…" I muttered, and accessed his contacts. I added my name and phone number, then pranked myself. This entire act gave me a wicked case of de-ja-vu, as I did almost the same thing with Elijah a few months ago. Nik smiled warmly and kissed my forehead.

"I'll see you later, love." He promises me, before I get into the car and drove back to the town's square. However, when I finally got to my apartment and was about to walk through the threshold, my phone buzzed with a new phone call. I immediately answered.

"Hello?" I answered, curiously.

 _"There's been a slight change in plans, love."_ It was Nik and he sounded very anxious. _"I'm afraid, I'm going have to leave you behind in Mystic Falls; at least for now while I search for more hybrids."_ He explained his abrupt changes. I frowned, concerned.

"What's going on, Nik? Are you alright?" I asked, wanting to help in any way that I could, that I haven't been doing already. I heard Nik's half-hearted chuckle down the line.

 _"It seems that there is a rumour that Mikael has been discovered."_ Nik responded, sounding a little bit distracted. My eyes widened in shock.

"What?! That's bollocks, who would start such a bloody stupid rumour?" I demanded, angry.

 _"I'm only going by what your friend, Damon has told me."_ Nik responded, bluntly. I froze.

"Damon? How would he know about Mikael, apart from what I told him about his involvement in my death?" I asked, confused. Nik huffed in frustration.

 _"Enquiring minds want to know, darling. But for now, I can't take you with me."_ He replied, firmly.

"But I want to help!" I protested, stubbornly.

" _And I don't want you to be killed again! I've searched too long to find you again, and I'm not in the mood or have any inclination to have history repeat itself! You're staying in Mystic Falls, end of discussion!"_ Nik growled at me, his voice breaking slightly at the end of his rant. I fell silent. Being killed was the very last thing that I wanted either. But I saw his point: if Mikael was truly active once again, then we were all screwed.

"Fine. I'll stay here." I said, reluctantly. "But you better come back, Nik. Understand!?" I ordered him. Believe it or not, I was probably the _only_ person who could order him around. I used to joke that it gave me practice for when we _finally_ got married.

" _Of course I'm coming back, baby. I've left my precious cargo here. I need to make sure that it's safe."_ Nik teased me, tenderly. I laughed. _"You be a good girl, and I'll see you soon. I love you, so much."_ He reminded me.

"Always and forever, right?" I responded, practically melting into the phone.

" _Right. See you, sweetheart."_ Then Nik hung up, and I smiled down at my phone before replacing it back into my pocket and stepping into my apartment. However, there was something that was nagging at me about what Nik said that involved Damon; and I wanted to get to the bottom of it.

* * *

I followed the familiar route I had created for myself towards the Salvatore Boarding House. When I got there, I let myself in and followed the voices I could hear from somewhere deep inside the house. I found Damon in the parlour attending to Elena who still looked rather weakened from the amount of blood Stefan had drunk from her, and from what Nik had a compelled nurse extract from her back at the hospital. I paused, leaning with my back against the wall beside the entrance to the parlour, and waited for a lull in their conversation before I could surprise Damon with my reappearance. The sound of clinking glasses indicated to me that Damon had just fixed himself a drink.

"Hey, have some bourbon. It'll help you forget." I raised an eyebrow. Giving alcohol to a blood loss victim? Perhaps not the wisest move? There was silence for a few moments before Damon gave a slight chuckle. "Yeah, it's strong." He explained to Elena, who must've made a face at the strong, sweet taste of the drink she was sipping at. "You know I can help you forget, too. At least the memories you don't want to keep." He offered.

"No. No compulsion. I need to remember. All of it." Elena rejected the offer. I made the risky decision to look slightly round the corner to see what was going on and saw Damon holding up Rebekah's necklace. My eyes narrowed; he had that bloody thing this whole time? Boy, I didn't want to be him when Rebekah finds out.

"I found this." He announced, earning a stunned look from Elena who takes it and stares at it as tears formed in her eyes.

"He's really gone this time. I watched it happen. After everything that we went through to get … to help him. Now he's just gone." She sobbed. I rolled my eyes. This time I really needed to step in.

"I wouldn't call it gone, exactly." Both their heads snapped in my direction as I swaggered into the room and perched near the fireplace where Damon was standing and staring into the flames. "His emotions just took a (hopefully) temporary vacation." I stated, matter-of-factly. Elena glared at me from her mountain of pillows on one of the Salvatore's red couches.

"What the hell are you doing here?" She demanded.

"Keeping a promise." I responded, and turned to a relieved but wary looking Damon who walked towards me slowly. "Hey Damon. Good to see you again." I told him, and found myself being smothered in Damon's arms as he hugged me tight.

"Are you alright?" Damon asked me urgently, cupping both my cheeks with his hands. I shrugged and grinned at him.

"Slightly scarred by what I've seen this summer, but I'll live." I admitted. "Although, we will have to watch our backs for a while." I warned. And for good reason, as another sarcastic voice rang out.

"Well, isn't this cozy?" The voice drawled. I groaned and turned to face Stefan who had arrived and was currently leaning against a pillar at the edge of the room. Damon narrowed his eyes and started subtly edging me behind him for protection; something that Stefan noticed. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." He warned.

"What are you doing here, brother?" Damon asked. I pulled away from Damon and walked over to sit on the couch opposite Elena's.

"Probably doing Nik's bidding, I suspect." I guessed, earning an evil smirk from Stefan for my efforts. Damon looked at me, horrified, as Stefan wonders over to the drink table and helps himself to a bourbon.

"Nobody asked you, did they Grace?" Stefan retorted, and I shrugged in response.

"Nice to see you again too, Stefan." I interpreted his snarky reply. He ignored me.

"And last I checked, I live here." Stefan responds to Damon. "Klaus is gone—"

"Temporarily." I reminded him, earning a glare from Stefan.

"But he's asked me to keep watch on both Elena and Grace until he returns." Stefan reported, using a bored tone. "From now on, you're under my protection." I made an angry face at this.

"Wow… just what I've always wanted: a bodyguard." I deadpanned. "You're so dead when you come back here, Nik…" I muttered, underneath my breath. Stefan once again ignores my rant, and salutes both Damon and Elena with his glass and takes a sip.

"Carry on." Stefan orders and walks from the room, leaving Damon and Elena to look after him in disbelief. I huffed in frustration and pulled out my phone to text Nik.

 _'A bodyguard? Really? I can take care of myself, Nik. This is so not necessary.' – G :(_

Nik responded almost immediately.

 _'Tough luck, love. I expect to see you (and Elena) in pristine condition when I return. Just deal with it.' – N :)_

"Motherf—" I grumbled, attracting Damon's attention as he raised an eyebrow at me in question. I ignored him.

 _'I really hate you right now.' – G._

I stabbed at the send button, and nearly threw my phone across the room when he instantaneously responded.

 _'I love you too.' – N. xx_

I glanced up at Damon. "May I stay here tonight, on your sofa?" I asked, annoyed. He frowned at me.

"Yeah, of course. Why?" He asked, curiously. I got to my feet and stormed over to the drink table, plucking a glass from the holder.

"Because I'm going to drink, until I pass out." I responded, crabbily. Damon glanced down at his own drink, then towards the direction his brother walked off in and threw it back.

"I think I'll join you. And you're going to stay in my room tonight." He stated, obviously not accepting 'no' for an answer. Or at least, I expected a 'no'.

"What's wrong with the sofa?" I demanded, suspiciously. Damon just looked at me.

"Stefan with his switch turned off, means that you as a human will be easy pickings. And not even the fact that Klaus will rip him limb from limb if he so much as touches you, or the fact that he was compelled to protect you and Elena will stop him." Damon explained, logically.

Elena paled and immediately got up from the sofa.

"I think I'd better get home." She suggested. Damon nodded in agreement.

"I think that's a great idea." He said. "Go and make yourself comfortable upstairs; you look dead on your feet." He told me, seriously. I made a face.

"Charming." I drawled, and headed for the staircase. I ditched my shoes and purse on and next to a bedside table the very second I reached the right side of Damon's massive bed, and pulled aside the duvet to crawl between them. The very second my head hit the pillow, I was out like a light; sinking into plushy heaven.

* * *

I was rudely woken up by the sound of obnoxious rock music blasting from speakers downstairs. I groaned, and sat up dislodging Damon's arm where it had draped across my waist and pulled on my boots, and slung my purse over my shoulder; as I planned to head home after a quick cuppa tea. As I headed down the corridor to seek my caffeine charge, I let out a loud yawn and paused just as I was about to walk downstairs when I heard giggling.

 _What the hell?_

I descended the staircase and when I turned the corner; an extremely unusual sight greeted me. For starters, there were two dead girls at the foot of the stairs. And just beyond them in the parlour was Stefan, lounging casually on an armchair surrounding by bikini clad girls around my age or slightly younger, his shirt half-buttoned, and he was alternating between drinking from a glass of bourbon and sipping contentedly on the wrists of the girls dancing around him and playing a literally bloody game of twister.

I rolled my eyes.

"Damon!" I shouted to be heard over the obnoxious rock music. "Get your arse down here!" I ordered, firmly, as I pulled out my phone and snapped a photo of the carnage in front of me.

' _You've created a monster, Nik…' – G._ I texted my boyfriend and sent him the photo, before slipping my phone into my pocket about two seconds before Damon is standing beside me looking alert and looking for the danger. I merely pointed towards his brother, looking bored and unimpressed. "Tell me, Damon, did you and Stefan switch personalities while I was passed out last night?" I asked, dryly.

Damon scoffed, mildly offended by the assumption. "Please. He wishes he was that awesome." He muttered, and I stepped over the dead girls, being careful not to slip over on their slick blood and headed for the kitchen. But was intercepted by Stefan.

"Hey, the two brunettes on the staircase owe me a Persian rug." Damon attempted to distract his brother so I could make a bid for freedom towards the kitchen. But Stefan wrapped a hand around my upper bicep before I could take a single step. His grip was not gentle.

"You mean, they owe us a Persian rug? It's my house, too, brother." Stefan reminded him.

"Technically. Elena and I own this house, so you both owe _us_ a new Persian rug." I corrected them both. Damon grins and steps forward.

"Actually, since Elena died during the ritual; this house belongs to you upon her death." Damon looked positively triumphant and gleeful. I brightened up considerably.

"Oh? Well, you learn something new every day." I mused, then scowled at Stefan who was yet to let go of my arm. "Hands off the merchandise, bub!" I growled. Stefan sneered, but released my arm nevertheless; just as my phone buzzed, indicating that I had a new text message:

' _This is nothing to worry about love, this is just the Ripper in action.' – N._

Was that supposed to be reassuring? My phone buzzes again.

 _'Fancy a game when I return?' – N ;)_

I rolled my eyes, but couldn't help the small smile that spread across my face at the idea.

 _'Make the 'bloody' part optional, and we're in business.' – G._

"Ooh! Would you both like a spin?" Stefan holds up the Twister spinner, and smirks at both Damon and me. I pretended to think about my answer as I tucked away my phone again.

"Tempting. But, no." I decline his invitation. Damon seemed to be thinking along the same lines as I did.

"So this is what Klaus had in mind when he compelled you to protect Grace and Elena?" He asked his brother, skeptically, gesturing around at the compelled sorority girls. Stefan shrugged.

"These ladies are helping me be all that I can be." He said, dismissively. I sighed, and turned to _finally_ head for the kitchen for my tea. Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Damon goes to answer it.

"Uh, Grace. I think it's for you." Damon calls out to me and I snarl with frustration.

"Who the bloody hell is it now?" I yell back and stomp my way over to the front door, stopping in my tracks when I see a surprised looking Rebekah standing there loaded down with more shopping bags than I can count. "Bekah? What brings you here?" I asked, happy to see her, but also confused as hell. Rebekah pouted at me, ignoring an attracted Damon entirely.

"He left me here. My brother actually left me here." She whines and I shook my head at Nik's actions.

"Figures." I muttered. "Come on in, Bekah." I invited her in. My sister grins at me, happily, and dumps her purchases on the door step and flings herself into my arms.

"I am so glad you're back." She mutters into my shoulder. I hugged her back. "Where's Stefan?" Rebekah asks me when she pulled back and glanced over my shoulder.

"Engaging in 'gourmet' delights in the parlour." I replied, flippantly. Rebekah heads deeper into the house, and Damon pulls me aside.

"That's your sister?" I nodded. "She's even better looking in person." He observed, drawing Rebekah's attention.

"Do I know you? Because it appears that you know me somehow?" She blinks at Damon owlishly. I fielded the question.

"Damon saw you when I let him into my memories, like I did with Stefan." I explained, pulling her purchases into the house and leaving them beside the front door. She frowned.

"Which memory?"

"When Nik carried Henrik back to the village the morning after he had been mauled by a werewolf." I replied. "Damon wanted to understand why Elijah had been so angry with me after I had gotten bitten by a werewolf."

"Damon Salvatore." He introduced himself to her, taking her hand in his and kissing her knuckles. I rolled my eyes at his flirty smirk as Rebekah sized Damon up, before giving him a tight smile.

"Pleasure, I'm sure." She responded, before taking back her and glancing about the Boarding House. "So, which one's my room?" She asked, brusquely.

"You're not staying here." Stefan tells her, rudely.

"That's right." I agreed with him and Rebekah looks offended. "You're staying at my apartment with me. You'll be comfortable, I'm sure." I promised her. Rebekah relaxed and smiled. "C'mon, let's put your stuff in the trunk of my car. I was on my way home anyway." I picked up half of Rebekah's shopping bags and Rebekah the other half and started out the door. However, Stefan stepped into my path. "May I get by?" I asked, pointedly.

"You're not going anywhere. Klaus said I needed to protect you while he's out of town." He reminded me. I nodded at him condescendingly.

"And you're doing a bang up job, Stef." I complimented him sarcastically. "However, I'm going back to my apartment; where very few vampires have invitations in there, by choice. Plus, I can defend myself and if that falls short; Rebekah can back me up." I thumbed over my shoulder at an impatient looking Rebekah who was eying Stefan with annoyance. "So make a hole." I demanded.

Stefan smirked.

"Fine. Be it on your head." He warned me, as he stepped aside.

I realised that there was no point in trying to bitch slap Stefan at this point. One) because he doesn't give a shit at the moment. Two) I'm more likely to break my own hand on his face, than do any real damage. And three) he's more likely to kill me before I could make any move. Plus side, if Stefan attempted to kill me; Rebekah could overpower him, but I would rather it didn't come to that.

Rebekah throws Stefan a dirty look.

"I think I can handle my brother, Stefan. On your way." She dismisses him, and Stefan shrugged and walked back into the Boarding House. Damon walked over to me with a concerned look on his handsome face.

"You sure you'll be alright, Grace?" He asked me.

"Absolutely. I think I might do an old-fashioned girls night in tonight with Rebekah. Something to really introduce her to the 21st century, since she's not exactly impressed with it right now." I told him, grinning brightly. Damon looked bemused but begrudgingly accepted it.

" _Girls night in_? What the hell is that?" Rebekah frowned at me curiously as we both got into my car. I smiled and turned the ignition.

"Don't worry, Bekah. I'm positive that you will enjoy it." I reassured her as I slipped on my aviator sunglasses. "Welcome to the 21st century, sister." I said.

* * *

 **A/N: Grace has a new roommate! Let's see how this turns out!**

 **TTFN xx**


	40. Here's To Never Growing Up

**A/N: Welcome back for another chapter update. If you are reading this, it means that you are enjoying this story so far; regardless of the fact that sometimes I am late with the updates. I really appreciate it :)**

 **If you haven't previously reviewed, please do so. But no flames will be accepted.**

 **I don't own The Vampire Diaries. All characters are owned by author L.J. Smith, with the exception of my OC Grace.**

 **She belongs to me.**

 **Enjoy xx**

* * *

 **HERE'S TO NEVER GROWING UP**

" _Maybe life isn't about avoiding the bruises. Maybe it's about collecting the scars to prove we showed up for it."  
_ **~Unknown.**

* * *

True to form, Rebekah proved once again that the Mikaelsons had gotten used to the finer things in life over the thousand years we had been apart, by her reaction to where I lived.

"Please tell me that you are joking, Grace." Rebekah pleaded as I parked the car and got out, and she reluctantly followed eying the apartment block with distaste. "This cannot seriously be where you live." She said, with disgust. I giggled, earning a perplexed look from her. "What's so funny?" Rebekah asked, as I popped open the trunk and started pulling out her shopping bags.

"Nothing. Just your reaction to where I live. Which by the way is all I can afford on a student's pension until I graduate this year." I replied, removing one more bag and closing the trunk. "Plus, your reaction is similar to Elijah's when he first brought me home after a disastrous night battling werewolves." I added, sheepishly. Rebekah sniffed.

"We'll I'm sure you could've chosen somewhere a little more decent." She insisted. I rolled my eyes as we crossed the vestibule and upstairs to the second level.

"That's because you haven't seen the inside of my apartment yet, Bekah. Don't judge just yet." I urged, and stopped in front of my apartment door; shoving the house key home.

"Fine then. Impress me." Rebekah orders. With a smirk, I push open the front door and breeze on in, leaving Rebekah to collide with the mystical barrier blocking the doorway. "You need to invite me in." Rebekah reminded me.

"Yes, sorry. Please come in Bekah." I rattled off distractedly as I opened my curtains and windows to air out my slightly stuffy apartment. Then I turned towards her to see her reaction now. "Well, thoughts?" I asked, amused.

"A vast improvement from the outside." She admitted. I sighed and shook my head.

"Also similar to what Elijah said." I told her, then jumped when Henrik appeared from out of nowhere, looking annoyed. "Hey Henrik!" I greeted him out loud, drawing Rebekah's attention.

"He's here?" She asked, alert and glancing about despite the fact that she couldn't see him.

"Yeah. He's my _invisible_ roommate. He has no choice, it's like we're permanently valcroed to each other since my birth almost 22-years-ago." I explained, darting into my bedroom. Rebekah nodded like she understood what I was telling her and continued wondering around her new lodgings, picking up and inspecting my stuff. That was when she zeroed in on the canvas paintings I had dotted all around the room.

"You're a painter like Niklaus too?" She blurted out, sounding astonished.

I nodded. "Yeah. Don't tell me you've forgotten me telling you back at the warehouse in Chicago?" I stated, exasperatedly. Rebekah flashed me a look.

"Of course not, silly. I just haven't seen any of your work yet." She explained. I nodded, conceding to what she said, and watched as Rebekah immediately stopped at the large Mikaelson Family portrait (minus Henrik) that I had painted months ago. "Why are our faces blank except for Elijah's?" She asked, curiously. I was impressed that she seemed to pick up almost immediately that this was a portrait of our family.

"Because when I originally drew this as a sketch; I didn't completely remember any of you." I explained, and Rebekah looked saddened by this. "However, when I was reunited with Elijah, all memories of him came flooding back and it occurred to me that this would happen with every member of our family I reunite with and decided to fill in each face as I remember them." I told her. "So, once I reunite with Kol and Finn, all my memories from a thousand years ago should be restored." I concluded.

Rebekah grinned. "I look forward to when that day arrives." She chirped. "So where's my room?" She repeated the question from back at the Boarding House. I smiled and led Rebekah to the spare room, where I had stashed the bed this apartment had come with as well as the guest chest of drawers and bedside table. "This will do. Thank you." She said, a little snottily. I rolled my eyes.

"I'll leave you to unpack." I said, and walked from Rebekah's bedroom to give her privacy. However, the very second I did this, there was a knock at the door. Frowning, I answered it. It was Stefan, looking freshly showered and ready for school … which started hours ago. Hmmm… "What can I do for you, Stefan? Your bodyguard services are not required today." I informed him. He scowled at me.

"Very funny. I'm here to escort you to the High School with me." He informed me. I blinked at him with confusion.

"Pardon?" I asked.

Stefan smirked and then overenunciated what he said to me. "I'm. Here. To. Escort. You. To. The. High. School. With. Me." He said. Rebekah immerged from her room, scowling at Stefan with unamusement.

"She heard what you said, Stefan. Don't be an arse and just answer her question." She demanded. Stefan rolled his eyes.

"You're coming with me to the High School so I can keep a better eye on both you and Elena." He explained. I frowned at him.

"I'll pass. I've already been through High School once; don't wish to do it again. Besides, I'm perfectly safe here in my apartment and I promise not to do anything stupid." I insisted.

"Sorry, Klaus' rules. Not mine, let's go." He ordered. I was about to continue protesting when I realised that Rebekah had changed clothes for some reason and was also preparing to leave too.

"Where are you going, Bekah?" I asked, confused.

"I'm going to experience High School for myself." She explained. "It's about time I enjoyed a somewhat normal life for once. That and I promised Nik that I would keep an eye on his first ever Hybrid. It would make it so much better if you were there too." She added, smiling pleadingly. I was shocked that she was siding with Stefan. But seeing as I apparently had no other choice in the matter, I gave in.

"Fine. Give me two minutes to get changed out of yesterday's clothes and we'll be on our way." I promised, begrudgingly. Stefan nodded, and went to lean on the banister outside my apartment, while Rebekah perched casually on one of my bar stools. After getting changed, I quickly stuffed one of my novels in my purse and my sketchbook, so I wouldn't be bored stupid sitting in Stefan's classes.

I just hope that this isn't going to be forever.

* * *

 **MYSTIC FALLS HIGH SCHOOL  
SCHOOL CORRIDOR  
DAY**

 _Take a freaking picture, it will last longer…_ I couldn't help but bitch as I strode behind Stefan down a corridor where he was intending on going, and being gawked at by hormonal teenage boys and curious teenage girls. It wasn't like I had much of a choice, but I sincerely hoped that Alaric would understand and just go along with this. He was a nice guy, and I didn't want him to be unnecessarily hurt because Stefan had to be a little compelled brown-noser with my boyfriend. I still think that I was safer staying at my own apartment, but Stefan apparently needed to have his own way. Hence my presence at this school.

Rebekah broke off from us, temporarily, to register herself at the student reception; leaving me to deal with the emotionless Salvatore who was smirking and enjoying my annoyance and feelings of discomfort. Soon we came across Elena who was emerging from a nearby restroom, and naturally, Stefan decided to be a dick and taunt his ex.

Wonderful.

"Hello, Elena." Stefan greets her. Elena is surprised to see Stefan, and immediately frowns.

"What are you doing here?" She demanded, cautiously.

"What do you mean? I'm going back to school. Go Timberwolves!" Stefan responded, pretending to be confused by her question. This shocks Elena completely, since it's obvious that Stefan had his switch off and was a danger to not only her, but all the other innocent and ignorant students and teachers at this school.

"What? Why?" She blurts out.

"Klaus wants me to keep an eye on you and Grace." I bristled at the reminder. "I'm just doing what I'm told." He tells Elena, who raises an eyebrow.

"So why aren't you off 'protecting' Grace then?" She asked, a little snidely. Stefan smiled.

"Don't have to. She's right here." Stefan steps to the side to reveal me standing slouched against a nearby locker; probably looking thoroughly peeved. Elena looks at me with astonishment and (surprisingly) the tiniest amount of sympathy. I gave her a tight smile.

"Hey." I greeted her, half-heartedly. Elena scrutinizes both of us before she turns away from Stefan.

"I'm going to be late for class." She mutters and walks away. However, Stefan grabs her upper arm tightly, stopping her in her tracks. She cries out slightly from the pain. I immediately straightened up from my slouch.

"Steady on, Stefan." I said, alarmed. He ignores me.

"Class is this way." He tells Elena, calmly. She glares at him warningly.

"Let go of me, Stefan."

"Elena, do you think I want to be a senior for the 100th time? No. But if I don't have a choice in the matter then neither do you." He tells her. Both Elena and I reached for Stefan's hand, trying to pry it from Elena's arm.

"I said let go of me." Elena repeated herself.

"I agree, Stefan. You've proved your point, now let go of her." I insisted. Suddenly, Alaric walks forward behind Elena and lends his assistance.

"Let her go." He said, firmly. In reply, Stefan shoves Alaric against a locker; alarming both Elena and me.

"What the hell, Stefan!?" I yelled at him, angrily.

"Stefan, stop it!" Elena squealed, afraid for Alaric's safety as well. Alaric bravely steeled himself for whatever Stefan had to say or do as the emotionless vampire came in close.

"You're not gonna want to get in my way. Okay Ric?" Stefan releases Alaric and reaches for my wrist, much to my chagrin. Alaric looks at me with concern, as Elena stares at her ex with horror. "We'll see you both in History." Stefan promises before he drags me away to wherever his first class was. I mouthed 'sorry' over my shoulder at Alaric as I stumbled away. Later on, Stefan dragged me into Alaric's classroom before abandoning me to my own devices as he walks for a desk beside Elena's. However, there was another student sitting there. "You're in my seat." He tells the student, who pales when he sees the menacing look on Stefan's face and quickly moves to a different desk. Both Caroline and Elena gape at him in outrage, but Stefan merely responded to this with a pleasant smile. "Hey you!" He chirps at Elena, before facing the front leaving both girls to exchange mystified looks with each other.

"Are you alright, Grace?" I was interrupted in my observation of Stefan's emotionless interaction with his 'classmates' by Alaric who looked a combination of concerned and annoyed. I quickly grabbed his arm and stepped out of the classroom (making sure that Stefan could still see me and not suspect that I was doing a 'bunk') and started to explain.

"Nik compelled Stefan to act as bodyguard for both Elena and me until he returns." I told him.

"Oh, shit..." Alaric despaired. Thanks Stefan for putting me in this situation.

"My theory is that in his emotionless little world, he believes he can better protect Elena and me if we're within reach of him. So he basically kidnapped me." I explained. Now Alaric looked disturbed.

"Elena believes that we need to do something to protect ourselves against Stefan. You up to help?" He asked me, seriously. I tensed, glancing absently into the classroom and in Stefan's general direction. He was looking right at us, with a calculating frown on his face. I knew that he could hear every word we were saying to each other, despite the fact that the classroom was full of gossiping, laughing, shouting etc. students that were probably drowning out our words.

I sighed. "I've spent the entire summer with Stefan when he _had_ his emotions, and high on blood. He was difficult to communicate with him then; so it'll possibly be a slim to nil chance that we'll be able to get through to him now _without_ his emotions, or even stand a chance. Unless, we all want our heads ripped from our bodies as a concellation prize." I explained. Alaric's hazel eyes darkened. "However, I'll do all I can to help. It's every man for himself until Nik returns." I stated. "Stefan is still my friend despite the fact that his switch has been turned off."

Alaric nodded. "So how do we explain your presence here?" He asked, worriedly. In reply, I pulled my sketchbook from my purse and held it up to him.

"I'm in my final year of study for my Fine Arts degree at Yale University. I have a project that I need to complete in order to pass. You could suggest to your students that I'm here gathering inspiration for my final project." I suggested. Alaric frowned, skeptical.

"Not sure what my history class would have to do with your degree. But yeah, let's give it a go." Alaric agreed, reluctantly. I nodded and followed him in, stopping beside Alaric's desk as he got the class started. "Welcome back, seniors. This is Grace Williams; she is a Yale College student studying her final year, and she is here for research for her final project." Alaric introduced me to his group of curious history students. Stefan smirked at from his place among the students.

I ignored him.

"Nice to meet you." I greeted the rest of the class with a small smile. Tyler, Elena and Caroline looked at me suspiciously and then at Alaric questioningly.

"Please take a seat anywhere." Alaric asked me and I nodded and picked up a spare chair and sat at the side of classroom nearby Alaric's desk, pulling out my sketchbook and pencil. "Now, let's turn our brains back on, starting with this country's original founders … the Native Americans." Alaric began the class as he wrote 'AP AMERICAN HISTORY' on the blackboard in chalk.

"What about the Vikings?" All heads swiveled towards the classroom door and in sashayed Rebekah. We both caught each other's eye and I smiled and nodded slightly, while she winked and took her seat at a vacant desk. I quickly zeroed in on Tyler, Elena and Caroline; each narrowing their eyes at my sister mistrustfully. Alaric looked surprised by her question.

"There's no evidence that Viking explorers actually settled in the United States." Alaric corrected her. "Who are you?" He asked, authoritatively.

"My name's Rebekah. I'm new, and history's my _favourite_ subject." She replied, promptly. I sighed, rolling my eyes and made myself comfortable as I picked a subject to sketch.

This was going to be a long lesson.

* * *

It was the longest history lesson I have ever sat through. It didn't help that I constantly felt on guard every time somebody's eyes focused upon me. And it was clear that most of the students were skeptical about my presence in the classroom. But it was either fudge an excuse about why I was intruding on their lesson, or face difficult questions with impossible answers.

For the duration of Stefan's classes, I had to follow him around like a lost puppy. And inspired by Alaric's acting skills at the beginning of his class this morning; Stefan compelled all of his teachers to just introduce me as a placement student until further notice. It was a humiliating experience that I would probably never be able to live down for a while. By the time school let out for the day, I had completed three sketches: the Hand-fasting ceremony (two joined hands with a ribbon binding them together), the Mikaelson Family Crest, and a picture of myself posing 'family portrait-style' with the members of the Mikaelson Family that I currently remember: Henrik, Elijah, Rebekah and Nik in 21st century garb.

Currently, I was sitting on the bleachers with a clear view of both the cheerleaders practicing, and the football field practice wishing that Nik or even Damon were here so I could at least have somebody to talk to that was 'physically' closer to my own age.

"Why so glum, Grace?" I looked up to see Rebekah walking up to me dressed a hot pink tank top, black short shorts, and white sneakers. Her long blonde hair had been pulled back into a high ponytail. I raised an eyebrow at what she was wearing.

"You're lucky your brothers aren't around to see what you're wearing." I told her, earning a slight scowl. "However, I personally think you look great, and are embracing the 21st century far quicker than I thought you would." I complimented her. Rebekah's scowl softened immediately. She was always a sucker for compliments.

"You didn't answer my question." Rebekah insisted. I stood up and stretched.

"This isn't my 'glum' face. This is my 'I'm so bloody bored, why did Stefan make me come here and waste my whole day' face. Huge difference." I replied. "Then I remembered: it's so nobody dies because I pissed off a blood addicted vampire with his switch turned off." Rebekah rolled her eyes.

"Please don't tell me that you've become melodramatic since you've been gone?" She begged. I grinned, cheekily.

"Just a tad." I admitted, as we both walked down the bleachers. "But it only flares up when I'm being forced to do something against my will. But then we'd have to be careful that I don't slide into resentment and open hostility. Then you'd have a problem on your hands." I stated, bitterly.

"You just described Nik in a nutshell." Rebekah groaned, as she leads me over to where the cheerleaders were warming up for their practice.

"Oh, perish the thought." I teased, and smirked. Rebekah giggled and nudged me lightly in the ribs. Then I paused when I realised her intentions far too late. "Cheerleading? You can't be serious." I made a face.

"I want to experience High School." Rebekah insisted, sounding embarrassed. I shrugged, not really caring otherwise; but mostly hoping that Rebekah didn't take it too far. Nik would dagger her faster than you could say 'oops'.

"Has anybody seen Dana?" We overheard one of the cheerleaders ask, looking around with confusion. Rebekah fronted up to Caroline, who looked at her with trepidation.

"Sounds like you have an opening on the squad." She observes.

"What are you doing?" Caroline demanded. Rebekah begins to stretch with the other confused cheerleaders. "Hey. Hey, you can't just come here and infiltrate all our lives." She protested, fiercely.

"That's not what Rebekah is trying to do, Caroline. She's just trying to experience a normal life." I explained to her, trying to avoid a brawl and to help maintain the peace. But Rebekah just couldn't resist 'poking the bear' and offered Caroline a nasty little smile.

"Exactly. I'm interested in yours. Your spunk, your popularity." Caroline looked offended and I mentally clapped a hand to my face.

"Bekah…" I warned. She ignored me, as she observed the footballers and moves in for the kill.

"Maybe even your boyfriend." She added, before she moves away and Caroline glares at her back. I smiled apologetically at her.

"Uh, sorry about my sister." I told Caroline. "She's still adjusting to the 21st century." I explained, low enough that only Caroline, Rebekah and possibly Tyler (who was in the middle of football practice) could hear me. One of the cheerleaders suddenly spoke up, looking curious.

"She's your sister?" She asked, distracting me long enough for Caroline to make an escape to wonder over to Tyler.

"Uh, yep. Why?" I asked, surprised and cautious. The girl squints at both Rebekah and me, obviously comparing us.

"You don't look anything alike." She rudely observes. I frowned, and Rebekah looks up from where she was stretching and glowers at the oblivious girl too.

"Not that it's any of your business, but Rebekah is my sister-in-law. That's why we don't look alike." I replied, curtly. The girl's eyes zeroed in on my left ring finger and she puts on a puzzled look.

"I don't see a ring." She stated. Rebekah zips up to our side, still glaring at the girl.

"You won't see a lot of things if you don't cease and desist with the prattle." Rebekah snapped, before grabbing my wrist and leading me away. "Come, Grace. Help me stretch." Rebekah ordered imperiously. I give a mock salute and followed her away.

"Thank you." I said to Rebekah with relief. She waved a dismissive hand.

"Don't worry about that. I was serious about requiring your assistance." Rebekah responded, a little impatiently. I sighed, and shrugged off my jacket and purse, and removed my boots, dumping them on the grass out of the way from the group.

"Get into the splits and lean on your elbows." I instructed her. Rebekah nodded and immediately slid into place and I sat cross-legged on her back. Rebekah barely grunted. "Am I too heavy?" I asked Rebekah, just to keep in character.

"Not really." Rebekah replied casually.

"Good. Just let me know when you're stretched enough." I asked her, and continued rubbernecking around the area. It took roughly fifteen minutes for Rebekah to appropriately 'warm up' before I got up off her back and stepped back to watch her practice as I slipped my boots and jacket back on, and looped my purse back over my shoulder. We both ignored the stunned expressions on the faces of the cheerleaders, and some of the footballers as Rebekah performs three impressive handsprings and cartwheels before ending with a perfect forward split.

"Wow!" The rude nosy cheerleader exclaimed before she turned to me, looking curious. "Can you do that?" I ignored her. Apparently, she didn't like that. "Hey! I asked you a question." She demanded, crossly. I threw her a sharp look, which caused her to take an immediate step away from me, out of fear.

"Which should've told you, you stupid bint, that I didn't wish to answer your question. Go bother somebody else." I snapped and turned back for the bleachers, choosing to read my novel until Rebekah was ready to leave. I was just getting to a good point in my book when a shadow suddenly descends over it. I didn't have to look up to know that it was Stefan; I had spotted him earlier tormenting Elena as she was running around the track.

Guess it was my turn now.

I feel so privileged.

"You look awkward sitting here by yourself. Why don't you go mingle?" Stefan's voice practically dripped sarcasm. I didn't bother looking at him.

"What's wrong, Stef? Elena won't come out to play?" I deadpanned, turning to a new page.

"I don't care." Stefan automatically replied. I rolled my eyes.

"Of course. What a horrible suggestion." I agreed, sarcastically. "Is there anything else you require from me or can I return to my book?" I requested. Then I looked up at him. "Or can I go home now?" Stefan just smirked at me.

"Nice try. But we're going to the bonfire tonight." He replied.

"Bonfire?" I parroted. Stefan nodded, thankfully not in a mocking kind of way. "Wow, schools around here really do go all out to celebrate the fact that class is back in session." I mused, curiously.

"That's nothing. Wait until you're constantly invited to various formal social events, or balls. You'll be sick of them." Stefan stated, with distain. I had nothing to say about that; because it sounded like it could be very true. Rebekah jogs up to the both of us, giving Stefan a slightly annoyed glance before focusing all her attention on me. She looked excited about something.

"Let's go. I gotta prepare for tonight." She insisted, and I frowned with confusion.

"Prepare for what?" I asked, bookmarking my place in my novel and getting to my feet as I followed Rebekah back down the bleachers and over to the student car park. Stefan seemed to have disappeared. That annoyed me; why couldn't he have done that before?

"There's this bonfire occurring tonight. I plan on making an appearance." Rebekah responded.

"So I've heard. Apparently, Stefan is dragging me along for the ride." I said, sounding a little bitter. "I think he's taking Nik's bodyguard instructions a little too seriously." I stated. Rebekah looked surprised.

"Why? Don't you want to go?" She sounded disappointed, and I hadn't even given my answer yet.

"Not necessarily. I just thought that we were going to be having a girl's night in tonight. That's all." I admitted, tiredly. Rebekah immediately perked up.

"We can still do that. I'm just interested in seeing what this 'bonfire' event is all about." She insisted. I sighed with resignation.

"Fine. I need to do a store run anyway if we're still doing this girl's night in." I told her and we piled into my car. Perking up almost immediately, Rebekah sat back and stared contentedly out of the window as I pulled out of the parking lot and out onto the main road towards the grocery store.

* * *

"If you want to have a shower first, go for it. I'm not going to compete for the hot water." I insisted, and Rebekah shrugged and headed for the guest bathroom almost immediately. That gave me the opportunity to unpack my supplies for our night in: buttered popcorn, chips and dip, two different flavours of ice-cream, raw cookie dough. You name all the junk food you could think of for a 'slumber party' then I probably have it. Along with a bottle of bubbly to share between the both of us.

After shoving everything into their storage, I nearly collided with Henrik when I turned around to head for my bedroom to find something to wear tonight after I had showered to scrape the grime of my boring, wasted day off.

"How was school?" Henrik asked, smirking a little.

"Horrendous. Brought back way too many memories of my high school years." I responded, shuddering a little. Henrik made a face at me.

"Don't be an idiot, it wasn't that bad." He insisted. "It's not as though you had an image that you needed to maintain, if you remember." Henrik pointed out and I smiled a little.

"I know. It was such a relief, being just underneath the social radar. It looked like too much drama in the first place, and I was already dealing with my own if you can recall." I told my little brother, who immediately sobered and nodded.

"Well, it was worth it in the long run. You're halfway there reuniting with our family." He grinned with excitement.

"It certainly is." I agreed.

Rebekah immerged from the guest bedroom, looking clean and refreshed and dressed to impress in a pair of tight dark jeans, a white blouse with a sweetheart neckline, boots and a dark cashmere cardigan. Her freshly brushed blonde hair had been straightened and hanging loose down her back. She was frowning at me, curiously.

"Who are you talking to?" She asked.

"Henrik. Excuse me, Bekah. I'll be back soon." I responded before making a beeline for the sanctuary of my en-suite bathroom, leaving behind a confused Rebekah.

* * *

Dressed in a black and white polkadot skater dress with a v-line neck, my black leather jacket and my boots; I followed both Rebekah and Stefan back to the woods behind the high school where this 'bonfire' event was going to take place.

"I need a drink. You coming, Bekah?" I asked, wondering over to a massive, warm and inviting looking orange-yellow flames licking towards the treetops. My little/big sister nods and falls into step beside me while Stefan trails behind, watching the both of us calculatingly. Already there were students huddling around the bonfire in clusters, attempting to shield themselves from the cold change just coming through, signaling the beginning of Autumn, just talking and laughing and drinking from red cups of probably cheap beer.

Wordlessly, I snatched up two cups and poured myself and Rebekah some of the beer.

"You alright there?" Stefan suddenly asks her, and I glanced up and noticed Rebekah looking a bit … distant. Not upset or angry, just curious. Rebekah barely makes eye contact with him.

"I thought Tyler would be here." She explained, still craning her head and looking for Nik's first Hybrid. Stefan made a face.

"You're into Tyler now? That's kind of fickle." He observed. Rebekah stiffens in annoyance, and gives him a sharp look.

"When you're willing to give me the time of day again, then we'll talk." She tells him. "Until then, a girl has needs." I straightened up and handed Rebekah her cup. She takes a sip and wrinkles her nose at the taste.

"You'll be waiting forever, Bekah, I'm sorry to say." I told her, and her face fell a little at my words. I glanced over her shoulder and frowned slightly. "Big reason why is heading straight for us." I said, taking a sip and pointing behind her. Both Rebekah and Stefan turned and watched as Elena strides over to the beer keg and pours herself some.

"Excuse me." She says to Rebekah, who steps aside to let her past; giving the doppelgänger room to get her drink. Stefan smirks and approaches her.

"Elena, hi. What are you doing?" He asks, and Elena straightens up and frowns at him, ignoring me like I wasn't there and giving Rebekah a wary glance.

"I'm having fun, Stefan. You got a problem with that?" She retorts, crisply. Then she chugs down the entire cup in one breath. Both Rebekah and I raise an eyebrow at this display of immaturity. Stefan is predictably unfazed by Elena's coldness.

"Alright, take it easy." He attempts to take the cup from her. "We both know you're kind of a lightweight." He tells her. Elena snatches the cup out of his reach.

"Uh-huh. Really? You think I'm going to let a blood addict tell me how to drink?" She pointed out, aiming to wound; and probably forgetting (or simply not caring herself) that her sniping words would simply bounce off him like a ball against a brick wall. Elena turns to leave, and both Rebekah and me look at a nonplussed Stefan.

"She's got a point there, Stef. Let's not try to become a hypocrite now, shall we?" I mocked him a little, and turned to head for a smaller campfire to relax a little, and breathe in the lovely smell of campfire smoke and observe the other students having a good time and enjoying their adolescence.

At one point, I watched as some of the boys hoist up a mate by his legs over a beer keg so he could do a keg stand. Nearly everybody starts chanting 'drink, drink, drink' while the boy attempts to become shit-faced by drinking the entire keg. I observed Elena laughing and chanting along with her classmates until she randomly stops, and the smile on her face disappears when she spots something across the way. A quick glance in the direction reveals that it was Stefan, who was (thankfully) focusing mostly on Elena and leaving me the hell alone. Elena raises her cup at Stefan, defiantly, in a mocking salute and drinks from her beer. He reciprocates the gesture.

"They are their own worst enemy." I mumbled, picking up a stick and prodding the campfire; sending a shower of orange embers shooting up into the star-filled skies above us. Rebekah nods, agreeing with me, as she attempts to roast yet another marshmallow on her stick. Suddenly, somebody sits beside me on the log I'm sitting on and plants a wet kiss on my cheek. "What the f-?!" I turn to give the cheeky person a vicious slap across the face, but paused when I saw the smirking face of Damon.

"Hello, cutie!" He greets me, and I roll my eyes and pulled him in for a tight hug, as Rebekah idly observed us from her spot.

"What? No friends your own age?" Rebekah commented, dryly. Damon just gives her a look as he leaves his arm wrapped around my shoulders, and I lean against him; feeling content for once, because one of my boys was here with me.

"Like you can talk." He points out. Rebekah ignores him in favour of bringing the flaming lump of molten confectionary to her mouth and blows it out. The entire marshmallow is burnt. I stifle a giggle at the frustrated pout that results from my sister.

"Is this supposed to be fun? I've been through ten of these." She complains. Damon sighs, and reaches for the stick she is holding.

"No, you're just looking at it all wrong. This is a little rough on the outside." He peels off the top layer of charcoal on Rebekah's marshmallow, revealing the hot, sweet and sticky gooey mess inside. "But the inside … yum." He grins and offers the stick to Rebekah who takes it, and eying both him and the somewhat restored marshmallow, puts the marshmallow into her mouth and slowly chews. Almost immediately, a bright smile spreads across Rebekah's face.

"Mmm. It's good." She approves, earning a pleased expression from Damon as he licks his fingers clean.

"Yep." He turns to me. "You want one?" He holds up a pink marshmallow and spears it on the end of a stick. I nodded, but took it from him.

"I can roast my own marshmallow, thanks very much." I stated, and scooted closer to the flames. I placed the marshmallow on the stick as close to the embers crackling at the base of the campfire as possible without coating my cooking marshmallow with ash. "This is how you do it, Bekah. You don't hold it directly in the flames, you hold it close to the coals or the burning wood and just rotate it like you would roasting a pig or turkey on a spit." I explained. I demonstrated this until I managed to produce a marshmallow that was evenly cooked all around. I pulled it back and showed it to her. "Here. I'll make another." I stated, and Rebekah smiled and took the sticky, molten marshmallow off the stick and took a bite. "And maybe when we get back to the apartment later on tonight, I'll make us some Smores." I offered.

"Smores?" Rebekah frowned. "Never heard of them." She admitted unsurprisingly. I grinned at her, as I finished toasting my marshmallow.

"Then you'll be in for a treat." I promised. Damon shrugged and picked up another stick and impaled a couple of marshmallows onto it.

"Or I could make you one now." He offered. I paused in the middle of eating my marshmallow when I suddenly realised something was off. I stared into the flames in front of me and immediately found myself being drawn into a sort of trance…

* * *

 **(PREMONITION)**

 _I found myself standing a dark and damp cave in an unknown area, standing behind a hooded figure._

 _"Uh, excuse me. Where the hell are we?" I asked the unknown stranger in front of me. I received no reply. I frowned at the back of their head. "Hey, excuse me. I'm talking to you." I attempted to get their attention; but when I was ignored again I stepped around to face them and noticed an open stone sarcophagus with a desiccated vampire (with a blurred out face – which told me that I knew this vampire) lying chained down in there and in unsuspecting slumber. I glanced back at the hooded stranger, and realised that it was a possessed witch, judging by the dazed expression on the witch's face._

" _This better work. Or_ she _won't be pleased…" The witch mutters to herself, before slitting her wrist. I frowned as I watched her dripping her bloodied wrist over the vampire's mouth. After a few minutes a pale tongue whips out to gingerly remove the drops on his lips. Then suddenly._

" _No! Get it away!" The vampire orders, fiercely. I froze in stunned horror. I recognized that voice. The witch makes an irritated noise underneath her breath and yanks back her wrist away from his mouth._

" _You need blood." She insisted, sounding both wary and annoyed in the presence of this specific vampire. And for a VERY good reason._

" _Get it away from me!" He insists, and I'm immediately flung back out of the trance..._

* * *

 **(REALITY)**

My mouth falls open in what appeared to be a silent scream, and I was failing to comprehend what I had just seen. Was it currently happening right now, or had it already happened and we were currently in the process of becoming royally screwed if the vampire was who I honestly believed it was, became reanimated? My frantic thoughts were cut off when two strong hands suddenly grabbed my shoulders and started gently, but urgently shaking me to pull me out of my shocked stupor.

"Grace? Grace, are you alright!?" The scared voice demanded of me and I refocused upon Damon's very serious and very alert face. I was hit with the aroma of freshly spilled blood, and I momentarily glanced away from him to see a recently discarded stick that had thick, dark red blood congealed on the sharpened tip. It wasn't hard to figure out that Damon had obviously said or done something to piss off Rebekah and she had retaliated or warned Damon by impaling him with it and walking off, since I saw no traces of her anywhere. Although, by the ruckus Damon was creating right now; she was sure to be by my side within a split second. Damon was still looking at me with worry in his icy blue eyes, and I couldn't say anything except for one word:

"Mikael…" I blurted out, fearfully.

Damon immediately stiffened the very second my stepfather-in-law's name fell from my lips; almost immediately confirming what Nik had told me over the phone to be correct. Damon definitely knew something about Mikael's rumoured re-appearance in our lives. I narrowed my eyes at him, suspiciously, and as predicted; Rebekah was at my side in seconds, looking panicked and scared.

"What about him?" Damon responded.

"Precisely. Care to explain why Nik told me that you knew something about Mikael, which persuaded him to change his plans at the last minute?" I demanded, sternly. I had half-expected Damon to immediately look guilty the very second I had asked him this question. But instead, he looked just as confused and wary as both Rebekah and I did.

"Only that I had received a random, anonymous phone call requesting assistance in locating and freeing your dick of a stepfather-in-law." Damon responded, unexpectedly. Rebekah looked like she was torn between wanting to seriously maim him, and fighting the urge to flee for her life and possibly take me with her to avoid her brother's wrath in the process.

"And what was your response?" I demanded, sharply. Damon looked both hurt and insulted by the obvious implication.

"I refused, obviously." He spat. "Like I was going to be involved in that shit storm and bring back somebody who wanted to destroy what is probably the best thing in my 172 years on this planet, her sadistic dick of a boyfriend and his seriously messed up siblings." I placed a calming hand on Rebekah's arm to avoid her launching herself upon Damon for insulting her and her family in his rant. "I may be selfish and a dick myself; but I choose life … in a matter of speaking." Damon insisted, and I relaxed a little; pleased that Damon was not as involved in this sudden Mikael related 'shit storm' as Damon had so vulgarly dubbed this situation. I glanced around looking for Stefan, and was relieved that he wasn't around. Probably hovering around Elena, and making sure that Nik's personalized Hybrid making blood bag was protected. Good enough for me; I had two powerful vampires to back me up should I require assistance in the event that I was unable to completely defend myself.

I just wished that Nik would hurry up and understand this, so we didn't have a repeat performance in the future. But for now, I just needed to grin and bear it.

"So what do we do now?" I questioned Damon, feeling a little paranoid. Like I was expecting Mikael to jump out from behind a nearby tree, car or building and attempt to kill both Rebekah and I, or hold us both ransom so Nik could return to Mystic Falls to be killed outright by Mikael. Damon shrugged, wincing a little; presumably from the assumed puncture wound Rebekah had given him.

"Turn in for the night? Not much we can do right now. But I might check up on Stefan and Elena. Can't be too careful right now." Damon said, before getting to his feet and giving me one last concerned look before hugging me tightly and kissing my cheek; then vamp-speeding away.

* * *

Following Damon's suggestion, Rebekah and I made our way back to my apartment in the town's square; stopping only briefly to buy a few extra party favours for our 'girl's night in'.

"Ready for tonight, Bekah?" I asked as I let us both inside and immediately dumped the milk chocolate, marshmallows and graham crackers on the kitchen island bench and clicked on my kettle. I was dying for a cuppa tea.

"I don't know. I've never done a 'girl's night in' before, so I can't comment." Rebekah admitted, and went over to sit on my couch; unknowingly sitting beside her baby brother in the process. Henrik practically beamed at his older sister, which stirred up melancholy feelings within me as I observed this. "So what happens now?" She asked, trying to muster up some excitement despite being out of her element. I immediately dashed over to my collection of DVDs and snagged my pre-selected choices.

"We're going to be watching some movies, while we do some home beauty facials." I explained, feeling slightly nervous as it was rare for me to do home facials. I was a bit more of a tomboy than a girly girl. But I could do it if I had to; and in this case because Rebekah _was_ a girly girl, I decided to suck it up and just deal with it for the sake introducing Rebekah to the 21st century. "Since you're new to this, you get first pick of the films I've selected." I held up three DVDs for Rebekah's selection. However, I was not prepared for her reaction to one of the movies.

" _Dracula_?" Rebekah sounded surprised. "You don't mean Vlad III Dracula do you?" She asked me, curiously. I blinked at her in astonishment.

"You knew Vlad the Impaler?" I exclaimed. Rebekah just gave me an annoyed look.

"Not personally. We knew _of_ him. Elijah, Nik and I traveled through the Ottoman Empire – what you would now know as 'Turkey' - on our way to England during the mid-1400s." She explains. "And we heard rumours that Kol and he had become good friends because of Vlad's cruelty and creative methods of dealing with his enemies." Rebekah stated with distaste. I must've gone slightly pale, as she gave me a sympathetic smile.

"You mean his unfortunate tendencies to impale his victims on wooden posts and spears while they were still alive?" I asked. Rebekah nodded, and I gulped uneasily. "Remind me not to piss off Kol when we eventually reunite." I requested and Rebekah shook her head.

"Kol might be homicidal and unreasonable at times, but if you recall; he was fiercely protective of you when you were alive." Rebekah reassured me, not unkindly. "If you recall, I told you that when Nik brought you back into the caves the night you were killed, Kol was ready to kill to avenge your death. Does that sound like a person who would kill you?" She questioned me, and I relaxed a little.

"So did Kol turn him into a vampire?" I asked curiously. Rebekah snorted at the idea.

"No, he did not. But he was unfortunately inspired by him and stole his impaling habits for his own. I believe that whatever would be in that movie would be highly fictionalized." Rebekah confirmed. I shrugged.

"Figures." I said. "So you wanna watch _Bram Stoker's Dracula?_ " I asked, assuming that was what Rebekah had chosen because we had gone into a D&M conversation about it. However, my sister shook her head firmly.

"No, thank you. Put on _Sense and Sensibility._ " Rebekah requested. I smiled, and opened the DVD case.

"I take it that you've met Jane Austen?" I asked, curiously, as I popped in the DVD and paused it just before the Columbia Pictures opening overture blasted through the speakers.

"Of course. She's one of my favourite authoresses. I was among one of the first to purchase her book when it was first published." She bragged smugly. I laughed, rolling my eyes. "Shall we start?" Rebekah asked, making herself comfortable on the couch. I shook my head and reached for her hand to pull her back to her feet.

"Nope. You're going to get into your pajamas and pull your hair back into a ponytail so that it is out of your face. Then, please wash your face." I instructed.

Rebekah frowned at me.

"And what are you going to do?" She wanted to know. I grinned.

"I'll be doing the same thing as you, but I'm setting up our snacks first." I explained, cheerfully. "C'mon. Times a wastin'." I told her and Rebekah nodded and walked uncertainly towards her bedroom and got ready for bed. By the time she had re-immerged, our snack food had been laid out, and two champagne flutes were standing ready to be used. Rebekah was dressed in a pair of loose white blue checkered flannel sleep pants and a lavender tank top. Her long, blonde hair had been pulled back into a ponytail and her face was slightly red from being freshly cleaned.

"Alright, I've done what you've asked for. When do we start the movie?" She demanded, sounding impatient. I returned from getting changed myself, and carried with me my facial products, some nailpolish and my manipedi supplies. I was wearing black and red polkadotted flannel sleep pants and a dark grey long-sleeved skivvy. I had twisted my hair up into a messy bun.

"Right now." I flopped down on my couch, depositing my bounty on the coffee table and encouraging Rebekah to sit beside me on the couch. I hit play on the remote and immediately the overture started playing.

"Oh, great. A chick flick?" Henrik whined from where he was lounging on the couch beside me, scowling with boredom, and I ignored him in favour of focusing upon Rebekah. I picked up some thick moisturizer and squeezed some onto my fingers.

"Alright. What I'm going to do is create a mask on your face with this moisturizer and we'll leave it on for a while before we'll go and wash it off. Then I'll treat you to a manipedi. How's that sound?" I asked her, and Rebekah immediately brightened.

"Heavenly. Thank you, sister." She grinned, and I nodded and beckoned her closer so I could start dabbing the moisturizer on her face.

* * *

It turned out that neither Rebekah or I could stay awake long enough to see the end of the second movie we put in after we had finished _Sense and Sensibility,_ which turned out to be _No Strings Attached;_ a movie that Rebekah enjoyed, but probably because she found the leading male (Ashton Kutcher) attractive.

Typical.

During _Sense and Sensibility,_ both Rebekah and I smeared our faces with moisturizer in a cold mask, and while we waited for it to work its magic, I painted Rebekah's fingernails a dark red colour that closely resembled a fine wine. In between stuffing our faces with the goodies I had picked up from the grocery store and experimenting with our amateur beauty routine; Rebekah and I shared personal stories with each other about what went on in our lives since I had died. By the time we had both passed out halfway through _No Strings Attached,_ we had almost completely caught up with each other. Neither of us knew of what was about to happen overnight until a frantic sounding Henrik made a desperate attempt to wake me up from our food coma.

"Grace! Grace! Wake up, I'm serious!" Henrik shook me awake, and I frowned and swatted at him, making contact with his hand…

… Wait what?

My eyes snap open and I sit up looking at Henrik and jostling Rebekah at the same. She had been using me as pillow like I had been with her and she mutters in her sleep with irritation.

"Henrik? What's going on?" I whispered, urgently, trying not to wake Rebekah up and glancing about for the danger. I was confused when there was nothing in the apartment that seemed remotely threatening. But still Henrik looked freaked out by something.

"I don't know. But whatever it is, it's not good." He responded. Rebekah's eyes snap open the second Henrik stops speaking. But neither Henrik nor I notice. If we had been paying attention, we probably would've seen her blinking hard, not believing her own eyes before focusing on her little brother with open mouthed shock. Both Henrik and I try to figure out what the hell was going on, and why Henrik was suddenly corporeal, when suddenly she speaks out.

"Henrik…" Rebekah whispers, sounding both stunned and overjoyed. We both turn and look at Rebekah, and Henrik's horrified face, due to the confusing situation unfolding at this moment, instantly breaks into a cheeky smile when he realizes his good luck and walks towards her too.

"Hello, Bex. I've missed you." Is the very first thing Henrik says to his older sister after a thousand years.

* * *

 **A/N: What's going on here? A spell gone wrong? Or Henrik's second chance? Find out next chapter. :D**

 **TTFN xx**


	41. Second Chances

**A/N: Hey guys! Welcome back to the story! Hope you enjoyed the last chapter and are ready to see what happens next.**

 **Reviews are greatly desired, and all contributions are appreciated. What is not appreciated are flames, so please don't post any. Thank you ;)**

 **I don't own** _ **The Vampire Diaries.**_ **All characters (except for Grace) are owned by author L.J. Smith.**

 **Please enjoy this chapter! Xx**

* * *

 **SECOND CHANCES**

" _If I had the chance to start again.  
Then you would be the one I'd come and find.  
Like the poster of Berlin on my wall.  
Maybe there's a chance our walls might fall."  
_ _ **~Athlete: 'Chances' (Tourist [2015])**_

* * *

It was hard to tell who out of the three of us moved first. But it was safe to say that it was probably Rebekah, when as one, she and I practically pounced upon Henrik, smothering him in a tearful hug and relishing in the fact that we were able to actually hold him rather than fazing through him like he wasn't even there.

But I was definitely a close second.

"How is this possible?" Rebekah demanded, clutching to her baby brother for dear life. "You haven't aged a day!" She observed and pulled away from him cupping the sides of his face with her hands as she examined every inch of him. Her face fell when she realized what he was wearing. "You're even wearing what you died in." She mumbled, trailing off as she eyed his light grey tunic top, dark trousers, knee-high light brown travelling boots and dark brown belt wrapped about his waist. Rebekah wiped away her happy tears as Henrik rolled his eyes and grunted when Rebekah pulled him back into a smothering hug.

"It's alright, Rebekah. I'm okay, so stop crying already. It's getting embarrassing." Henrik complained as he squirmed uncomfortably in his sister's arms.

"I've missed you so much." She whispered, and Henrik stopped squirming the very second he heard Rebekah's words and returned her hug warmly, burying his face into her shoulder.

"Me too." He confessed. "It's sucked that I haven't been around to experience everything with you though. Even when it was bad." Rebekah straightened up from their embrace and started to pace, still obviously overwhelmed by her brother's reappearance in the living world. I frowned, thoughtfully.

"How the hell is this happening?" I wondered, feeling disturbed. "Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled that you can be seen and I don't have to relay what you say to everybody. But this can't be possible." I told him. Henrik nodded in agreement.

"I get it. I thought something weird was happening when I felt like I was being … I don't know … summoned? From the other side." He explained, looking at my perplexed expression. Rebekah stopped pacing and looked at Henrik in alarm.

"You mean like a spell?" She even sounded alarmed. Henrik shrugged.

"I guess. It felt similar to what Mother used to do." He admitted, uneasily.

"You lost me completely." I spoke up, looking between the two siblings for an explanation as to what the hell they were going on about.

"Mother used to use simple spells on us back then." Henrik explained. "But it was usually when she was healing us, or trying to teach us a new spell as part of our studies." I nodded. It made sense; Esther wasn't always selfish, and had genuinely wanted to give her children a better start to life by teaching them the essentials of their witch heritage, should they have chosen to pursue that way of life.

"Who do you suppose is responsible?" Rebekah wondered. "This must be an extremely powerful spell if it's summoning the dead from the other side." She stated, frowning darkly.

"I can only think of one person." I spoke up. "But I don't know what she could be gaining from this."

"Who?" Rebekah demanded.

"Bonnie Bennett." I replied succinctly. "She's the only witch that I know of living in Mystic Falls at the moment." I explained. Suddenly, my phone started ringing and I looked at caller ID and paled.

"What's wrong?" Henrik asked, concerned. In response, I turned the phone around so that both Rebekah and Henrik could read the name.

"Niklaus." Rebekah sounded stricken. I was debating whether or not I should let Nik know that Henrik was back, however temporary it might be, or keep mum about the subject. Henrik seemed to be thinking along the same lines as I was.

"Should we let him know about me?" He asked, worriedly. I offered him a nervous smile and nodded my head.

"I think we'd better." I said, reluctantly. "Imagine how pissed he'd be if he returned and found out that you had returned to the living world in corporeal form while he had been away?" Both Henrik and Rebekah shuddered. "His rage would be lethal." I reminded them, as the call timed out and showed up on my screen as a 'missed call'. I felt a little guilty about not answering straight away.

"So how do we tell him? Call or text?" Henrik questioned, warily.

"I've got video call on my phone. There's no way he'd be able to accuse us of deceiving him if he could actually see and hear you." I insisted, and both Rebekah and Henrik nodded in agreement. "However, I don't think we should do it now." I said.

"Why not?" Rebekah frowned. I got to my feet and strode with a determination towards my bedroom, intending on getting dressed.

"I want to get to the bottom of this unusual situation first, to find out if this is potentially dangerous, or just an unfortunate mistake." I suggested. "I'm going to get help from Damon." I announced. Henrik immediately grinned at this.

"I'm coming too." He declared, excitedly. Rebekah frowned with confusion.

"What for? How is he likely to help?" She demanded.

"Because Bonnie trusts Damon more than me." I responded. Henrik made a face.

"But she also hates Damon." He pointed out. I smirked.

"Not as much as me, sweetie." I winked at him, and immediately closed the door on him so I could change. I heard Rebekah sigh heavily.

"I'm going to come along too."

"Why? I can take care of myself." I protested.

"This is a family matter, Grace. Which makes it _my_ business." Rebekah retorted, tartly. "Besides, I'll never hear the end of it if I let anything happen to you that I could've prevented while we investigate this." She added, sounding a little bit martyred.

"Fine." I agreed, sighing with frustration. I forgot that Rebekah could be just as stubborn as Nik. It was better to just give her, her way rather than argue.

* * *

 **~:THIRD PERSON P.O.V:~**

Somewhere at an unknown location, Klaus frowned, feeling suspicious and a little hurt when Grace failed to pick up his phone call and her voice mail picked up instead. Not that he'd willingly admit it in public, of course.

 _"Hey there! You've reached Grace Williams. I'm unable to take your call right now, but if you leave a message and your phone number; I'll get back to you soon. Cheers!"_ Grace's light and cheerful Estuary English voice came over the line followed by an obnoxious beep. Klaus grimaced before leaving his message; idly focusing upon his newly created hybrids darting about all around him, following his orders and making the necessary preparations for the next phase of his plan.

"Uh, Sweetheart? This isn't like you not picking up your phone. Has something happened back in Mystic Falls that requires my attention? Call me back as soon as you get this." He pauses, then hastily adds when he is positive none of his hybrids were within hearing range: "I miss you, and I wish you were here." He hangs up, and tries to ignore the unnerved emotion that suddenly appeared that was a direct indication, something wasn't quite right.

He just hoped that Grace and Rebekah were alright, and that his doppelgänger was staying out of trouble.

* * *

 **~:GRACE P.O.V:~**

Henrik, a very reluctant Rebekah, and I travelled to the Boarding House to see if Damon knew about the fact that apparently Mystic Falls was being haunted by ghosts who had become corporeal and were roaming free through the streets, and to see what he could do to possibly help solve the potential conundrum.

Well, that. And Henrik was eager to introduce himself to the vampire who helped me find a strong friendship with him, and some comfort in a town that for the last thousand years became the foundation of not only _my_ problems, but also the problems of the family I had been about to marry into at the time. Before Henrik's untimely death and the discovery of Niklaus' werewolf heritage had caused everything to implode into itself like a falling tower of playing cards.

I must admit, was secretly curious about what Damon's reaction to Henrik's presence would be. The three of us had just breezed through the threshold, almost walking straight into Stefan who was carrying an iron stick in his hands. My eyes widened when I saw that there was blood on the pointed side and I looked at Stefan suspiciously.

"Where is Damon?" I asked, getting straight to the point. Stefan smirked defiantly at me before responding.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" He said. I rolled my eyes and pushed passed him, but not before Stefan seized my arm and pulled me to stop. "Wait a minute. Where'd you run off to last night?" He questioned me, sternly. I just raised an eyebrow at him with annoyance.

"Do I look like I'm five to you?" I asked as I pulled my arm out of his grip unsuccessfully. "Besides I'm surprised that you noticed to be perfectly honest. You're the one who went who knows where with Elena." I went to walk past, but was immediately and roughly tugged back again. "Ow!" I grunted through grit teeth. "Seriously, Stefan. Let go of my arm." I stated firmly. Suddenly, Damon started screaming from inside the boarding house and I fought to get free. "DAMON!?" I yelled out to him, but Stefan still wouldn't budge.

"Let go of my sister." Henrik grabbed Stefan's wrist, earning a glare in the process.

"Back off, kid." Stefan insisted, pissed. Henrik merely glared back and increased the pressure on his wrist.

"I will when you let go of Grace's wrist." He insisted. Stefan responded by taking a swipe at him, and was caught off guard when his hand simply fazed through his body like Henrik was a hologram. But it was enough for him to let go, and I took off like a bat outta hell into the house and into the parlour where I had found Damon chained down into a chair and sizzling in direct sunshine. Mason Lockwood of all people was standing at the window, holding open the heavy curtains with a shit-eating grin on his face.

"HEY!" I shouted at him, grabbing his attention. Mason's grin drops when he sees me. I immediately rush over to the curtain and snap it shut, glaring daggers at him.

"You can see me?" He blurted out in shock. I ignored him, snatched back Damon's ring from where Mason had discarded it on the floor and went back to Damon's side shoving it back on his index finger and kissing his forehead. "How can you see me?" Mason demanded.

"Are you okay?" I asked Damon, still ignoring Mason as I helped him remove the chains that were holding him into the chair. He smiled at me gratefully.

"I'll live. Not the first time I was nearly roasted alive." He admits, and I make a face.

"Charming."

"Grace?" I hear Henrik call out from the front door. I straightened up and took a step back from Damon, turning towards the doorway.

"In the parlour, Henrik. Bring Bekah with you." I called back. Damon's head snaps in my direction when he hears my baby brother's name and seconds later, Henrik barrels into the room following closely by a bored looking Rebekah, who eyes Mason with mild interest. Damon blinks at Henrik, obviously recognizing him as the boy from my memories who had been mauled to death by a werewolf, and looking stunned.

"That's Henrik?" Damon questions and Rebekah rolls her eyes.

"Obviously." She says, strolling over to a couch and sinking down onto it as Henrik grinned at Damon and rushes over to him; hand outstretched.

"Hi! It's great to finally meet you face to face!" Henrik tells a slightly speechless Damon who reciprocates the handshake uncertainly. I frowned with confusion at Henrik and Rebekah.

"Where's Stefan?" I asked, curiously. Henrik scowled and Rebekah snorted, and started inspecting her nails; while also ignoring a curious and obviously attracted Mason at the same time.

"He ran off." Henrik supplied, moving to inspect the Salvatore's expansive book collection now that he was able to actually pick up and flip through any book. I raised an eyebrow.

"Did he say where?" I asked, a little impatiently. Rebekah just gave me a look.

"Yes, Grace. He went into complete detail about where he was going before he shoved aside Henrik and took off." She responded, sarcastically. I just looked at her, unamused.

"Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, Bekah." I reminded her. "Plus, you're not as good as it as I am." I added, before directing my attention towards Mason who was studying the three of us cautiously.

"Don't bother, mate. She's out of your league." I set Mason straight. "And anyway, you're supposed to be dead." Damon looked at me like I was insane.

"Who the hell are you talking to?" He wanted to know. Rebekah glanced over at him, irritably.

"The tall blonde werewolf standing by the window over there." She said, pointing vaguely in the vicinity of the window.

"Mason Lockwood?" Then he pauses and thinks about it for several seconds before a look of realization passes over his face. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me." He groaned.

"What?" I asked, alert.

"That explains Henrik's presence, and why I woke up chained in a chair and with the fire poker sticking out of my chest." Damon continues as though he hadn't heard my question.

"Need more information, Damon." I said, as Henrik wonders over to the couch and plops down beside his older sister, reading from a thick, dusty looking book and grinning from ear to ear.

"One of Bonnie's spells went wrong." Damon explained, and both Rebekah and I exchanged looks with each other. Neither of us could decide if we were annoyed or grateful that Bonnie had screwed up. Case in point: it gave us back Henrik. But exactly for how long?

I sighed. "Rebekah and I figured as much." I confirmed to Damon who looked at me quizzically.

"And how would she know?" He asked, a little rudely. Rebekah glowered at him.

"She's sitting right here." Rebekah pointed out.

"And if you remember, Rebekah's mum was a witch. Ergo, it's very highly likely that Rebekah was one before she was turned into a vampire." I also pointed out. Damon snorted.

"And I suppose you want me to go and confront Bonnie and make her fix the problem?" He asked.

"Not exactly. But I do have my own reasons for wishing to speak with her on the subject." I replied, discreetly eying Henrik. Damon observes Henrik also, and after a few minutes; shrugs and heads for the front door.

"Okay. Shall we?" He asked, gesturing for the front door with his hand. Rebekah raises an eyebrow, and Henrik groans when he realizes he would have to leave behind the book.

"That's it? I expected more of a fuss." I observed, and Damon pretends to be offended.

"I'm just as eager as you are to stop this. I'd rather not be skewered like a stuck-pig and roasted alive, if it's all the same to you." He pointed out, and I glanced over at where Mason had been standing observing us, warily. To my surprise he had disappeared. But it was obvious we wouldn't be seeing the last of him before this fiasco was over. We all piled into Damon's Camaro and took off down the road leading back into town.

"So where are we likely to find Bonnie?" I asked curiously from where I was sitting in the backseat. I had been demoted to the backseat with Henrik (not that I really cared where I sat to be honest) in favour of a surprised, and slightly suspicious Rebekah. I snorted, wishing that Damon could be a bit more subtle next time.

"Probably the town's square." Damon responded, bored.

"We just came from there." Henrik piped up, frowning in confusion.

"Well, that's where Witchy is likely to be. The town is setting up for their annual 'Night of Illuminations' or whatever the hell it's called." He stated, dismissively.

"What on earth is this 'Night of Illuminations'?" Rebekah wanted to know.

"Your guess is as good as mine, Bekah. But I'm very quickly getting the impression that this celebration is just one of many parties this town likes to throw." I replied, dryly. We arrived just as Carol Lockwood stood up in front of a microphone and prepared to deliver a 'motivational' speech to a large crowd of locals.

"As a long-time member of the Historical Society, I am especially proud to be kicking off this day of festivities." Carol announced to the gathering crowd, with her voice as loud a bullhorn. "Thank you, volunteers. Tonight, we turn off our town's lights and flare up our lanterns in honor of the night of illumination started by our founders 150 year ago." She then turns towards an older man in his early 50s with receding grey hair, and gestures for him to come forward towards the microphone. "Here's founding family member Tobias Fell with a history lesson." All four of us made a bored face as the audience gives scattered applause.

"Shall we?" I asked, and Damon, Rebekah and Henrik nodded in agreement; none of us in the slightest bit interested in the history lesson, and went off in search for Bonnie. Damon drove around the town's square searching for a glimpse of the young witch. Eventually we spotted her hanging lanterns with Caroline, and Damon pulls up beside them; startling them a little.

"Greetings, Blondie. Witchy. I think you got your voodoo wires all crossed when you got rid of Vicky Donovan." Damon greeted them, and got straight to the point at the exact same time. It appeared he was less than enthusiastic about talking with Bonnie as she probably was with us. She frowned in confusion.

"What do you mean, why?" She asked, cautiously. Damon's usual cocky smile darkened.

"Because I'm pretty sure I just got spit-roasted by Mason Lockwood's ghost." He reported. Bonnie's eyes widened with shock.

"What?" She yelled.

"And why would you think that?" Caroline jumped in, presumably in defense for her friend. I leant over Henrik and wound down the window so I could talk to them as well.

"Because I found Damon chained to a chair in his parlour minus his daylight ring, and with a hot poker in his chest." I explained. Rebekah, eyed both girls from her place in the front seat and was looking decidedly impatient and bored by this entire excursion.

"Let's just say I'm having déjà-vu." Damon confirmed what I said. Caroline looks at Bonnie, worriedly.

"I thought you said that ghosts couldn't physically interact with people." She asked her friend, warily.

"They can't." Bonnie insisted. I encouraged Henrik to lean out of the window to help me prove a point.

"I give you exhibit A. My baby brother-in-law, Henrik Mikaelson. He was killed a thousand years ago, and is pretty much the closest you're gonna get to seeing an actual real life ghost." I explained. Bonnie's eyes widened in shock. It was clear that she had remembered when I told both her and Jeremy about him, and why I could see his spirit. Henrik maintains a poker face, as Damon takes back the conversation.

"I don't have time for a vengeful Lockwood." Damon added, sounding rather resentful. "When I kill someone, they're supposed to stay dead. Whatever it is you screwed up, fix it." Damon requested, before putting the pedal to the medal and tearing out of there before either Bonnie or Caroline could speak.

"You tell 'em, Damon…" I muttered, sardonically. He just threw me a glare via the rear view mirrors, and I smiled sweetly back.

"So what happens now?" Rebekah asked, sounding very much like she was whining a little. I sighed.

"That's up to Damon, he's the one with the vendetta. Although, I'd like to spend as much time as possible with Henrik now that he is corporeal. We don't know when he's likely to become invisible again to you." I responded, feeling the dread set in. I smiled when Henrik wrapped an arm around my shoulders and allowed me to lean my head against his shoulders. He had a worried frown on his face too, and was attempting to comfort not just himself, but me as well.

Rebekah brightened. "Well, what's wrong with that idea?" She wanted to know. "Spending time with Henrik has been one of my dearest wishes since he had died all these years ago." Damon groaned.

"I'm getting a cavity from all of this sweetness." He muttered, and I kicked the back his chair; earning a teasing smirk from him.

"Like I said; we're at the mercy of Damon. But if we get a choice, I'd like to go back to the Boarding House and collect my car so we can go somewhere else for our reunion, however long it lasts." I suggested. Damon shrugged.

"I don't care what _you_ do. But I'm gonna find Alaric to see if knows what we can do to deal with this if Bonnie fails." He tells us. I scowled at him.

"Nice attitude." I bitched. "I pray that if something happened to Stefan and he was killed, that you'd be just as excited to spend as much time with him as you could for as long as you could." I told him. "Even if you both currently hate each other's guts." I added. Damon and Henrik both snorted.

"I doubt it." Damon disagreed, as he pulled up to the Boarding House and immediately disappeared into the mansion. Rebekah stared after Damon with an odd look of both disgust and intrigue. _Very_ odd.

"Well that speech you made, Grace, was a bloody great waste of time. Shall we get on with it?" Rebekah asked brusquely as she hopped out of the Camaro and sauntered back over to my car and got into the front seat. I disagreed. I had definitely gotten through to him, even if it was just a minute second. But I also believed that Mason's reappearance genuinely freaked out Damon more than he probably wanted to admit.

"What is it, Grace?" Henrik placed a hand on my shoulder and I frowned and glanced over at him.

"I'll be back in just a second, then we'll get on with our reunion, huh?" I told him, grinning perhaps a little forced and headed back into the mansion. "Be right back, Bekah. I forgot something." I muttered out loud in my normal voice, knowing full well that Rebekah would be able to hear me, and also knowing full well; that this would increase her annoyance and frustration a couple notches. Hopefully, Henrik would be able to distract her for the few minutes I hoped I could use trying to get to the bottom of the normally unflappable Damon's dismissive attitude. I found him standing in the living room, nursing a scotch and staring morosely into the fireplace. He had his back to me, and he had obviously sensed my presence because his stiffened shoulders relaxed slightly. Without saying a word, I wondered over to him and wrapped my arms around Damon's waist and rested my head against his back.

"Grace…" Damon mumbled, warningly. But I tightened my grip on my best friend; refusing to back down despite the warning.

"Mason really did a number on you, didn't he?" I observed, with concern. Damon didn't respond, but I felt him immediately grab my hand and squeeze it for reassurance. I knew that this was his way of comforting himself while maintaining some of his pride. "Is that what you did to him?" I indicated towards the chair and abandoned chains, still standing off to the side where Damon and I had left it when I rescued him. "That day when you, Stefan, Bonnie and I roofied him with wolfsbane and brought him back here for interrogation?" I asked, cautiously.

"Pretty much. Except I ripped out his heart; Mason attempted to use sunlight up until you interrupted him." Damon responded, turning around in my arms and crushing me to his chest.

"Wonderful." I groaned, before pulling away after a few long minutes and raking a hand through my hair.

"I thought that you were off for your family reunion." Damon pointed out, and I shrugged.

"We will be. But there was something that I needed to take care of before we did." I stated, matter-of-factly.

"Which is?"

"Making sure that my best friend was alright." I responded, evenly. "Call me crazy, but I actually give a shit; despite the fact that I spent the entire summer away with your Ripper brother and my incredibly stubborn and ambitious Hybrid boyfriend." I pointed out. Damon drained his drink and wondered over to grab another.

"What the hell do you see in him, anyway?" He wanted to know as he sloshed a generous amount of the amber liquid into his glass. I saw the obvious avoidance about the topic of Mason Lockwood and how he had killed him in the end, and rolled my eyes; pretending to give this question some serious thought.

"Well…" I trailed off teasingly and spread a mischievous smirk across my face as Damon looked revolted. I laughed, in amusement. "Damon! Mind out of the gutter, and anyway despite Nik's faults he can be quite charming, sweet and generous when he wants to be." I insisted.

" _When_ he wants to be. And when he's not trying to kill me with the wooden leg off a table." Damon snorted, obviously remembering when he and Nik had that brawl back at Gloria's Bar in Chicago. Damon raised the glass back up to his mouth and I covered the rim with my hand, and raised an eyebrow.

"If you give him the benefit of the doubt, Damon, I'm sure that you and he could become good friends. You both have lots in common." I said. Damon looked unconvinced, as he pulled my hand off his glass, and raised it to his lips so he could brush a kiss across my knuckles playfully before dropping it and taking the intended sip. But eventually, he shrugged.

"I'll keep it under advisement. But I'm not promising anything." Damon told me. I eyed him sternly, but realized that that was probably the best answer I was going to get out of him in his current mood.

"Good enough." I turned to walk back out of the door to my car to get started on our reunion with Henrik. "Oh!" I turned back to him. "Call us when you've managed to find Alaric." I asked Damon, urgently. He frowned at me.

"Why? Wouldn't you want to use this time to be with your brother?" I smiled at him.

"Rebekah and Henrik want to help too." I responded.

"Why?"

"Because Henrik is at risk. We want to find out if there is a way of bringing him back." I explained. Damon looked at me with pitying eyes.

"Them or you?" He asked, pointedly. I scowled at him.

"Us." I insisted, firmly. "There isn't anything in the world that we won't do to make sure that Henrik gets his second chance." I paused, and bit my bottom lip. "If we succeed, this could be the path of redemption Nik needs to reverse all the bullshit that has been inflicted on not just him, but on all of us." I mumbled. Damon looked very doubtful, and I resented him for it.

"That's a really big if, honey. I'm not sure that it's even possible." Damon tried to get me to see this logically. But I shut down almost immediately.

"Doesn't mean we can't try." I retorted, as I continued walking out to my car. "I mean it, Damon. Call us when you find him." I requested, firmly. I didn't need to look back to know that Damon was looking at me with deep concern on his handsome face.

* * *

The logical part of me was practically screaming to see reason. But the part of me that desperately wanted Henrik back so that he can be part of the Mikaelsons' healing process, told the logical side to shove it and squashed it down flat. I ignored the concerned expression I saw on Rebekah's face and the confused one on Henrik's as I got into my car and started the ignition. It was obvious that Rebekah had heard the conversation between Damon and me, and that she apparently agreed with Damon … or so I believed. But I had to try to find a solution that we all could agree with. It was a silent journey back to the town's square, but as I pulled up into my usual parking space in front of the Apartment Block; Henrik decided that he didn't like the awkward silence and immediately spoke up.

"So what's happening now?" He asked, tentatively. I cut the engine and turned to smile at him.

"Now, we're going to spend some time together. Just the three of us. At least until Damon gives us the heads up about Alaric's whereabouts." I told him and Rebekah. "I'm gonna go upstairs to grab some stuff. You want to wait here or come up with me?" I asked. Rebekah just gave me a flat look.

"Do you want me to answer that, or should I just glare?" There was a pause before I turned away from her mouthing 'okay then' and scowling a little at Henrik when he smirked at me.

"Shall we?" I asked, hopping out of the car and locking it when both of my siblings vacated it.

"What exactly are you doing?" Rebekah asked, sounding slightly irritated.

"We're having a picnic. And I've got a bit of a surprise for Henrik." I fessed up, earning a delighted smile from Rebekah at the mention of the picnic and a curious expression from Henrik.

"What's the surprise?" He asked, almost immediately. I tsked at him playfully as we ascended the staircase to the residential area.

"It wouldn't be a surprise if I told you, now would it?" I pointed out to him. "Kinda defeats the purpose." Henrik shrugged and pouted as he lent up against the wall beside my apartment door, while Rebekah perched on the bannister to the staircase.

"Can't blame me for trying though." He defended himself. I chuckled indulgently, as I finally got the apartment door opened and breezed on in. Henrik followed promptly, but Rebekah remained where she was; knowing that I wasn't going to be taking very long to gather what I needed.

"But suffice it to say;" I added. "It's something that your brothers would've been doing with you if they had been given the chance." I hinted, frowning when I couldn't find what I was searching for. Then I remembered that it was in my car and walked towards the kitchen, retrieving my picnic basket and blanket and stuffing it with the foods that were left over from the 'girl's night in' and some wine and some water bottles.

"What my brothers would've been doing with me?" Henrik frowned with confusion. "But they were always too busy to spend any proper time with me. It was usually Rebekah or you that I spent any real time with that didn't involve chores or my studies; magical or otherwise." He pointed out. I nodded, remembering this all too well.

"I know. But I promise that you'll enjoy it, and hopefully take it as it should be seen as: a wonderful memory." I promised him.

"What's taking so long?" Rebekah called out from the corridor and both Henrik and I rolled our eyes at her complaining. Both of us questioning how much of a saint Nik must've been to put up with Rebekah's whinging all these years.

"Don't get your knickers in a twist, Bekah. We've coming." I reassured her, and pushed the picnic basket and blanket into Henrik's arms as I quickly snatched up my painting supplies and my old shirt that I used whenever I painted. "Let's blow this juke joint." I announced and Henrik practically sprinted like Speedy Gonzales down the stairs to my car, much to both mine and Rebekah's amusement.

"What is this so-called surprise you have in stall for him?" Rebekah asked, curiously.

"I'm going to teach him how to swordfight." I responded almost immediately, confident that Henrik was well out of hearing range. Rebekah's mouth dropped open in shock.

"But that's not your job. That's…"

"Elijah, Finn, Kol or Niklaus'." I finished for her, and I nodded in agreement. "I'm well aware of that. But obviously, Henrik died before they had a chance to pass down what they knew to him. I'm just giving Henrik the opportunity to do what he missed out on before that bloody werewolf killed him." I told Rebekah. Her face fell almost immediately, and angry, sorrowful tears welled up in her light blue eyes.

"Why did this have to happen to him? He was just a boy." Rebekah whispered harshly underneath her breath, and I shifted my easel, painting supplies and blank canvas in my arms as I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and squeezed in what I hoped was comfort.

"Precisely why I'm giving him this opportunity, so that he can take it with him as a cherished memory when he eventually becomes non-corporeal again." I muttered back to her reassuringly. "For now, let's just enjoy what time we have left with him. And create lots of videos that we can show your brothers if Nik ever un-daggers them in the future." I suggested. Rebekah dried her eyes and nodded, giving me a bittersweet smile before walking back downstairs to the car where an impatient Henrik was waiting for us.

* * *

Since my arrival in Mystic Falls, I had taken it upon myself to explore the town to discover if anything was familiar to me from when I was last there a thousand years before. Unfortunately, most of the meadows from my youth; especially the ones that were frequented by Rebekah, Nik and myself, had been used to create accommodations for the growing number of people who had chosen to settle down in Mystic Falls over the centuries. It made it difficult to find an appropriate and adequately private enough space for Rebekah, Henrik and I to have what little time we could with him, before he was 'summoned' back to the Other Side when Bonnie figured out where her spell went wrong. In the end, I settled on the small meadow beside the aptly named mystic falls bridge; where I had had my first flashback of Nik all those months ago.

"What's the surprise?" Henrik spoke up the very second we arrived at the meadow I was leading him and Rebekah towards. He set down my mother's picnic basket and set up the picnic rug for us girls, like the little gentleman his mother had raised him to be, as I playfully scowled at him. Rebekah; who already knew what the surprise was, but was dutifully remaining silent about it, rolled her eyes at her brother's exuberance. Although, I did catch a small nostalgic smile on her face as she sat down on the picnic blanket and helped herself to some wine.

"Geez, your impatience hasn't improved, Hen." I pointed out as I set up my easel and canvas, and carefully set aside my painting supplies. "I've left something in my car, I'll be right back." I said, and Henrik groaned like the fifteen year old he looked like and dropped down beside Rebekah, who was absently fiddling with her wine glass and eying the small waterfall not too far away from where we were sitting. As I made my way back to my car, my phone started ringing shrilly; scaring the hell out of me and I pulled it from my pocket to see who the caller was. I stiffened almost immediately. "Hello?" I answered, praying that my voice didn't betray my nervousness.

 _"Hello, Darling. Why haven't you returned my call?"_ Nik's voice was as smooth as silk, which implied that he was less than impressed with me right this second. I winced, quickly wracking my brains for a plausible answer. The very last thing that I wanted to do right this second was to make him suspicious, or give away that Henrik was back and currently attempting to have what little fun he could have with both Rebekah and me.

But I had tell him something. So I decided to feed Nik a little white lie about what was currently unfolding here in his absence.

"Sorry, sweetie. We've been dealing with an incident involving a witch's spell gone wrong." I replied, vaguely. There was silence from Nik's end of the conversation, and I honestly believed I had gotten away with it scot free. But then…

 _"Could you be a little more specific? Are you in danger?"_ He asked, sounding impatient and mildly concerned.

"Not exactly. The spell is a little bit more sophisticated than that; but Damon and I are working on it." I reassured him.

 _"Forgive me if I don't feel very reassured, love. Considering it's Damon Salvatore that we're talking about here."_ Nik sounded extremely unconvinced that we supposedly had things under control with the botched witch's spell. I let out a frustrated huff. It seemed that I needed to give Nik the same advice as I did Damon regarding each other.

"Oh, don't you start." I grumbled into the phone as I popped the trunk of my car and pulled out my duffel. "I'm not in the mood to repeat the same conversation I had just had with Damon with you." I said, firmly.

 _"And what conversation was this?"_ He asked, curiously. Shutting my trunk, I heaved my duffel onto my shoulder and slowly made my way back to where I had left Rebekah and Henrik.

"Damon was curious about what I actually saw in you. Suffice it to say, when I gave him my honest answer; Damon was less than convinced." I explained, flatly.

 _"Do I need to know what you told him?"_ Nik sounded paranoid.

"If you trust me like you claim you do, you don't need to know." I replied, coolly. Then I sighed, realizing that delaying calling him back was only going to agitate Nik, so I decided to reassure him that everything was honky-dory here; and that he didn't need to come rushing back here prematurely, if he wasn't completely finished with his 'hybrid army project' as yet. "Everything is fine here, Nik. I swear. I just miss you … a lot. And I wish you were here." _So you could see Henrik and be happier for once in your existence…_ I privately added.

I also chose to withhold the knowledge that some fucking idiot had found Mikael and was currently attempting, or had already woken him up so he could come after his children again. Part of me hoped that Mikael wasn't aware that I was reincarnated and had not added me to his hit list as well.

" _Why didn't you call me back then?"_ Nik's clipped, annoyed and paranoid voice had instantly changed to a warm, tender and loving tone. I smiled.

"Why didn't you try again when I didn't pick up the first time?" I challenged.

" _You know why, sweetheart."_ Nik replied, almost sounding regretful. I snorted.

"Doesn't mean I have to like it, Nik. You know that I will never leave you, if I could prevent it." I told him. "Your actions at the moment make me feel like you don't want me. Like you're trying to avoid me." I confessed.

" _Don't you dare say that again! Or even think it! I_ _ **always**_ _want you. I want to see you, touch you, taste you, and wake up next to you every morning."_ Nik promises me. The air stills in my lungs, and a pleasant and very warm fuzzy feeling envelopes me like I had stepped into a warm bath.

"The feeling is **very** _ **very**_ mutual." I croaked. Nik's deep voice chuckles into my ear with amusement.

" _Good. Please call me whenever you feel lonely, darling. I don't care what time it is; every conversation we have is precious to me."_ Nik urges me.

"I will. Hurry back. I love you." I tell him. I see Henrik approaching up ahead. He looks restless and impatient, and his eyebrow rises when he notices my duffel slung over my shoulder. He opened his mouth to call out to me, and I immediately placed a finger on my lips; warning him not to say a word. Henrik closes his mouth and nods, looking at me questioningly.

" _I love you, too. I'm counting the days until I see you again. See you, love."_ Nik hangs up and I lock my phone and shove it back into my pocket.

"What's with your duffel?" Henrik asks, coming over and relieving me of my burden. I smirked.

"That's your surprise, mate." I told him, and Henrik's eyes widened in surprise. "I'm going to teach you how to sword-fight. Like Nik, Elijah, Kol or Finn would've shown you before the werewolf attack." I told him. Henrik immediately lit up.

"Are you serious!?" He demanded. I grinned and nodded, then struggled to stay on my feet when he rugby tackles me in a massive hug. "You're the best!" I hooked an arm around his neck and lightly ground my knuckles into his scalp. Kol used to do this to him frequently and out of brotherly affection.

"Naturally." I teased, releasing him when he started weakly protesting. Henrik breaks away from me and sprints back to where Rebekah was lying back on the picnic blanket with her eyes closed as she sunbaked underneath the warm sunshine. "I remember this." I observed, as Henrik dumps my duffel onto the grass beside the picnic basket and swiftly unzips it. Rebekah sits up slightly and eyes me curiously.

"Remember what?" She asks.

"Sunbathing in that meadow that one time. It was also the day you confessed to me your fears about Esther, Mikael and Ayana plotting to change you and your family into vampires. Remember?" I asked. Rebekah's face darkened a little.

"Dimly." She replied, lying back down again. "It's not my favourite memory to reflect upon." Rebekah then frowned. "What was taking you so long to come back, by the way?" She asked, slightly accusingly.

"Nik called me again. He wanted to know why I had failed to call him back." I said. Henrik frowned at me a little.

"Is that why you told me to be quiet before?" He asked, sounding hurt. I nodded.

"I didn't want to tell him that you've returned from the dead temporarily, Hen." I explained to him, regretfully.

"Why not?"

"Because it would break him even more than he already is if he came all the way back from wherever he was, only to find that you became invisible again; and that Rebekah was the only Mikaelson that saw you again in a thousand years." I pointed out.

"Second Mikaelson, you mean." Henrik pointed out, and I looked at him with confusion.

"Pardon me?" I asked, blinking owlishly at him. Rebekah nodded in agreement with what her brother said, and had a slightly disapproving smile on her face.

"You're a Mikaelson too, Grace. Or have you forgotten that?" Rebekah said, taking a sip from her wine. I stiffened a little.

" _That_ is not official until Nik offers me a ring again. Otherwise it doesn't count." I insisted, turning away to unzip and riffle through my arsenal. I heard more than saw Henrik and Rebekah wince.

"I see your point." Henrik agreed. I looked at him quizzically.

"You do?"

"Not about the 'I'm not a Mikaelson until Nik re-proposes' thing. I call bullshit on that." Henrik responded dismissively.

"I agree." Rebekah pipes up.

"I meant your reasoning about not telling Niklaus about me." He explains, stubbornly. I groaned and resumed rummaging through my duffel.

"We can debate about the 'Mikaelson membership' thing later on. Right now, I'm focusing upon teaching Henrik the basics of sword-fighting." I stated, and withdrew one of my favourite swords and a similar spare; which I promptly handed to Henrik. He staggers a little underneath the weight.

"Woah!" Henrik hollers, earning a giggle from Rebekah. He glowers at her.

"Careful, honey. That sword might be slightly dull, but it still can cut you if you're careless." I warned him. I pulled my phone free from my pocket and walked over to Rebekah, who eyes me both curiously and warily. "Think you could record his lesson?" I asked her, smiling a little. Rebekah frowned.

"What for?" She asks, taking my phone from me.

"Something for your brothers to look at in case Henrik is 'called back' to the Other Side before they can reunite with him again." I explained. Rebekah's response to this explanation was to widen her eyes in horror at the mere thought. But she agreed to help record the lesson after I gave her a brief tutorial about how to work the video on my phone. I walked back to Henrik and showed him the proper way to hold the sword. "Alright, buddy. In every sword fight, whether it is a mock fight or a life or death situation, you always honor your opponent out of respect. Even if they don't show it towards you." I explained, and Henrik nodded. "Let me demonstrate." Henrik watched as I executed the appropriate method before I stood behind him and helped with his grip.

"Now what do you do next?" Henrik asked, as I went back and picked up my sword.

"I'm going to show you some basic blocks and parries. Then we'll focus upon foot work. It wouldn't do for you to have the correct movement above the waist, if you accidentally trip over your feet or were not able to move swiftly to avoid a lethal blow." I explained. Our little impromptu lesson was cut short by Damon's long-expected phone call … which Rebekah promptly answered.

"Hello, Mr. Salvatore. What information have you got for us?" She asked, shortly. Rebekah rolled her eyes and held my phone out to me. "He wants to speak with you." I reach for the phone and held it to my ear.

"Hey, did you find Alaric?" I asked.

" _Yep, at the Grill. You still coming?"_ Damon sounded irritated.

"Absolutely. We'll meet you there." I said, cheerfully. I hung up and looked at Rebekah and Henrik with determination. "Let's get to the bottom of this bizarre situation, shall we?" I announced.

"Let's." Rebekah agreed and immediately got to her feet and started to fold up the picnic blanket while Henrik packed away the swords into my duffel bag. My smile faded as I tried to determine how we could save Henrik. I seriously doubted any of the Mikaelsons would care if Henrik was brought completely back to life or not. Just remaining visible to the naked eye would do wonders for their morale.

 _I would do whatever it takes to make that wish come true…_

* * *

 **A/N: That's a wrap. I apologise for the late update; I've been dealing with Uni, my job and I also recently attended my first cousin's wedding. The late update was also due to slight writer's block, so please don't think I'm abandoning this story if I take a while to update.**

 **Next chapter will introduce the arrival of another notorious member of the Mikaelson Family, as well as solving the puzzle of why Henrik is suddenly visible to everybody else and not just Grace.**

 **Please review, and I hope you've enjoyed this update.**

 **TTFN xx**


	42. How To Save A Life

**A/N: As previously mentioned and stressed at the conclusion of the last chapter, if I don't update this story for a long time; it is** _ **not**_ **because I have abandoned it. It will most likely be due to my commitment to my Uni course and some ongoing issues I'm experiencing with my job at present. Thank you for your patience.**

 **I do not own** _ **The Vampire Diaries.**_ **All characters (except for Grace) are owned by author L.J. Smith.**

 **Your reviews will be most definitely appreciated, and thank you to those who have reviewed so far. You guys rock! But please do not flame.**

 **Enjoy x**

* * *

 **HOW TO SAVE A LIFE**

" _Perseverance, determination, commitment, and courage: those things are real.  
_ _The desire for redemption drives you."_ _ **~ Michael Phelps.**_

* * *

Rebekah, at the last minute, opted out of going with me to the Mystic Grill where Damon had said Alaric would be with both the Gilbert Siblings. She decided to head back to my apartment for some time to herself as the very last person she wanted to see was 'Miss Priss' Elena Gilbert herself. However, she did object at first when Henrik stated his wish to come with me to the Grill too to continue with the investigation into Bonnie's spell.

"How else is Alaric going to believe Grace if I don't tag along too, Bex?" Henrik pointed out, and Rebekah reluctantly nodded and urged him to return to the apartment when it wasn't absolutely essential for him to be there with me. I seconded the request, to which Henrik reluctantly agreed. Henrik and I walked casually down the middle of the town's square, weaving our way through the locals trying to set up for their 'Night of Illumination' celebration and trying hard not to draw too much attention to ourselves (considering that Henrik was still dressed in his 'Viking' best.) When we both spotted Damon waiting somewhat impatiently for me and by default Henrik to show up.

"Sorry we're late, Damon. Been waiting long?" I asked, draping my arm around Henrik's shoulders as we waited for his response. Damon still looked at my baby brother like he was something rare and exotic to gawk at, and I had to click my fingers in his face to gain his attention. "Damon? Hello? Are you good?" I asked, now feeling impatient myself. He immediately snapped out of it and scowled at me, unamused.

"Fine. Let's just get this over with." He grumbled, seizing the main door and striding though. It didn't take very long to locate Alaric; mostly because he was at his usual perch at the bar. Only this time he had Elena with him, and both by the looks of it were talking rather urgently with each other. Neither of them seemed to have noticed our arrival, oddly enough.

"I'll grab Jeremy." Alaric said to Elena, who nodded and slid off her bar stool.

"I'll be right back." She promised and disappeared towards the restrooms. Damon started towards Alaric, but I seized him by the shoulder and pulled him to a stop.

"What now?" Damon grumbled, and I raised an eyebrow at his whiny, put upon attitude.

"I'd like to test something. Just to make it easier for Alaric to agree with you when you spring the fact that Mason Lockwood just attempted to roast you alive." I explained.

"And how are you going to do that?" Damon demanded. I smirked.

"It's already in progress." I said, indicating towards the bar; where Alaric had already turned away and was focusing on something in front of him and sipping at his usual bourbon. Damon's eyes widened as he watched Henrik already heading over to the bar stool Elena had vacated and taking a seat beside Alaric. He paused, not saying anything and just taking in the room and occasionally glancing at Alaric, who eventually realised that Henrik wasn't leaving any time soon and turned to observe him curiously.

Henrik grinned cheerfully at the confused History teacher/vampire hunter. "Hi!" He said. Alaric placed down his glass and frowned cautiously at him.

"Hey?" Alaric responded.

"Are you Alaric?" Henrik asked, allowing his legs to casually dangle. Alaric raised his glass to his lips and takes a large sip.

"Depends. Who's asking?" He inquires, looking at Henrik curiously. "Have we met before, kid?" Alaric asks, putting down his glass and turning to fully face Henrik. "You look strangely familiar." Henrik offered Alaric a very Nik-like smirk that made Alaric's eyes widen in surprise and recognition.

"That unfortunately, is very complicated." Henrik replied vaguely.

"How so?"

"Because I know you. But you don't know me, or have met me at all as a matter of fact." Henrik continued to complicate matters, earning an exasperated and rather annoyed sigh from Alaric.

"Look, kid. I don't have any time for cryptic. So either tell me who you are or—" Alaric cut himself off when I walked up to them both and greeted him cordially.

"Hey, Alaric." I said, hooking an arm around Henrik's thin shoulders.

"Grace, do you know him?" Alaric asked, indicating towards Henrik. I grinned.

"Sure. This is my brother. Hope he wasn't giving you too much grief." I improvised, and Alaric shook his head. "Alaric, I'd like to introduce you to my baby brother, Henrik Mikaelson." I introduced him. Alaric frowned, recognizing the name from the many stories I had shared with him and the others about my past life.

"Henrik? Isn't he supposed to be dead?" He asked, with confusion.

"For centuries now." Henrik agreed, quoting Elijah. Alaric then look a good look at Henrik and his general appearance, and gaped openly.

"This is impossible. How are you alive?" He demanded.

"I'm not. I'm still a ghost, it's just that for some reason you and everybody else can see me." Henrik answered, nonchalantly. "You wouldn't believe the strange looks people have been giving me today." He added, trying to make light of the situation.

"We believe Bonnie is the culprit in this situation, actually." I stated, causing Alaric to groan in dismay.

"Figures."

"Ah, but wait. There's more." I didn't hesitate to tell him.

"More? Like what?" Alaric demanded, and Damon chose that opportunity to walk up alongside Alaric. "Wait, don't answer that. I think I already know." I said, and turned to glare at Damon. "You know, I've had enough vampires today, thanks." Alaric turns back around to face the bar and drains his glass.

"Oh, come on. Have a drink with us. We've got trouble." Damon indicated the three of us. Well, _four,_ if we somehow managed to get Alaric to help us with this rather unique situation currently unfolding.

"No, _you've_ got trouble. See, _we're_ not a team. You tried to kill me. All right?" I frowned at the both of them; surprised that I hadn't heard about this before. But then again, I had been away with Nik and Stefan for the entire summer, and focusing upon making Rebekah comfortable and fit in with the 21st century. So, I guess I wasn't supposed to know about it. "We're not friends. I don't like you anymore." Alaric didn't hesitate to remind Damon of their former friendship. But Damon persevered.

"Ah! But remember back when you liked me and we conspired to kill Uncle werewolf Mason Lockwood?" He reminded him. Alaric scowled at him.

"Yeah, and?"

"I think he's still a little pissed." Damon reported.

"He's right. I intercepted Mason before he could roast him alive." I confirmed. Alaric gave me a look that said in no uncertain terms that he wished that I hadn't intervened. I raised a questioning eyebrow at him, but Alaric simply turned away and drained his glass. However, when he turned back; presumably to tell us both to fuck off, he froze looking at something over my shoulder with shock.

"Mason." He gasped, causing Henrik and I to look over where Alaric was gawking and practically jumped out of our seats like they had been set on fire. Henrik bravely shield me, as Mason shrugged at our reactions and took the seat I had just vacated, smiling pleasantly at us all.

"God, I miss whiskey." Mason declared, taking a drink from a glass and smacking his lips with delight … before smashing the glass on Damon's forehead. He grunted, mostly out of annoyance rather than pain, before he looked at Alaric pointedly.

"Told ya." Damon said. Alaric looked between both Mason and Henrik, still probably trying to figure out how this was actually possible.

"So you're both definitely ghosts?" He asked them. Henrik scowled at the stupid question.

"I just pointed that out to you a few minutes ago." He grumbled, at the same time that Mason responded with a cocky, and incredibly lame:

"Yep. Boo!"

Just then Damon's phone buzzed. He groans impatiently and skims the message briefly before groaning again, only this time out of irritation.

"I am never going to hear the end of that damn necklace." He declared out loud as he sends back a responding text. I raised an eyebrow.

"Necklace? You mean Rebekah's necklace?" I asked him, curiously. Damon looks up at me and nods, as he hits send and shoves his phone back into his pocket. "What has this got to do with our current ghost situation?" I asked. Damon farrowed his forehead, looking like he wanted to hit something hard.

"Apparently, everything to do with this. Witchy conjured some sort of freaky resurrection ju-ju to bring back Baby Gilbert from death." He explained.

"And this is the consequence." I figured out the rest for myself.

"That's just completely idiotic. I might not have been studying witchcraft for very long under mother's tutelage; but even I know that they screwed up big time." Henrik piped up disapprovingly. "There are just some things that you don't mess with. Death being one of those things." Damon snorted, taking a perch on a bar stool.

"Yeah. Tell that to Bonnie." He suggested. Mason cleared his throat, pulling our attention towards him to remind us that he was still there, as he drinks from the shot glass.

"One of you will pay for this, right? Cheers." Mason takes the shot and slams the glass back on to the counter. Thankfully, not chucking it at Damon again.

"Right then. Let's get to it." Damon addresses the ghost of the former werewolf. "I killed you. You want revenge. Get in line." He suggested to Mason, who played idly with his shot glass.

"Actually, I want an apology." Mason corrects Damon. This unexpected request causes Alaric to snort with laughter, earning an affronted glare from Damon. Henrik and I chose to maintain poker faces and stay out of the conversation until we were required.

"Good luck with that." Alaric said, sounding rather snide.

"Don't you have a family to haunt?" Damon asked Mason, coldly. "You know your nephew has turned into a mindless hybrid minion." He felt the need to point out, causing both Henrik and I to roll our eyes; realizing that Damon had said that to get a rise out of Mason, and rub salt into the wound. Mason shrugged it off.

"That's why I'm here. To help Tyler." He confirmed. I waded in.

"That's not going to be possible, Mason. Nik won't allow that to happen." I pointed out, firmly. Both Mason and Damon ignored what I said.

"Tyler can't be helped. At least not while Klaus is alive. Which is, like, always." Damon stated, and both Henrik and I glowered at him.

"Not necessarily. Not if you found a weapon that could kill him." Mason responded, and both Henrik and I froze; praying that Mason hadn't just implied that there was an existing White Oak Stake floating around god-knew where. Damon shook his head.

"There is no weapon that…" He trailed off, reflecting immediately upon what Mason had just said, and my face fell. "What do you know?" Damon demanded almost instantly. I knew that Damon would take any advantage he could get to get rid of Nik, one way or another. He might have accepted that he and I were not going to be anything more than just best friends … and this was confirmed when I noticed the interest he was starting to develop towards Rebekah.

But I would've thought that he would've considered how I'd feel about this; or if not me, then at least how Rebekah – Nik's _sister_ \- would definitely feel about his plan. If Damon wanted to get on her good side, asking questions about the possible White Oak Stake that could kill not only Nik but _her_ as well, would definitely sour any potential romance between them. And as far as trust went with Rebekah; once it was broken, it was almost impossible to get back.

"I know that you need to apologise." Mason insisted, stubbornly.

"You've got to be kidding me." Damon bitched. Alaric looked at him, scandalized.

"Are you incapable of remorse? Just apologise!" He growled at Damon, who rolled his eyes.

"You're absolutely right. I didn't have to kill you. I do a lot of things I don't have to do." He said, begrudgingly. Henrik made a face.

"That's an apology?" He looked disgusted. I draped an arm around his shoulders.

"Yeah, pretty much." I confirmed. Mason gave a loud belly laugh.

"Good enough." He said, getting to his feet and headed for the door. "Meet me at the old Lockwood cellar. Bring a shovel." Mason instructed, then looked at Alaric and back to Damon. Completely disregarding Henrik and I at the same time. "Come alone."

I stepped into Mason's path, stopping him by placing a hand on his chest. "I think not. Henrik and I will be coming along as well." I told him. Mason paused for a moment, studying the both of us curiously before he shrugged.

"Whatever. It really doesn't matter." Mason continued walking. But Damon stopped him again.

"Why do you want me to bring a shovel? You're going to bury me alive?" Damon was unnecessarily critical, and Mason just looked at him with annoyance.

"Don't tempt me." Mason left the Grill, and Damon looked over at Alaric, Henrik and me enquiringly. But all we responded with was a shrug. Who knew what Mason had planned? But suffice it to say; despite how much of a prick Mason had been before Damon had stirred up all the shit associated with him, he had been a good person who hadn't wanted to be involved in all the supernatural occurrences that frequently happen in this danger magnet of a town. If all he wanted from Damon was a simple 'I'm sorry' in exchange for helping us out, then he wasn't likely to turn around and stab him in the back.

* * *

When night fell, Henrik and I met up with Damon who still looked irritated from what happened back at the Grill that afternoon. Wordlessly, the three of us walked towards the old Lockwood cellar with Damon carrying a dirt encrusted shovel over his shoulder. When we get to the cellar, we found Mason lighting a couple of lanterns.

"I'm surprised you showed up." Mason admitted to Damon, who rolled his eyes.

"You put a snag in my only other Klaus lead. So I'd say I'm highly motivated." Damon retorted. Mason chuckled, awkwardly.

"Mikael? Yeah. That didn't turn out so great, did it?" Mason stated. Henrik and I were barely paying attention of what they were talking about, but we became very alert the second Mikael had been mentioned.

"What about Mikael?" I demanded, very serious. Mason rises and handed Damon one of two lanterns.

"How do you know so much?" Damon asked, avoiding eye contact with both Henrik and me. Mason smirked, obviously enjoying our discomfort.

"There's not much to do on the other side but sit around and watch other people screw things up." He admitted. Damon decided to just get on with the reason why we were here.

"What are we looking for?" He asked. Mason straightened up from his perch against the entrance to the cellar, and got serious.

"There's an old Lockwood family legend about a weapon that can kill an Original vampire. Like the rest of their secrets, they kept it buried." Mason explained. Damon turned towards Henrik and me, looking slightly accusing.

"Did you know about this?" He asked. Mason frowned at him with confusion.

"Am I missing something here?" He asked.

"Uh, yeah. Grace is Klaus' girlfriend, and Henrik here…"

"I'm his baby brother. My death is responsible for my family's transition into Original vampires." Henrik explained, distractedly as he glanced around the area, frowning. Mason looked dubious.

"You were the Mikaelson boy who was mauled by werewolves?" Mason asked, disbelievingly. Henrik scowled at him, and held up his ripped and shredded tunic top that he still wore. Mason's eyes zeroed in on the shirt and he paled.

"This enough evidence for you?" Henrik snapped. "Plus, I have a vague idea where you're going, and why you believe that that shovel Damon's carrying is needed." Henrik added, looking at me for confirmation. I blinked down at him in confusion; until I realised exactly what Henrik was getting at and my eyes widened.

"Oh, yeah? Where are we going then, kid?" Mason asked him, disbelievingly. Henrik started walking off through the trees, expecting that we would follow. "You're going the wrong way, kid." Mason sounded, quite smug. However, Henrik didn't rise up to the bait.

"No, actually. I'm not. There was more than one entrance to where we're going. You see: A thousand years ago; there was a cave that my family, Grace's family and the rest of the villagers used to seek shelter in every full moon to avoid the werewolves." Henrik responded, smugly. Mason's eyes widened in shock when he learned that there was apparently another entrance to the caves. "I presume that is where you were headed?" My baby brother smirked at the werewolf who looked stunned, then confused when he realised I had been mentioned.

"Wait. What do you mean 'Grace's family'?" He looked at me critically. "You're not a vampire. Hell, you're not even immortal; so it's impossible that you would've been around in this area a thousand years ago." Mason pointed out. Henrik and Damon rolled their eyes, while I felt uncomfortable by the scrutiny.

"She would've been if she had she not been reincarnated." Henrik explained to Mason, as if the former werewolf had the mentality of a five-year-old. The closer Henrik lead us to where he believed Damon and Mason were headed, the more I began to recognize our surroundings. My heart leap into my throat when I realised what the 'old Lockwood family' legend was likely to be; and if they managed to find that story of how Nik killed Esther in a fit of rage over what she and Mikael had done to him, then Rebekah and possibly me were going to be interrogated about it non-stop until they eventually worked it out for themselves.

"Is this it?" Damon's annoyed voice penetrated into my thoughts, and I realised that we had arrived at the location of the old caves. Henrik both nodded in confirmation.

"Yeah, this is the place." He said, and turned towards Mason who instantly glanced at Damon.

"Go for it." Mason encouraged him. Damon immediately looked at him suspiciously.

"You first." Damon insisted, earning an eye roll from Mason for his paranoia.

"What, you think I'm leading you into a trap?" He sounded slightly insulted. Damon smirked and shrugged nonchalantly.

"The thought crossed my mind." He confirmed. I immediately lost my patience with the both of them.

"Oh, for the love of God!" I blurted out, with irritation and pushed passed them; entering the cave swiftly. Henrik followed a split second later. I stuck my head back out and glowered at the two astonished men. "Are you both finished acting like children yet, or are you coming in?" I asked, before withdrawing. I stepped aside and lean up against the tunnel wall as Mason entered first, followed by Damon who looked at me with confusion. I ignored him and focused upon Mason, waiting for him to take point.

"What now?" Henrik asked him.

"Yeah, I agree. I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop. Your motives are deceptively pure." Damon stated, suspiciously. Mason takes off down the stone and dirt corridor of the cave followed closely by Damon, Henrik and me.

"You talk the talk, but I know you'll do anything for your brother. You won't screw me over as long as we have the same agenda." Mason stated.

"The same agenda being trying to kill my boyfriend?" Both men paused and turned to look at me. "Tell me I'm wrong." I dared them. "Because I'm telling you, right now, it won't just be me that will stop you. It will be Rebekah and Elijah. Even Henrik would find a way to stop you." I promised them both, before brushing past them and continuing down the path with Henrik following. We followed the path until we suddenly come to a fork in the road that I instantly recognized.

"Alright. Which way?" Damon asked us.

Mason shrugged. "You're asking me? I've never been here before." He turned towards me and I pretended to give it some thought.

"I don't know. Flip a coin?" I suggested. Damon looked at me shrewdly.

"You've been in these caves before. Shouldn't you know where to go?" He bitched, and I gave him a bored look.

"I would, if I knew what Mason was looking for." I retorted, and we turned towards Mason who raised his hands in the air defensively.

"I'm a ghost. I'm not God." He said, before gesturing randomly to the left. "Go left then." He suggested. Damon immediately goes left, but there isn't anything down there. It was then that I remembered the deadly trap lurking down this particular tunnel.

"Uh, Damon…" I spoke up, just as Mason did to chastise him.

"You have trust issues. Anyone ever tell you that?" Mason asked Damon. His response was to point towards me.

"Yeah, Grace did." Damon walks a little further down the tunnel. I charged after him.

"Damon, wait! Stop!" But then the sharp wooden poles from the last time I was here with Nik suddenly move out from the walls and go through Damon's body. "DAMON!" I screamed, covering my eyes so I didn't see him suddenly go grey and veiny. By the hissing noise I could hear, vervain had been coated over those poles. I could also hear amused chuckling coming back from where Mason was lurking.

"That's not funny!" Henrik snarled at Mason, before he took off running down the tunnel towards where Damon was currently trapped between the walls of this tunnel, by vervain soaked stakes. I followed him quickly.

"Yo! Help a brother out? Mason? Grace?!" Damon called out, slightly in pain. Henrik came up to Damon, looking panicked.

"Hang on, I'll get you free." Henrik promised. Damon looked down at my brother skeptically.

"And how are you going to achieve that exactly? You're a freaking ghost!" Damon yelled. Then Henrik proved him wrong when he managed to touch one of the stakes protruding through his abdomen and tried to force them back so Damon could slip free. "Okay, I stand corrected." Damon looked stunned.

"Don't get too excited. I don't know how long this spell is going to last on me. I could turn invisible again at any moment." Henrik told him, as he finally managed to dislodge a stake from Damon. I rushed forward to assist.

"Are you alright?" I asked, frantically. Damon looked at me, sharply.

"I'm walking on sunshine. Thanks for asking." He replied, sarcastically. We continued struggling with the stakes, unintentionally of course, causing Damon pain in the process. "Oh, I'm having a bad day." He groaned. Suddenly, Mason reappears carrying the shovel we had brought but didn't end up needing to use.

"Need a hand?" He asks Henrik and I, and comes forward taking a swing at the long stakes with the shovel and breaking through them easily. Damon stumbles forward a little, but otherwise looked alright. "You're welcome." Mason muttered, and helped Damon remove one of the stakes still lodged in his body. Damon glared at him mistrustfully.

"What's your game, man? I killed you. I jammed my fist into your chest. I ripped your heart out. There's no way this whole buddy-trust act is real." Mason responded by rolling his eyes, and decides to explain his actions to Damon; since what Henrik had said was entirely true: both he and Mason could disappear at any moment.

"You know what the other side is like?" Mason asked Damon rhetorically. "We're all alone. We watch the people we left behind and we regret our decisions. That's it." Henrik, Mason and I could tell that Damon didn't buy what Mason was saying for one second. The former werewolf gave a resigned sigh. "Look, I can't change what happened to me. But maybe I can change what happens to Tyler. I don't need change, Damon. I need redemption."

I couldn't help but look at Henrik when Mason confessed this. Redemption was exactly what Henrik and his family required. If only there was a way that we could bring Henrik back; if not alive, then at least permanently corporeal so that his brothers and sister could communicate with him without having to rely on me. Then they could resemble a somewhat functional, happy family again.

We continued walking through the caverns, going back the way we came and going right. This time, I knew that we were going to strike gold; and that Damon wasn't going to be able to get past the invisible barrier we were about to approach. And sure enough…

"God! This is not happening." Damon growled when he thudded into the invisible barrier while Henrik, Mason and I continued walking.

"What now?" Mason sounded annoyed.

"I can't get through." Damon complained, thudding his fists against the invisible barrier in his own frustration. "It's like I'm not invited in." Mason shakes his head and continues walking. Henrik was already over where the mural his brothers and sister had created, looking up at it curiously. "Wait!" Damon protested.

"I'm not stopping just 'cause you're stuck. We'll let you know what we find." Mason promised. Damon frowned.

"Yeah, but…"

"Looks like you're gonna have to trust me." Mason shrugged.

"Like hell." Damon muttered underneath his breath, before looking over at me with hopeful eyes. "Grace, could you go and find out what's over there?" He asked, urgently. I already knew what was over there from my last visit. But I nodded, just to appease him. "Thanks, beautiful." He complimented me, with a wink. I rolled my eyes and sauntered over to where I could see Henrik and Mason inspecting the stone walls of the cavern.

Henrik's eyes were wide; he had obviously found the names of his family carved into the wall in Viking runic. I approached him and clapped a hand on his shoulder, grabbing his attention.

"Are you okay, honey?" I asked him, quietly. Henrik nodded, absently, still reading the names of his siblings and parents permanently scratched on the wall.

"That's Niklaus' handwriting…" Henrik whispered, pointing towards the runes spelling out the name _'Niklaus'_ in Viking runic. "And Rebekah's…" He pointed to the runes spelling _'Rebekah'._ "Everybody's names are here. Including yours." Henrik pointed towards my past life's name: _'Graínne'_ conveniently written by Nik's name (and in his handwriting also). I smiled, bittersweetly.

"Here's yours." I pointed out, tracing Henrik's name with my finger. Henrik returned the smile, then looked over at the mural of symbols that made up the story of how one of his brothers killed his mother, while I glanced over at Mason who looked amazed at the discovery he had found.

"So? What'd you three find?" Damon called out from where we had left him in the cavern entrance. He looked and sounded impatient.

"It's in-" Mason was suddenly cut off mid-sentence, and both Henrik and I glanced over to see what was wrong. I cursed colourfully. Mason had disappeared.

"No, no, no, no. No, where'd you go?" Damon shouted out, desperately. "Grace!? Are you still there? What's going on?" Damon called out. I was about to answer him when Henrik stumbled a little.

"Grace… something's wrong…" Henrik mumbled, fearfully.

My eyes widened when I realised that Bonnie must be in the process of sending all the ghosts back to the other side, and while it still meant that I could see Henrik because of my abilities as a Medium, it also meant that none of his family would ever physically see him ever again.

I couldn't let this happen. But I was also at a loss at how to stop this from happening. Time was running out; if Mason had disappeared, it meant that Henrik had seconds before Damon wouldn't be able to see him anymore. I instantly flung my arms around my baby brother who was still stumbling about like he was drunk and hugged him desperately.

"No! No, you can't do this to me. You can't do this to his _family_!" I protested angrily to any witch who could be listening to me right this second. "The Mikaelson's need their baby brother. He is the key to their redemption, you cannot take him away from them. Not again! Please, you have to do something! Anything, just don't take him away." I pleaded, tearfully to thin air.

"Who are you talking to, Grace?" Damon questioned me from where he was standing. I ignored him; wishing to spend as much time as I had left just holding the innocent young boy who had his life taken away from him much too soon.

"His death was what started all this vampire bullshit with the Mikaelson's. You take him away, and they will have no hope." I pleaded, tears streaming down my face. "Don't take him away…" I whispered, sinking to my knees. Henrik's thin, but strong arms wrapped around me and pulled me into a comforting hug as I wept into his shoulder.

Then I froze.

He was still here?

"Did I miss something here?" I snapped my head up from Henrik's shoulder as Alaric suddenly arrives in the cavern and stands beside a thoroughly confused Damon. It had been he who had asked the question.

"Uh, that's not important right now." Damon replied, reluctantly looking away from us and focusing on Alaric. "You're here. It's about time." He stated, a little rudely.

* * *

I tuned him out focusing on an amused looking Henrik.

"You're still here? How?" I asked, feeling extremely confused and foolish. Henrik shrugged.

"I guess one of the witches on the other side took pity on our family, and made it possible that I could remain corporeal." Henrik guessed. I frowned, bewildered.

"So you're still a ghost?" I asked. Henrik nodded.

"Yeah, I don't feel any different. People can just see me now." Henrik grinned, obviously feeling triumphant that he was unofficially back in the living world, permanently. I pulled him back into the hug, overjoyed that my plea had somehow been heard and it managed pull this miracle off. Then I pulled away feeling stricken. "What?" Henrik looked concerned.

"Nik is going to freak out." I realised, and Henrik also sagged when he realised this as well. But before we could explore this potential problem further, Alaric had stepped past the invisible barrier blocking Damon, and was approaching us.

"Everything alright here?" Alaric asked, a little awkwardly. I grinned at him.

"It's more than alright." I responded happily. "You can see him, right?" I asked Alaric, gesturing towards Henrik. Alaric glanced at him with confusion.

"Am I not supposed to?" He asked, probably wondering if this was a trick question.

"Well, Henrik is technically a ghost so…" I trailed off.

"Oh, shit. Don't tell me Bonnie's spell didn't work!" Damon yelled, looking horrified. I gestured around the empty cavern.

"Do you see Mason?" I asked Damon, pointedly. Damon frowned, still not getting it.

"Thankfully, no." He replied, ignoring the disapproving glare on Alaric's face, as he turned on his flashlight and started inspecting the cavern like Mason, Henrik and I had been doing before we were distracted with Henrik's imminent departure.

"Then yes. Whatever spell Bonnie cast worked. It's just in Henrik's case, there was a special exception." I explained.

"This is just too weird." Damon groaned.

"Yeah, well. This is how it is now. Rebekah is going to be so happy when she sees you!" I promised Henrik and he grinned brightly at the idea that he would finally be able to be with his family once again. Damon glances over at Alaric, who wonders over to where Mason was inspecting the wall.

"So, Grace. You never actually got around to explaining to me what you and Mason actually found, so I'll ask Alaric." I rolled my eyes, and so did Alaric before he finally shines his flashlight around the room. "Was Mason screwing with me, or is there something in there?" Damon demanded. Alaric continues scanning the wall, not answering Damon's question before he finally locates the pictures that told the story of betrayal and death. "Ric. Ric?"

"They definitely found something." Alaric confirmed to Damon, also just as amazed by what he sees. Damon throws me an accusatory scowl.

"Why couldn't _you_ have told me?" He bitched. I glared at him.

"Gee, I'm sorry, Damon. I guess I was a bit preoccupied with the fact that my baby brother was potentially going to disappear." I retorted.

"What is it?" Damon asked, impatiently. Alaric looked a combination of fascinated, and deeply confused.

"I have no idea." He admitted, as Henrik and I looked at each other; silently debating whether or not we should tell them what both Mason and now Alaric had just uncovered.

"We've found ancient pictures, Damon. It tells a story about something that happened here." I reluctantly explained.

"How do you know that?" Alaric asked, curiously.

"Never mind that, who put them there?" Damon asked. I just gave both men a hard look.

"This is the exact same cave that my family and other families took refuge in during the full moon a thousand years ago." I told them both. "Take a wild guess who might have put it up there." I challenged them.

"Why?" Damon looked confused.

"I don't know. Your guess is as good as mine. I don't recall my past life ever seeing this story being recorded." I offered a partial-lie, and Henrik struggled to hide a smirk that almost spread across his face. "Are we done here? I'd like to go home and tell Rebekah the good news about Henrik." I announced.

* * *

We were halfway back to where I had left my car, and all the while; Henrik had been very quiet. By the time we were in the car and in transit towards my apartment to fill in Rebekah on the good news, I couldn't stand it any longer. However, Henrik beat me to the punch first.

"You know, that's not the first time I've seen those runes and pictures. I was there when Nik and Rebekah first carved their names into that wall." Henrik confessed, and I blinked at him with astonishment.

"You were? Then why didn't you say so before?" I asked, not accusingly. Henrik raised an eyebrow at me.

"And endure endless questioning from Damon in the process? Not likely." Henrik responded, dryly. Then he smirked at me. "I thought you were smarter than that sister-dear." He teased, and I lightly smacked him over the head with my spare hand, grinning when I made contact.

"Enough of your cheek, sir. You remind me a little too much of Kol, and that's a little disturbing." I told him. "Are you going to tell me what occurred back then? Or do I have to continue ruminating about it to myself?" I asked him, negotiating a tricky lane change.

Henrik grinned. "Of course, I was. You're family. It's your right to understand." He stated, then frowned when I hesitated. "You're still going to become my sister, after all. That at least hasn't changed in a thousand years. Niklaus just has to find the right moment to ask you again." Henrik told me, firmly.

"Yeah, I'll hold you to that." I replied, dryly. "Now come on, spill. Don't hold me in suspense." I urged. Henrik made himself comfortable.

"It was before I was killed by that werewolf." Henrik started the explanation. I frowned.

"Where was I then? I don't remember carving my name or Nik carving it for me." I commented. Henrik nodded.

"It was also before Nik proposed to you, and was just courting you. You had chosen to help out with the food preparation for dinner that night in the caves, instead of exploring with Niklaus and Rebekah." Henrik explained. "I was bored so I decided to spy on them. Here I'll show you." He offered me his hand, and I glanced at it out of the corner of my eye, before I sighed and pulled over and cautiously took it; propelling myself into Henrik's memories…

* * *

 **(Flashback: HENRIK'S MEMORY: a thousand years ago)**

 _I found myself staring at the familiar walls of the damp, slightly cramped walls of the cavern; illuminated only by flickering torch light. Behind me were the sounds of groups of people chattering, laughing etc. In front, was Henrik; alive, and looking like he hadn't aged one bit, and completely unaware that I was standing behind him._

 _I followed him deeper into the tunnel, and suddenly heard the sounds of something sharp scraping against a hard surface. Henrik froze and pressed himself against the wall of the cave, preparing to eavesdrop like I do occasionally back in reality. I stepped around him so I could continue walking towards where the sounds of scraping could be heard, and half expected to be challenged by Henrik as I went passed._

 _When he said nothing (thus proving that I wasn't even there, and was just an observer in this memory) I continued walking down the cavern and came across both Rebekah and Nik facing the same stone wall Alaric had been puzzling over what seemed like a few minutes ago back in reality. Rebekah was using a sharp knife to carve something into the cave wall, and Nik was standing behind her; observing while holding another burning wooden torch and making sure that she didn't accidentally lob off one of her fingers._

" _Rebekah, let me have at it!" Nik was complaining, earning an eye roll from both Rebekah and myself for his efforts._

" _Quiet, Niklaus! I am to have more concentration if I am not to slice off a finger." She scolded him, playfully. She finished scraping against the wall and stood back to admire her handiwork. I came over to stand between them, and noticed neither my 11_ _th_ _century name nor Henrik's name was anywhere on the wall._

My name must've been added there after I got engaged to Nik, and they probably hadn't gotten around to adding Henrik's name just yet… _I mused, reaching forward to touch Rebekah's newly added name. I nearly jumped out of my skin when Nik suddenly spoke up, and I thought that I was busted. But I relaxed when I realised he was still talking to Bekah._

" _Father will not like you handling the blade." Nik was warning his sister, and Rebekah bristled._

" _If I want to wield a blade, I shall wield a blade! Father need not know." Rebekah stated, stubbornly. Nik shook his head, fearfully and resentfully._

" _He will find out. He always does." He insists. Rebekah turns to face him with a condescending smile on her face._

" _That's because you always tell him." She reminds him, and Nik flushes defensively. A trait that he seemed not to have shaken even now in reality. He had done this while facing off with Damon back at Gloria's bar in Chicago and got caught by the witch red-handed trying to stake him._

" _I cannot help it … he frightens me." Nik admits, looking ashamed. Rebekah looks sympathetic._

" _He frightens us all. That is why we stick together as one, always and forever." My eyes widen in surprise; I had always thought that (according to Elijah) that that specific phrase 'always and forever' had only been adopted by them_ after _they had been changed magically into vampires. "Right, traitor?" Rebekah smiles at him, playfully. Nik smiles back at her._

" _Right." He agreed. I watched as Rebekah goes to hand Nik the knife._

" _Here. You finish it. I am to help Mother and Graínne with the meal." She announces, and I can't help but flinch when I hear my former name. Nik gives his sister that smirk I love seeing on his face. It was the one he usually gave, when he was in a playful, not malicious mood._

" _Yes, go tend to dinner, and leave the blade to the men, little sister." He says, cockily. Rebekah retorts to this by slamming the knife blade-side down into his palm, slicing it open. He hisses in pain._

" _Argh, Bekah!" Nik winces. Rebekah just rolls her eyes._

" _It's just a little blood. Be a man about it." She reminds him before picking up her skirts and heading for the entrance I had come from to head back to the campsite. By the fact that she hadn't noticed Henrik, told me that he wasn't caught by her. But I noticed him crawling out from his hiding spot to continue observing Nik, and I turned back to my love and noticed him scrutinizing the wall and starting to carve his name._

 _Foolishly, I moved to touch his face, despite the fact that he could neither see me nor hear me. However, the second before my fingers made contact with the slight stubble on his face, Nik paused and frowned._

" _Hello? Is somebody there?" Nik glanced behind to see if there as a person nearby. Luckily, Henrik had ducked out of sight. When nobody responds, he returns to what he was doing and I follow through with my intention to touch his cheek. I expected that nothing would come of it, but the second my fingers touch his cheek he jerks back like I had electrocuted him. My eyes widened in shock and horror; I had not expected him to feel that._

" _Niklaus? What are you doing?" Henrik had obviously decided to make his presence known. Nik turns and smiled warmly at him._

" _Come, Henrik. Rebekah and I were just carving our names, and everyone else's name into the wall. Would you like to carve yours?" Nik offers the blade to Henrik, who shakes his head._

" _Even if I wanted to, brother. I would be able to reach. I'm not tall enough yet." Henrik pouted, and Nik chuckles and does it for him…_

* * *

 _ **(Reality)**_

I looked at Henrik in both shock and confusion. Why hadn't Nik told me that something touched his cheek, and that he felt it?

"Did Mikael ever find out that Rebekah wielded a knife?" I asked him, recovering easily from the shock but not the confusion and decided to make another visit with Nik back here to ask him. When it wasn't being investigated by nosey Scooby gang members, of course. Henrik shook his head, pulling back his hand as I resumed the journey back to the apartment.

"Never found out. Thank the Lord. She would've had what for if he did." Henrik shuddered at the mere thought. I grimaced.

"I'm not sure I want to know the types of punishments you all used to get if you incurred Mikael's wrath." I confessed. Henrik gave a weak smile.

"Probably best. But Niklaus used to get it all the time, even if he didn't do anything wrong." Henrik looked angry at the memory.

I nodded. "I know." We pulled up to my parking spot outside the apartment block and I turned and grinned at him excitedly. "You ready to go and make your sister's night?" I asked him, rhetorically. Henrik pretended to give it some thought.

"Rabid werewolves couldn't stop me." He responded, and was out of the car and tearing up the vestibule before I could even blink.

* * *

 **A/N: Finished yet another chapter. Henrik's back! Still a ghost, but at least he can be seen, heard and can physically touch and be touched. Yay! Please review. TTFN xx**


	43. Adapting To Change

**A/N: My apologies for the absence. I am thrilled about the response reviewers have had in regards to Henrik's condition.**

 **Why not review about how you liked the chapter? No flames will be accepted, so thanks for your understanding.**

 **I don't own** _ **The Vampire Diaries.**_ **All characters (expect for Grace) belong to author L.J. Smith. Grace belongs to me.**

 **Looking forward to hearing from you!**

 **Xx**

* * *

 **ADAPTING TO CHANGE**

" _Life is about trusting your feelings, taking chances, finding happiness, learning from the past, and realising everything changes."_ _ **~Unknown.**_

* * *

The look of impatience on Rebekah's face was almost priceless when Henrik and I finally returned to my apartment after making our 'discovery' back at the old caves with Damon and Alaric.

"Took you long enough!" Rebekah snapped at me, looking anxious. I felt almost guilty at the worried expression on her lovely face, but ultimately felt that the anger and stress on Bekah's face would melt away the second she learned that her youngest brother was (on a technicality) back from the dead; still a ghost, but otherwise completely visible to those who weren't mediums and he would be able to physically touch objects and people without fazing through them.

At least I hoped that would be the case. We hadn't been able to put that to the test just yet; but once we filled in Rebekah on what had happened to Henrik, we would definitely have fun testing this out. "Where's Henrik?" Was the next thing to erupt from Rebekah's mouth. When I didn't immediately answer, tears started filling her eyes. "He's gone, isn't he?" She whispered almost brokenly. I gave her a slightly insulted look.

"Has jumping to conclusions become a thing with you now, Bekah?" I asked, feeling amused before I turned and beckoned to Henrik to come inside and put his sister's fears to rest. "Why don't you just ask him yourself?" I suggested, grinning triumphantly from ear to ear as Henrik strode right on in, and bolted straight into his older sister's arms.

"Hi, Bekah!" Henrik smirked, at the astonished expression on Rebekah's face before she recovered and pulled her brother into what looked like a bone crushing hug.

"You're really here? You're alive?!" She immediately started asking, as I rolled my eyes and dead bolted my apartment door. Not technically necessary, due to Rebekah's presence here. But it was better to be safe than sorry. Besides, who would be stupid enough to break in and harm me when I had an Original vampire for a sister-in-law and a roommate? Whoever it was wouldn't last ten seconds.

"Nope. I'm still a ghost." Henrik corrected her, grimacing at the slightly crestfallen look on her face. "But I can touch things, that's a plus." He stated, enthusiastically. I frowned at him, curiously.

"Yeah. By the way, kid, is that something you can control independently or does it come and go?" I asked. Henrik looked at me, dubiously.

"How should I know?" He asked, looking at me like I had just sprouted three heads. "This is just as new for me as it is for you." Henrik felt the need to point out. I placed my hands on my hips and just scowled at him.

"Don't be a little smartass." I scolded him, unamused. "Let's just test this." I glanced around for something obvious to test my theory, with Rebekah watching us curiously with a frown on her face. In the end I settled for the wall opposite to where I was standing at this point. "Try to walk through the wall." I suggested, pointing towards it. Henrik turned and glanced uneasily at it, looking apprehensive.

Reluctantly, he walked over to it.

"I'm not sure if I'm going to regret doing this. If something goes wrong, I'll end up smacking face first into it." He muttered underneath his breath. But just before he walked (or didn't walk) through the wall, he turned and narrowed his eyes at me with warning. "If this doesn't work and you laugh at me, you'll be sorry." He threatened. I smirked, questioning what he could possibly do to me. Then my smirk faded when I remembered the pranks that he, Kol and sometimes Nik played on me a thousand years before and immediately started praying that my theory proved to be correct.

"What exactly is the point to this?" Rebekah was scowling at the both of us with slight irritation.

"If Henrik can faze through walls with ease, it could prove useful when we come across another crisis; like the ones involving Nik or Elena." I told her, and Rebekah nodded slowly and waited for Henrik to get it over with. He drew in a nervous deep breath.

"Here goes nothing." He muttered, and closed his eyes as he took a single step forward and … fazed right through the wall effortlessly. My mouth fell open; and so did Rebekah's. The cliché was factual.

"I can't believe that worked." I blurted out, slightly mystified. Henrik walked back through the wall, and over to the couch as he slumped down on to it.

"Yeah, neither can I. That was a very strange sensation." He mused thoughtfully, scowling at the wall like it had done him a personal wrong.

"Just make sure you knock before doing that." I reminded. Henrik gave me a mock salute before relaxing completely and smiling over at his sister and me.

"My mother raised a gentleman." Henrik reassured me.

"I can't wait to tell Nik about this!" Rebekah gushed excitedly. "This could change everything." I nodded.

"Yeah, but we need to plan how to reveal this to him carefully. You know how he tends to overreact or get overly paranoid, don't you?" I asked, and Rebekah bit her bottom lip fretfully. Then she scowled at me a little.

"I've been with him since he, Elijah and I made a pledge of _always and forever_ when we buried our mother … after she was murdered by Mikael. And in between being daggered for whatever thing we vexed him for." She said. "I believe that I have a fair idea of how Nik ticks." Rebekah was a little snippy, and when she looked away for a split second trying to discreetly wipe away some tears that welled up at the memory of Esther's demise; both Henrik and I cringed and exchanged panicked looks. We both knew who the real culprit behind Esther's death was, and we both knew that none of Nik's siblings were going to be very forgiving when they learned the truth.

"So you should be able to help calm him down when we make Henrik's return known." I replied, brusquely. Rebekah looked like was going to object, before she remembered the reason why she was being recruited to calm Nik down and nodded with a tearful and affectionate smile at her baby brother.

"I'll do anything. Henrik is worth being daggered again." Rebekah said.

"Seriously? He would dagger you for something like that?" Henrik looked appalled by the idea. Both Rebekah and I looked pained.

"Nik was practically shredded when he brought you back to the village that day. He blames himself for what happened, and the very idea or possibility that you would be back – albeit still a ghost – would be enough to cause Nik to fly into a rage." I explained to him. Henrik still looked unconvinced, until he saw the expression on Rebekah's face.

"He would think that he was being lied to, or that somebody was trying to trick or blackmail him into getting what they want." Rebekah backed me up.

Henrik frowned. "Even you two?"

We both nodded, and Henrik got up and started pacing the length of the room. It was becoming clear to him that his absence in his brother's life had added to the mental and physical abuse he had suffered at the hands of Mikael, and he wasn't taking it well. "What if I confronted him first?" Henrik suggested.

"Good plan. But I'm going to prepare him first before landing this sort of blow upon him." I agreed. "I mean, tell me how you'd feel if somebody you thought lost to you for over a thousand years suddenly came back without warning?" I asked him, logically.

"If how he reacted when you came back into his life after all these years is anything to go by; I'd say he'd probably take it well." Henrik replied.

"That's different. He'd been searching for me. You died in front of him with no hope of a return." I explained. Henrik paused and rethought his answer.

"In that case, if somebody I loved and lost suddenly came back into my life without warning; I'd probably be frightened." Henrik said.

"Frightened?" Rebekah and I blurted out in unison, surprised by his answer.

"Why on earth would you be frightened?" Rebekah asked, worried.

"More importantly, why would you think that Nik would be frightened?" I asked, curiously.

"His natural instincts would take over and fight or flight would come into play." Henrik stated. "We all know that Nik isn't one to back down, so fight would be his natural reaction, but not as anger but fear." He explained. Both Rebekah and I conceded. I was the first to speak after a pause.

"I can see your point. But all the same, I'd still like to ease him into it … for all our sakes." I told him.

He nodded. "Fair enough."

"For now. I think we should get some rest. There's a lot of things we need to sort out before Bekah and I have to return to school on Monday." I said.

"Why do you have to go?" Henrik asked, frowning.

"Because Stefan is still under Nik's compulsion to keep a sharp eye on both Elena and me while he is away on 'business'." I responded, still feeling supremely annoyed at Nik for forcing Stefan to do this. "This is apparently the only way Stefan can keep an eye on the both of us at the same time." I added.

"But you can take care of yourself." Henrik pointed out.

"Yeah? Tell Nik that." I suggested.

"I'm good." Henrik immediately backed off, earning an uneasy giggle from Rebekah as a result. "May I come too?" Henrik asked randomly, looking a little tentative. I raised an eyebrow.

"Really? You want to come to the high school with us?" I asked him.

"Yeah, is there a reason why not?" He asked.

"No. It's just it's gonna be bloody boring and uncomfortable." I replied. "Besides, you can do whatever the hell you like. You can come and go as you please." I replied, just as tentatively.

"I'm sensing a 'but'." Henrik immediately pointed out. And I nodded, both pleased and slightly irritated by Henrik's perceptiveness.

"But be prepared to possibly be interrogated, big time." I warned him.

"By whom?" He asked.

"The doppelgänger, her nosy friends and most likely Stefan." Rebekah replied, with disgust. Henrik snorted in amusement.

"If that's the best you can come up with, I'm frankly shocked you even bothered to come up with it." Henrik told us, flopping back down on the couch beside Rebekah, and resting his head on her shoulder. She frowned at him, and I shook my head.

"You're not taking this seriously." I told him.

"No, I'm not." He agreed. "It's ridiculous. What's the worst they could do to me exactly? I'm dead, remember? I'm beyond their reach." Henrik stated. I threw my hands into the air, giving in. All the Mikaelson siblings were as stubborn as each other.

"Fine. Be it on your head." I said, resigned. Henrik grinned at me triumphantly, while Rebekah absently played with her little brother's hair. Then she paused; some of the dark brown strands – so alike Elijah's own expertly groomed locks – caught in her fingers as she sat up and started studying Henrik's appearance from head to toe critically.

"What?" Henrik asked his sister, cautiously. Rebekah shook her head.

"We've got to do something about your appearance." She stated, indicating Henrik's 10th Century attire and his long, slightly lank shoulder-length hair. I nodded, drawing the curtains and gathering up loose crockery to be washed in the dishwasher.

"That's what tomorrow is for." I told her, and Rebekah immediately brightened up and grew excited. I shook my head fondly; she always got this way when it came to makeovers, or any opportunity to go out and shop. Henrik's eyes widened in horror.

"Uh, that's not necessary." He insisted, and made an attempt to escape ghost-style. But the both of us were ready for him.

"Uh, yeah it is. You need to get with the times and blend in like the rest of your siblings had to." I told him, sternly. "But if it makes you feel better, and will help you grieve the loss…" I pulled out my phone and aimed it at him. "Smile you two!" I pulled a playful grin and snapped a spontaneous photo of the two surprised siblings sitting on my couch for a keepsake. Then I turned the camera phone towards them both so they could see. "That'll give me something to sketch on Monday so I'm not completely bored out of my mind." I explained. Rebekah snatched the phone from me and scowled at the image.

"You are not keeping this photo. I look atrocious in it." She bitched. I sighed and took back my phone.

"Really, Bex? It's not that important." I reassured her. But Rebekah was stubborn.

"Yes it is. If you're going to be sketching a picture of the both of us on Monday, I would at least like it to be somewhat decent." She stated, then went back over to the couch and sat down on it, pulling Henrik into a hug. Henrik seemed to understand where Rebekah was going with this and immediately made himself comfortable, smiling at the camera. I sighed.

"If you really insist." I said, secretly chuffed, and held up my phone. "Ready? 3, 2, 1…" I pressed the button and an audible click was heard. Rebekah took the phone back and looked at the picture.

"Much better. Well, good night the both of you. If we're going to be taking Henrik shopping tomorrow I'd better get some sleep." Rebekah sighed before leaning over and pecking her brother on the cheek and standing up to pull me into a rib-crushing hug.

"Night, bekah." I croaked a little. Without a second glance, Rebekah flounces towards her bedroom and disappears behind the door. Both Henrik and I stared at the closed door with dread before I turned back and clapped a sympathetic hand on the nervous ghost's shoulder. "Brace yourself, kid. We're both in for an interesting ride tomorrow." I told him, feeling some dread myself despite the necessity for tomorrow's agenda. Because tomorrow, was also going to be the day Nik was going to learn that his brother had 'returned' from the dead.

* * *

So that's how Henrik and I found ourselves stumbling along behind Rebekah Mikaelson in Richmond, Virginia in the middle of her element: shopping and basically looking and acting like a princess, and pissing off shop attendants with her almost impossible demands. I seriously thought I had left that behind back in Chicago at that fancy boutique... guess I was wrong.

"How long is this going to take?" Henrik asked through clenched teeth and looking long-suffering. I shifted the bags I was carrying in my hand to stop it from cramping up. Just exactly how much was Rebekah trying to buy for her brother?

"As long as it has to take, mate. Just persevere for a little while longer." I begged him, as Rebekah hustled us into yet another expensive looking clothing store. Hopefully this was our last stop. We still needed to get Henrik a haircut; and we both dreaded to think how that was going to turn out. Eventually, Rebekah and I settled on an outfit that would project to everybody back in Mystic Falls, that not only was Henrik a teenager from the 21st Century but also a member of the infamous Mikaelson Family.

One of Henrik's new outfits consisted of: dark straight legged denim jeans rolled up at the ankles with a black leather belt, a black button down shirt, a navy blue blazer, and black and white Chuck Taylor converse Hi-Tops.

"Right. Now to fix that hair." Rebekah stated, imperiously.

"Okay." Henrik agreed with a reluctant tone.

We proceeded down the main street towards an exclusive looking hair salon. One look at this place, made me grateful that I wasn't the one paying for all this shit. And also thankful, that I wasn't the one playing 'Barbie' (or 'Ken' in this case) doll. And with that thought, I grabbed a horrified-looking Henrik's arm and shoved him through the door to be greeted by an overly enthusiastic host who beamed at us all with a wall of blinding white teeth in a very fake smile.

"Oh! Welcome! Welcome! Please, come this way!" The host ushered a very reluctant Henrik towards a chair and pushed him into it. "Louise will be with you shortly." The Host drawled, enthusiastically, before disappearing to the back of the salon. Shortly afterwards, a petite little blonde came trotting up to us, all smiles, with a maroon cape in her hand which she flung gracefully around a startled Henrik's neck and fastened it tight.

"There now! What are we doing today?" 'Louise' chirped sweetly at a gobsmacked Henrik. But before he could answer her, Rebekah stepped up and began a tirade of directions to a very startled Louise.

"Right. First…" Rebekah stated, matter-of-factly. "I want his hair to be short, but not too short." This went on for about five minutes before Louise started to look completely confused and murderous, ready to strangle Rebekah within an inch of her life.

"Of course, Miss." Louise simpered. "Now, does **_sir_** have an opinion before we start?" She asks Henrik, who looked defeated, mortified and exhausted. Throughout this entire one-sided conversation between Rebekah and Louise, I was feeling extremely sympathetic towards Henrik (and believe it or not, Louise) and rolled my eyes as I reached for a nearby GQ magazine and started flipping through it for a hairstyle that we could all agree on and one that wouldn't embarrass. Just before Louise asked Henrik for his opinion; I thrust the magazine at him and said:

"How about this?" I asked, calmly, grabbing both Rebekah and Louise's attention in mid-sentence. Henrik raised his head from his resigned slump and took the magazine in his hand to look at the hairstyle on the male model. He immediately brightened and said:

"Yeah. I like that." He grinned. The photograph of the male model featured a hairstyle that looked remarkably like Elijah's; only younger. Rebekah scoffed and snatched the magazine from Henrik's hand and studied the photo.

"Hmmm. Yes, that'll do. I like it." Rebekah agreed and thrust the magazine at Louise, who takes it gratefully and smiles.

"Very good, sir." Louise remarked, and then when Rebekah's back was to her mouthed 'thank you' at me and then disappears off to retrieve her hairdressing kit and to instruct an assistant to wash Henrik's hair. Rebekah and I retreated back to the couch I had momentarily vacated and were approached by another assistant, who smiled warmly at us.

"May I bring you some refreshment?" The girl asked politely.

"Two champagnes, please." Rebekah requested without looking up from her magazine. I smiled warmly at the girl.

"Actually, I'll have a tea, please. I'm driving." I explained, and reminded Rebekah who looked at me.

"Oh, right. I nearly forgot." She said.

 _Clearly…_ I thought as I resumed flipping through another magazine.

An hour later, a well-groomed Henrik was presented to us looking like a spliced version of Elijah and Niklaus. My mouth fell open in surprise.

"Wow." I beamed, as Rebekah did an appreciatively eye-flick over her brother.

"Yes. Better, much better." Rebekah squealed, happily. Much to Henrik's embarrassment. Rebekah paid the bill, and we made our way back to my car. "Now what are we going to do?" Rebekah asked, bored. I hesitated before replying.

"Well, I don't know about you. But I think it's time that we let Nik know." I suggested, firmly.

"What?! Now?" Rebekah exclaimed, fearfully. I glowered at her in annoyance.

"Yes now." I repeated, firmly. "Because if we don't, Stefan will. And we will be worse off for it. And I don't fancy suffering Nik's wrath. Do you?" I asked her, pointedly. Rebekah looked like she wanted to do anything but what I suggested; but reluctantly got into the car. Henrik followed, looking at me with trepidation.

We drove home in silence.

* * *

On our arrival back to Mystic Falls, after what seemed like a record breaking trip; I set up my laptop for the face-to-face video conversation. I glanced up at a nervous Henrik who was staring out of the window, and at Rebekah who was sitting on the couch looking like a scolded child and biting her bottom lip. I located Nik's profile picture and double clicked on it. As the conversation was being dialled, I glanced up at Henrik and gave him some last minute instructions.

"Don't come over here until I give you the signal, okay?" I requested, and Henrik nodded without saying a word. Rebekah looked at me fearfully as the conversation was answered. Almost immediately, I saw Nik's handsome puzzled face frowning at me questioningly. In the background it looked like he was standing in some sort of wood.

 _"Hello, Darling. To what do I owe this pleasant surprise?"_ Nik asked me, curiously. I smiled warmly at him.

"Hey, Nik. Uh, something happened here the other day." I said, and almost immediately Nik's puzzled frown became serious.

 _"What's happened? Are you alright?"_ He demanded, immediately. _"Do I need to come back?"_ He asked, getting more anxious by the second. I glanced up in surprise to see Rebekah sliding up next to me with a long-suffering expression on her beautiful face.

"No, Nik. You don't have to come back yet. The incident in question has been and gone. There was just an unexpected, but highly welcomed result." Rebekah reassures him, and crosses her legs. Nik relaxed, but only for a split second.

 _"I see. Well, are you going to tell me or do I have to guess?"_ Nik was getting a little impatient and I could see Rebekah bristling. I quickly moved to intervene.

"This is mostly a courtesy call, Nik. So you don't get caught unawares by somebody with unscrupulous intentions towards you and the family." I explained. Nik raised an eyebrow.

 _"It's that serious?"_ He asked, looking both intrigued and annoyed.

"If you like." I responded, casually. Then I smiled at him. "But I do know that you'll eventually like it." I said.

 _"Tell me."_ Nik demanded. Rebekah and I exchanged a simultaneous deep breath before I glanced over at Henrik and beckoned him over. Henrik nodded and came over to stand behind the couch and crouched down within view of the camera.

"Hi, Big Brother." Henrik greeted a stunned looking Nik. There was a long silence as Nik collected himself. Rebekah and I gulped, and braced ourselves for Nik to explode.

 _"Is this a cruel joke?!"_ Nik spat. Henrik shook his head solemnly.

"No. This is very real, brother. I'm back; in a manner of speaking." Henrik reassures him. Nik's eyes narrowed dangerously.

 _"Explain. NOW!"_ He roared. Henrik jumped over the back of the couch and sat between Rebekah and me, preparing to help the both of us explain what went down the night before.

"Well, I'm technically still a ghost. I'm corporeal and I can touch things and walk through walls. But I'm back, permanently it seems. We still haven't figured out how this is possible though." Henrik explained, a little uneasily. I took over the conversation.

"Yesterday, the entire town was revisited by the ghosts of those who had been supernaturally killed in Mystic Falls. Henrik became corporeal, but at the time; it was a race against time to figure out what went pear-shaped and brought them back." I said.

"It transpires that your doppelgänger's brother had died and Bonnie Bennett used magic to bring him back; but in the process temporarily weakened the veil between the Other Side and the living world which permitted access through." Rebekah added her two cents in.

 _"And what does that have to do with Henrik?"_ Nik had calmed down a little bit during our explanation. To which we were grateful, but it didn't mean that he was no less suspicious and mistrustful.

"As it turns out, nothing whatsoever." I admitted. "But because Henrik had been killed by a werewolf, this meant that he was able to solidify himself. However, Bonnie had used Rebekah's necklace to bring back Jeremy and in order to close the Other Side off; she had to destroy the necklace in a spell. Which is what I assumed happened since Henrik immediately started acting strangely." I told him. Nik looked at his brother with concern, before he immediately remembered that he was supposed to be mistrustful of him and went back to being closed off.

 _"I'm not convinced. Where is the proof that Henrik is who he says he is?"_ Nik demanded. Henrik rolled his eyes and sat back onto the couch, before giving a very Klaus-like smirk and deliberately materialised through the backrest of the couch and did a backflip. I somehow managed to keep a straight face when I noticed the stupefied expression on Nik's. Although, Rebekah was less successful and giggled.

"Is that proof enough for you, brother?" Henrik asked Nik, smugly as he stood back up and slouched over the backrest. Nik didn't respond at first, but eventually it seemed like he was beginning to gradually accept that his beloved baby brother had returned.

 _"How is this possible? Are you really here?"_ Nik sounded like a lost little boy, and my heart went out to him. Henrik nodded, smiling at his brother reassuringly.

"He will be here when you come back, Nik. This is a good thing." I told him. Nik swallowed hard and turned his face away from the camera as he attempted to save face, and I turned to look at Rebekah and was astonished to see a tender expression on her face directed towards her older brother and his obvious joy and pain.

 _"I'm almost through with everything over here. I should be back in Mystic Falls within a day or two."_ Nik reported to us, and I nodded smiling warmly at him.

"I'll be counting the days, Nik. I miss you." I responded. Nik smiled happily back at me, and it took a moment to realise that both Rebekah and Henrik had disappeared; presumably to give us some privacy since neither of them had spoken.

" _The feeling is very mutual, sweetheart."_ He murmurs, tenderly; his blue-green eyes were full of love and gratitude. _"I've got to go, but thank you for letting me know about this new development._ " He told me, before reaching up to switch off the conversation.

* * *

The next morning, the three of us travelled to school so Rebekah could continue experiencing her life as a high school student that she never got to experience when she was human. I noted Elena's suspicious look when Rebekah and I walked into Alaric's classroom, but was surprised when Stefan was nowhere to be seen. I frowned in annoyance.

 _You mean I didn't have to show up today after all?!_ But then another thing occurred to me. _Where's Stefan, I wonder?_ All the students ignored me, but went silent when Henrik walked in.

Alaric paused in the middle of what he was writing on the blackboard to see what had caused his students to suddenly go quiet and turned towards the door where Henrik and I were standing. Alaric smiled politely and eyed Henrik with curiosity.

"Morning, Grace. Who's your friend?" He asked me. I raised an eyebrow, as did Henrik. Had he seriously changed that much that Alaric was unable to recognise him? Luckily, Rebekah piped up.

"Mr. Saltzman, that's my little brother Henrik, if you can remember?" Rebekah stated, and Alaric's eyes widened slightly; while the three of us all heard three audible gasps coming from the direction of Elena and her friends. Alaric recovered easily from his obvious shock at seeing a thousand year old ghost standing in his classroom of all places; and corporeal to boot.

"That's great. But what is he doing here?" Alaric asked, frowning a little. Rebekah, Henrik and I had put our heads together this morning to decide on an acceptable excuse to give to any of the teachers to explain Henrik's presence at the school, when it was obvious that the youngest Mikaelson sibling was old enough to be attending high school himself. I just hoped that Alaric caught on quickly.

"Henrik has just moved to town over the weekend, and his older brothers haven't been able to enrol him just yet." I improvised, hoping that my eyes translated the urgency to Alaric.

Alaric nodded slightly, indicating that he understood what I was getting at and smiled politely at the little 'Elijah' clone and stuck out his hand for Henrik to shake.

"Welcome, Henrik!" He greeted him, a little warily. "Now as you are just observing today, I'd like you to just sit with Grace for now." Alaric automatically moved into 'teacher mode' and Henrik smiled back, pleasantly, taking Alaric's hand – earning more soft gasps from Elena and her friends – and pumping it up and down a couple of times.

"Pleasure, sir. Thank you for your hospitality." Henrik told him, cordially. It was also obvious that he was thoroughly enjoying the astonishment that was written on Alaric's face when his hand didn't faze through his during their handshake. "I'm sure this is going to be fun." Henrik also hinted before letting go of Alaric's hand and sauntering over to where the chair I had sat on the last time stood, and grabbed another vacant one for himself.

"Right. Now today we're going to review what we learned last week…" Alaric began his lesson, and I immediately flipped to a clean page in my sketchbook and pulled out my phone to access the photo I had taken of Rebekah and Henrik, Saturday night. I was taken aback when I felt Henrik fidget, uncomfortably, and I glanced up to see that he was narrowing his eyes warningly at Elena and now Bonnie who was still eyeballing us. Eventually, they pulled their gaze away and focused on the lesson; but I knew that they were going to be demanding answers. The rest of the day continued without a hitch, and mysteriously Elena seemed to be giving us a wide berth.

Of which, we were extremely grateful.

However, we had spoken too soon. Henrik and I were sitting on the bleachers, observing the cheerleaders practicing on the grass with the footballers also practicing not too far away with their coach keeping a watchful eye on them. Rebekah was doing a series of gymnastic moves, when suddenly Elena walks up to her. Rebekah immediately frowns when she sees her.

"You! Goody." She greets Elena, sarcastically. Elena doesn't seem to react to Rebekah's words. She seemed very determined to say something to her.

"I was hoping we could talk." Elena asked, cautiously. Rebekah started stretching.

"About what? Stefan?" Rebekah scoffs dismissively. "Don't worry, I'm off him until he starts treating me better." Then she eyes Elena slyly. "In fact, you should probably take a page out of my book, if I'm being honest." She suggests. Elena appears to ignore the advice.

"Actually, I'd rather talk about this." Elena held up something in her hand to Rebekah, whose eyes widen in shock and alarm. Immediately, Henrik and I get up and approach them, sensing a shit storm approaching.

"Hey, what's going on?" I asked, aiming for casual. Elena glares at me for the interruption and looks wary at Henrik's presence.

"Do you mind? This is a private conversation." Elena snaps at me, and Rebekah scowls at her.

"Actually, I'd rather Grace and my brother stayed if you don't mind." Rebekah interjects. Elena bristles.

"I do mind. This has nothing to do with them." Elena insists, as I take a closer look at the photo she has in her hand. It was a picture of Rebekah's name written in Runic from the cave wall. I knew it was too good to be true and that somehow Elena would get involved in all this. Damon seriously needed to pick a side and stay there.

"I think you'll find that it has a lot to do with us, Gilbert. I recognise this photo and exactly what it says." I stated.

"Besides, what does my sister's name have to do with anything anyhow?" Henrik wanted to know, frowning at Elena. She ignores us, focusing on Rebekah.

"I'm just curious about why you and Klaus have spent a thousand years running from your father." Elena pressed the issue, even going as far as mentioning Mikael. Rebekah looks afraid.

"I should get back to the girls. Homecoming's right around the corner." Rebekah tries to flee from a very persistent Elena.

"I suggest you leave her alone, Elena. You're entering very dangerous territory." I warned her. She once again ignored me, like I wasn't even there. Henrik started to get angry.

"Hey! Don't ignore us!" He yells at her. Elena glowers at him, then smirks maliciously; which immediately puts us on guard.

"Well then, maybe I'll ask Mikael when we wake him." Elena moves in for the kill and I instantly froze out of fear.

"What?" I whispered, which grabs Rebekah's attention. My sister swore underneath her breath and she and Henrik rushed over to my side.

"You're okay, Grace. Mikael isn't here, you're safe." Rebekah reassures me, before turning on Elena who seemed surprised by my reaction. "You're bluffing! You don't know where he is. No one does." She insists, wrapping an arm around my shoulders when I started to panic, as unwanted nightmares began to come flooding back. Elena stubbornly continues, unaware of my turmoil.

"So, then who's rotting in that old cemetery in Charlotte?" Elena 'innocently' asks. This time it's not only me who panics; both Henrik and Rebekah stare at Elena with absolute horror.

"Are you insane?!" Henrik yells at her, horrified. Rebekah stares at Elena angrily.

"If you wake Mikael, we are _all_ doomed!" Rebekah insists, looking at Elena like she was the ultimate fool. Elena shrugs, unconcerned by the fear on our faces.

"So then, tell me." She demanded.

Oh, that's really low.

She's going to resort to blackmail to get her own way now?!

"Why in the hell do you want to know?" I demanded, finally finding my voice despite the immense fear I was feeling.

"Why don't you want me to wake him?" Elena retorted. This was apparently all Rebekah could take out of this conversation and she immediately steps away from Henrik and me when she realises that I had recovered from my panic.

"I need to get back to the girls." She insists, and manages to turn and walk back towards the cheerleaders. It is obvious that she, like Henrik and I, was shaken by what Elena had just told us. I turned to Henrik.

"Go after her, mate. I'll be along in a sec." I muttered to him. He nodded and turned to run after a visibly upset Rebekah. I glanced at Elena, beyond furious with her at this point.

"Let's just pretend that you actually have a brain, Elena, and try to think back to what I told you when I first moved in, huh?" I suggested. "Because if you had bothered to actually listen and remember what was said, then you would have your answer as to why none of us want Mikael to be woken up and brought down here to Mystic Falls." I growled at her, before turning and walking away before Elena could say another word.

That conversation the three of us had had with Elena caused me to remember that same memory Damon had rudely eavesdropped on in my dreams, the first night I had stayed over at the Boarding House.

* * *

 _ **~:MEMORY/FLASHBACK:~**_

 _Rebekah and I came across a group of young men and boys practicing their sword fighting. She grinned brightly and immediately tugged me over to them, obviously intending on observing. My eyes widened when I realised Henrik was standing there at a distance, watching the mock sword fighting. Rebekah approached her little brother and I caught his attention, curious to know if this was a 'memory' Henrik, or my 'ghostly companion' Henrik; presumably remembering this along with me. But when I looked into his eyes, I noted that they were very innocent and young. Not a hint of anything ancient in them. This was definitely a memory version of him; nothing more. The swordfight behind us was growing intense. I glanced over at the two competitors._

 _"C'mon. You can do better than that!"_

 _It was Niklaus!_

 _He didn't look older than perhaps twenty-one or twenty-two; and his face was STILL blurred to me. He was taunting his older brother – a dark-haired man in his mid to late twenties – playfully. I grinned happily. It was Elijah! Niklaus gave an overly cocky grin and sliced down abruptly with his sword, managing to slice off Elijah's leather belt. This earned him a look of fond exasperation from Elijah, before he got back into his stance._

 _Then I realised what was going on. This was a memory that I held close to my heart because it had all the people I loved the most in the world in it._

 _"Come on, Henrik, Gráinne; they're about to start fighting again. Let's get a closer look." Rebekah suggested excitedly. Henrik only smiled shyly and nodded, following his sister. I laughed and ran to catch up. Elijah was starting to get a little nervous, and kept glancing around for something or someone._

 _"Careful, Niklaus. You're getting a little too cocky. You don't want to suffer father's wrath." He warned._

 _I casually observed Niklaus with a keen eye, and grinned. He really was handsome guy; tall, lean and muscular, with shoulder-length dirty blonde hair. He was dressed in a dark grey tunic and wore a simple, white cotton shirt with leather wrist cuffs. Elijah was muscular also – due to the hard life we all endured back then - and wore a tan coloured tunic, dark loose trousers and was sleeveless. His long dark brown hair hung freely behind him._

 _I watched Niklaus wave a dismissive hand in the air._

 _"You're just saying that because you know you're gonna lose." He taunted, and got into his stance._

Typical, cocky male. But I love him…

 _Elijah merely sighed and waited for the signal to begin before both of them immediately started whaling on each other with some very impressive swordsmanship skills. Niklaus won. He crowed loudly, acting like a typical young man high on adrenaline and gestured for the accolades while both Rebekah and I rolled our eyes and giggled drawing both of their attention._

 _I blushed. I remembered this._

 _Niklaus instantly brightened and abandoned Elijah, who had an equally warm smile on his face when he saw Rebekah and me, and made his way over to us. I scowled in annoyance at my sister who elbowed me playfully in the ribs as Niklaus finally came to a stop and gave Rebekah a brilliant smile._

 _"_ _Hello, Rebekah." He greeted her with a sweet kiss on her cheek. "Did you have a pleasant walk?" He inquired warmly._

 _"Yes, and I found your intended along the way." Rebekah reported, brightly. She draped an arm around Henrik's shoulders. Niklaus fixed me with a loving look that made my cheeks flame out. He speared the sword into the dirt and circled his strong arms around my waist, pulling me towards him. I received a tender kiss on the forehead in greeting as he buried his nose into my hair. I instantly relaxed into his arms, tucking my head underneath his chin._

 _"_ _If you are quite finished, Niklaus. I know that your intended is very distracting." We both glanced over at Elijah with different reactions: Niklaus was possessive, and I was amused. "But we are still in the middle of practice." Elijah stated, feigning impatience. He winked at me, and I grinned back causing Niklaus narrowed his eyes warningly at his brother and tightened his grip around my waist, before he eventually gave a much exaggerated sigh and released me from our hug, only holding my hand instead._

 _"If I must." Niklaus teased and kissed my hand before walking back over to Elijah. "Who's next? Who shall challenge me next?" He announced, loudly. His voice echoing like a bullhorn._

 _"I will!" All the men froze, and turned to look at me with shock. Rebekah tugged insistently on my arm._

 _"What are you doing, Gráinne?"_

 _Henrik had paled at the mere idea._

Fucking 11th century rules…

 _"_ _You know women aren't allow to wield swords. Besides, you could get hurt!" She whisper-shouted at me. I definitely agree, of course. I was probably likely to accidentally chop off my own leg before I even got started. But still, at the time I didn't see the harm in having a go, even if it was just once. I glanced over at Elijah and Niklaus, and saw their equally concerned expressions on their faces mirroring Rebekah's. I wonder if Gráinne felt as annoyed as I feel right now._

 _"I don't think that's a good idea, love." Niklaus eventually responded. Elijah agreed, nodding and approaching me._

 _"Sword fighting can be very dangerous at the best of times." He insisted. I snorted and walked over to the large pile of swords and picked one up, staggering underneath its weight. Niklaus rushed over to assist me._

 _"You see?" He pointed out, smiling warmly at me. I took a step back from him, adjusting my grip on the sword and smirked at him._

 _"You're just saying that because you don't want to be beaten by a woman." I teased, offering him a flirty smile and Niklaus scowled warningly at me._

 _"Love…"_

 _"Come on, Niklaus. Where's the harm?" I asked, beseechingly. Niklaus glanced over at Elijah, who shrugged, before he sighed and reluctantly got into position. I squealed in excitement and moved to stand opposite him, holding my sword in the defensive position._

 _"Just be careful." Niklaus pleaded, and waited for me to make the first move. Elijah walked over to where Rebekah and Henrik were standing, watching both of us with worry and concern. The fight began, and after a few tense minutes; both Niklaus and I were actually having fun._

 _"See, Niklaus? There's nothing to be worried about." I reassured him, and he grinned happily at me._

 _These were my famous last words._

 _"NIKLAUS!" We all flinched violently and turned towards the loud, angry voice and I felt the anger rise as an intimidating, older blonde-haired man with large muscles advanced towards us._

 _It was Mikael._

 _Son of a bitch!_

 _I obviously couldn't see, because his face was blurred to me like the rest of the siblings, but I could tell that his eyes were flashing menacingly when he saw the sword in my hands. Part of me wished that I could move my arms, so I could run him through with the sword like he did to me; or in this case_ _would_ _do to me. But because I was just observing my memories, this was impossible._

 _"What is the meaning of this, boy!?" Mikael growled, practically spitting in Niklaus' face._

 _"We were just practicing our sword-fighting, Father." Niklaus replied, nervously, trying to shield me from his aggressive father._

 _"_ _Is that so? So why is this young woman holding a sword?" He demanded, violently snatching the sword from my hands and causing me to jerk back in fright and stumble backwards onto my arse. Niklaus immediately moved to help me to my feet. Elijah waded in to assist with the explanation._

 _"Please, Father. We were just having a bit of fun." Elijah insisted, trying to placate him. Mikael turned and looked at them all, before levelling his gaze upon Niklaus, who looked back with what I recognised as dread._

Uh oh…

 _My eyes darted back and forth between the two of them. This was the part of my memory that I hated so very much. Even more so that I couldn't change what I was about to relive. It was like watching an American Pitbull taking down a Chihuahua, without remorse, and without the ability to pull them apart._

 _"_ _Fun, Niklaus? Is that what you were having?" He asked, surprisingly calm. But I knew better. Mikael wasn't at all calm, there was a cold fury radiating from him and I knew that nothing good could come of it. My suspicions were confirmed when he turned and walked over to stand across from Niklaus and executed some fancy sword-twirling techniques with his hand. "Well, come on, boy. Show me this 'fun' you've been having." He demanded harshly, before charging over to Niklaus and attacking without warning. My fiancé barely had time to shove me out of the way into Rebekah's awaiting arms, to block his father's attack._

 _But it didn't stop there._

 _Oh, no. The attacks continued coming without pause, and they grew increasingly violent with every blow._

 _"_ _Tell me, Niklaus. Are we having fun yet!?" Mikael snarled. Rebekah shook from fear and worry for her brother._

 _"_ _Father, please!" Niklaus begged, completely terrified. Elijah went to his brother's aid._

 _"_ _Stop this, Father!" Elijah yelled, attempting to grab the sword from Mikael, but he was deliberately blocked._

 _"_ _Stay out of this, boy!" Mikael roared._

 _Elijah persisted, defying Mikael to help Niklaus, while Rebekah and I watched helplessly from the sidelines. Rebekah was clutching me and Henrik fearfully, while I glared at Mikael with cold fury. I was both surprised and glad that Gráinne apparently felt the same emotion as I am just reliving this. Tears were streaming down Rebekah's flawless face._

 _"_ _Stop it, please!" She yelled, desperately. Niklaus was just barely hanging on, already showing signs of fatigue and bleeding a little from where his father had managed to cut him with his blows._

 _"_ _Enough, Mikael!"_

 _I turned and saw an older woman with long light brown hair and a slightly careworn face approach. My heart clenched. It was Esther, whose face was all blurred from my sight. She had a stern, 'don't-mess-with-me' expression on her face that caused Mikael to pause, glaring at his wife, who stood her ground glaring back. Then he snarled angrily and tossed away the sword in his hand aside, storming off. Niklaus sighed with relief, and almost collapsed to the ground._

 _Alarmed, both Rebekah and I rushed to his side to assist him._

 _"_ _Niklaus, are you alright?" I asked with concern. He didn't respond, except to roughly jerk his arm out of my grip and got to his feet. He then turned and left without a word, presumably off to 'lick his wounds'. Hurt, I turned to Esther and was surprised to see a look of pity in her eyes, directed towards me._

 _She turned towards Rebekah._

 _"_ _Come, Rebekah. There's chores to be done." Esther requested, firmly. Rebekah nodded, sadly._

 _"_ _Yes, mother." She responded before turning and giving me a quick hug and moving to follow her. I watched as Rebekah and her mother disappeared around a corner before turning to where Niklaus had fled. I went to follow him, but a hand descended onto my shoulder, stopping me from moving and I didn't have to turn to see Elijah standing behind me with sorrow and deep concern on his face, due to the amount of pain, embarrassment and shame we had seen on Niklaus' face as he hastily departed from the scene._

* * *

 _ **~:REALITY:~**_

I hated the fact that I was once again forced to relive a painful memory, because if what Elena had said before was true; then not only would it be Nik's worst fears coming to life, but also mine. Because it would mean that I would be once again staring into the face of my murderer.

And that filled me with dread.

* * *

 **A/N: And that's a wrap. Stay tuned for the next chapter. It'll be out soon. Till then, please review :)**


	44. Lies My Brother Told Me

**A/N: Welcome back to 'A Thousand Years'. Rest assured, I have not abandoned the story; I've just been busy and I've had a bout of writer's block, as well as new plot bunnies for a potential new story that I'm researching at the moment.**

 **If you've been keeping up with this story, I'm chuffed! Thanks for the loyalty, and I hope that you continue reading up until the end. Please review, and no flames will be accepted.**

 **I don't own** _ **The Vampire Diaries.**_ **All characters from the T.V. show belong to author L.J. Smith. Grace belongs to me. Yay!**

 **Enjoy xx**

* * *

 **LIES MY BROTHER TOLD ME**

" _PTSD nightmares aren't always exact replays of the event.  
Sometimes they replay the emotions you felt during the event,  
such as fear, helplessness, and sadness." __**~Alice Cariv.**_

* * *

I knew something was up when Rebekah looked up from her homework the day after Elena interrogated her about Mikael, and cheerfully asked me if I would assist her in finding a homecoming dress for the upcoming dance at the High School. I agreed naturally, because two different opinions were better than one. The fact that she was planning to invite Elena over to help, made me think that she had an ulterior motive. I glanced over at her from behind the latest painting I was creating of Rebekah and Henrik relaxing contentedly on the couch.

"Okay. What gives, Bekah? You loathe Elena, why the hell would you seek her opinion about your fashion choices?" I asked, frowning at her.

Rebekah shrugged nonchalantly at me.

"It's a ruse. She wants to know more about why Nik and I have been running from Mikael for so long, I figured I would humour her and hopefully get an answer to why she was idiotic enough to even think of waking up Mikael in the first place." Rebekah explained.

I frowned. "But I've already done that when I first moved here to Mystic Falls." I explained. Rebekah smirked, obviously knowing something that I wasn't privy to.

"True. But you don't know what happened after you were killed, sister." She reminded me.

"No, I agree. I don't know what happened after Mikael killed me. But still, why you giving in?" I asked, confused.

"Curiosity." Rebekah replied, simply.

"Fantastic." I muttered, sarcastically. "When are you planning on doing this? And where are you doing this charade? The Boarding House?" I asked, deciding to just indulge her whim.

"Today, here. If you don't mind of course." Rebekah replied, smiling sweetly.

"Pretty sure I do mind, Bekah. But I suppose you're going to do it even if I objected. So have at it." I said, earning an even broader smile from my sister.

"I knew that you'd understand." She beamed at me.

Hell no, I didn't understand why I had to play hostess to something that wasn't even my idea in the first place. But I supposed familiar territory was probably wiser, and going along with a highly temperamental vampire was better for my health as well. There was a random knock at the door and Henrik barreled up off the couch and went to answer it.

"I got it!" He announced, loudly. He pulled open the front door revealing the cheerleaders from the high school, all looking dazed. "Uh, what the hell?" Henrik frowned at his sister with confusion, and I glanced over the canvas to blink curiously at the girls as well.

"My sentiments exactly." I agreed, and looked at Rebekah for an explanation. Rebekah immediately got up off the couch and wondered casually over to the door to usher the six dazed girls inside the apartment.

"Ah, girls! Right on time. Come this way." She greeted them, breezily. The girls wordlessly marched their way into the apartment and came to a stop in front of my island bench. I set down my paintbrush and walked over to one of the girls for a closer inspection.

She barely reacted to my presence.

"You've compelled them, haven't you?" I stated, questioning why I wasn't at all surprised that Rebekah had done something like this.

"Of course. How else am I going to make a decision?" She asked like it should've been obvious. I was about to ask her to clarify when I noticed six different dresses laid out on Rebekah's bed and put two and two together.

"Right. Of course, what was I thinking?" I drawled sarcastically and went back to my painting. Henrik shook his head and wondered back over to the couch and flopped back down onto it, resuming watching the T.V.

"Girls…" He mumbled underneath his breath, and I raised an eyebrow at him for the comment. His response was to stick out his tongue at me, and I rolled my eyes.

"Follow me." Rebekah compelled her entourage and wordlessly, the girls mindlessly followed Rebekah like ducklings into her bedroom to get ready for her personal improvised fashion show.

* * *

About an hour later, there came a tentative knock at the door. Only this time, Henrik wasn't as eager as last time to answer it. Presumably because we both had an inkling that it was going to be Elena on the other side. In the end, I let out a frustrated sigh and put down my paintbrush to answer the damn door.

"Hey, Elena. Come in." I said, politely. Elena eyed me with some surprise and caution as I rolled my eyes and shut the door behind her before returning to the canvas. Rebekah walked into the living room, carrying two champagne glasses. She beams falsely at Elena when she sees the teenager.

"Hey! What's up?" Rebekah greets Elena cheerfully, handing me one of the champagne flutes. I absently take the glass from her and take a sip as I focused intently on my painting.

"You invited me over? To talk?" Elena questioned Rebekah, warily. In response to this, Rebekah lounges casually beside Henrik on the couch. By this time, Henrik had taken up reading and glanced at Rebekah to half-heartedly scowl at her before resuming where he had left off.

"All right girls, have at it!" Rebekah calls out to the six cheerleaders waiting for their next instructions in Rebekah's bedroom. I paused to watch them parade out wearing jewel-toned homecoming dresses of various styles and shapes, and stand at attention. Rebekah smiles approvingly. "Okay, now twirl please." She instructs, and the six compelled girls obey without question, showing off the dresses Rebekah was making them model.

Elena blinked with confusion.

"You compelled your own private runway show?" She commented. I glanced up from the canvas to smirk at her in amusement.

"Shocking, isn't it?" I said. Rebekah ignored my comment, although I did notice the tiniest smirk appear on her face as well.

"I need a homecoming dress." She explained, waving a careless hand at the girls. "So, what do you think? Pick one." Rebekah orders Elena, who frowns at her in annoyance.

"I'm not here to help you shop. I'm here to talk to you about why you don't want me to wake up Mikael." She said.

In response to Elena's refusal to cooperate, Rebekah immediately got to her feet and vamp-sped behind one of the girls, grabbing her neck and vamping out. Elena jerks in alarm.

"I said "pick one", Elena." Rebekah orders, sternly. I eyed Elena over the nearly completed canvas, feeling bored.

"You better do what she says, Elena. Rebekah tends to get impatient very quickly." I suggested.

She glares at me accusingly.

"You allowed this to happen?" She said, and I finished my final touches to the painting before pulling a special protective sheet over the top to prevent smudging while it dried.

"She's not going to harm them, Elena, unless you give her cause to. Just answer her bloody question." I replied, sitting on the armrest of the couch and taking another sip from my champagne. Elena sighed before scanning each girl and making a decision.

"The … red one." She said, impatiently. Rebekah immediately releases the girl in her grasp, and shakes off her vampire face.

"There. It wasn't so hard, was it?" She told her, patronizingly. Rebekah turned towards the six girls and compels them once again. "Go away. Remember nothing." She instructs, and the girls one by one turn and leave the apartment. Rebekah turns and walks over to Elena, causing the girl to take a step back. "You do not threaten me, my brother or Grace. You'll learn what we allow you to learn. Is that clear?" Rebekah lays down the rules.

Elena is taken aback.

"We?" She blurted out in surprise.

"That's what she said, Elena. Deal with it." I stated. Elena could obviously see that she had no choice, and she nodded. Rebekah walks back over to the couch and takes a seat beside Henrik, who was seemingly oblivious to what was happening around him.

"So what do you want to know?" Rebekah asked, already looking bored and Elena hadn't even asked her question yet. I added in my own two cents.

"That I haven't already told you." I said. Elena raised an eyebrow, obviously trying to recall exactly what I had recounted to her.

"Well, clearly I need a refresher course on your 'shared' life story." Elena stated. I shook my head, irritated, but waited for the question. "Grace mentioned and Elijah confirmed that your father was a landowner in Europe. How did you guys end up here?" She asked.

I blinked, surprised that Elijah was that forthcoming with information about his family. Rebekah, Henrik and I exchanged glances, trying to decide how to relay this. In the end, it was Rebekah who kicked things off; with Henrik and me adding bits and pieces to the 'history lesson'.

"My parents had just started a family, when a plague struck their homeland." Rebekah began, rising from the couch and walking over to reach for the champagne bottle on the island bench. She indicated if I wanted more, and I nodded reaching out my glass. "They lost a child to it. They wanted to escape and protect their future family from the same fate." Rebekah added, pouring some more champagne into my glass, and setting aside the bottle staring off into space as she reflected on her family's history.

"So how did you end up here? This part of the world hadn't even been discovered yet." Elena questioned. Rebekah and I exchanged smirks.

"Clearly, somebody needs to brush up on their history. Vikings came to the North American shores back in 985 when Erik the Red founded a settlement in Greenland. This persisted up until the early 1400s when Christopher Columbus 'founded' North America. That's probably the part of history that you know." I told a gobsmacked Elena. "But I digress, this is not part of the story." I stated. "The Mikaelsons and my parents immigrated to what would be known as 'Virginia' in the late 10th Century, after Rebekah's mum learned from her friend, a witch known as Ayana, about spirits of a mystical land where everyone was healthy … blessed by the gifts of speed and strength." I said, reminiscently.

"And we lived harmoniously amongst these people." Rebekah added.

Elena frowned, curiously. "The werewolves?"

The three of us nodded.

"To us, they were just our neighbours. Our families lived with them for over 20 years, during which our families had more children, including us." Henrik said, smiling sadly. Elena looked dumbfounded.

"You three make it sound so normal." She observed and we chuckled, not unkindly.

"Were you expecting anything less?" I asked, light-heartedly. Rebekah came over and perched on the armrest beside me.

"Once a month, our families retreated into the caves beneath our village." Rebekah continued. I eyed Elena sternly, causing her to raise an eyebrow.

"The same caves where you found Rebekah's name chiseled into the wall. And probably other names as well." Elena flushed red, and avoided direct eye contact with us.

"The wolves would howl through the night and by morning we'd return home…" Rebekah trailed off, and I immediately grabbed a hold of Henrik's hand, since this was where the story went into sensitive territory. He squeezed my hand reassuringly.

"At least, until one night when it all went horribly wrong." I said. Elena frowned, thrown by my dull tone.

"What do you mean?" She asked. I glared at her.

"Do you seriously not recall anything that I told you the first night I moved into this apartment?" I growled, angrily. Elena scowled at me, but before she could open her mouth to retort back at me; Henrik unexpectedly spoke up, since he knew that it was his story to tell, and that the only people who knew this part of the story was he himself and Nik.

"What Grace means is: that one night, I disobeyed orders to stay in the cave and snuck out to see the werewolves for myself." Henrik explained, looking almost reluctant to tell this part of the explanation. Elena's eyes widened comically.

"Then the morning after; all hell broke loose." I said, gravely.

"One full moon, Klaus and Henrik snuck out to watch the men turn into beasts." Rebekah frowned at the memory. "That was forbidden, and Henrik paid the price." All heads swiveled in Henrik's direction and we were shocked by the vacant expression that had come over his face as he stared off into the distance. Rebekah was immediately alarmed and came over to her brother's side.

"Henrik? Sweetie?" I talked to him in a soothing voice, hoping that he wasn't spiraling into a traumatized state over remembering the last moments of his death. He swallowed thickly.

"I was curious." He said, dully. "None of us had ever seen a werewolf in wolf form before, and the mere thought of being able to shift into a beast fascinated me." Henrik confessed, and both Rebekah and I realised that he was definitely remembering that night … just not the part of the event that we initially believed he would start remembering. Both of us watched him, riveted; and yet unsure if we really wanted to know all the gruesome details of what really went down that night. And we both knew better than to ask Nik. We weren't that insensitive.

Elena was frowning at us with confusion.

"What happened that night?" She asked. Both Rebekah and I turned on her, eyes flashing with anger that she would even think of asking such a question.

"You don't have to answer that, Henrik." I reassured him. "How dare you?" I hissed at Elena who stared at me blankly. However, Henrik seemed to ignore this as he continued telling us all about what really transpired that night he had been brutally and savagely killed, despite all of Nik's efforts to protect his baby brother.

"I couldn't sleep. The memory is a little fuzzy, but I vaguely remember that the reason why I wasn't able to sleep was because I had a rock or a root digging into my back. The howls and sounds of thudding paws coming from the werewolves outside didn't exactly help either." Henrik revealed what truly happened that night.

* * *

 _ **~:FLASHBACK (HENRIK'S P.O.V):~**_

 _The loud howling sounded in the distance as I groaned and rolled over, trying to make myself more comfortable so I could fall asleep again. But it seemed like a useless endeavor, mostly because no matter where I chose to sleep in this stupid cave, everywhere I lay there was a dirty great big root or a stray pebble digging into my back._

 _In the end, I gave up and sat up to lean against the wall._

 _The rest of my family and the other villagers were attempting to sleep as well and I turned my head towards the left when movement caught my eye. Niklaus was curled up with Graínne not too far away from where I had been attempting to sleep. It also looked like they were having just as much difficulty as I was, trying to find a comfortable position to sleep in._

 _I smiled at them, glad that for once my brother was going to be happy and at peace with his life. It appeared that he finally had everything he needed; there was nothing that could possibly go wrong for him now._

 _I jumped when another howl pierced the night air, and I decided to risk father's wrath by going and investigating the werewolves shift back into their human forms. I bet that it'd be so cool to be able to become a wolf, and have the freedom to roam wherever you wanted to and just have fun for once. Cautiously, I got to my feet and with a glance at the rest of my family, started to creep towards the entrance to the cave._

 _"What are you doing?" I flinched and turned back to see Niklaus had crept up behind me, and was frowning with disapproval. "You should be sleeping, brother. Do you want Father to punish us both?" He asked me. It was more likely that_ he'd _get punished, not me. I bit my bottom lip, but stared my brother down defiantly. Niklaus, Elijah and Finnik had the authority to punish me if they deemed it necessary. But I could tell that Niklaus wasn't angry with me, just curious._

 _"I cannot sleep. And anyway, shouldn't you be sleeping with Graínne?" I asked him, evenly. Then paused when I realised exactly what I had just said and looked sheepishly at my slightly amused brother who looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "That did not come out right…"_

 _"You should be sleeping as well. But I have the feeling 'not sleeping' is not the only reason why you are awake." Niklaus pressed me for an answer, and I immediately caved._

 _"Okay, you win. I was going to sneak out to see the werewolves." I admitted, and felt guilty at the horror that passed over my brother's face._

 _"Are you mad? You know we're not allowed to do that. It is forbidden." Niklaus sternly scolded me, causing me to r_ _oll my eyes._

 _"I know that. But what is the harm in taking a look?" I asked him. Niklaus scowled at me, stubbornly._

 _"I dare not find out. Seriously, get back to sleep." He insists and turns to head back over to where he had left an oblivious Graínne sleeping in unsuspecting slumber._

 _I did not follow._

 _Niklaus growled with frustration and started to follow me out of the cave. I already had a head start on him, and once we got out of the cave there was really no turning back. We were bound to be caught anyhow; and the punishment was likely to be severe. Although were not entirely positive that this would be the case, as nobody had dared before now to disobey the Village rule._

 _Very reluctantly, Niklaus took point and started leading me out of the safety of the cave entrance and along a hidden path through the woods towards where it had been rumoured that the werewolves congregated during the full moon. It was a very tense moment, and we were jumping at shadows and eerie noises of wolves howling all around us; as though they were corralling us into a trap._

 _I suddenly began to realise that this was not such a good idea after all, and wished that I had listened the first time when Niklaus insisted that we ignore the noises outside the cave and gone back to sleep. It would've happened eventually, and I hated my impulsive nature. It had gotten me into trouble before and apparently, I had not learned from the last time._

" _This is creepy. Maybe we should go back?" I whispered, nervously. Niklaus nodded and we were about to turn back and head for the cave when suddenly, in the clearing three fully grown wolves darted into view: one white with a grey pattern on its flank and a russet coloured one who was whining and nuzzling up with the third wolf which was a midnight black. "Wow…" I breathed, feeling my mouth falling open in genuine awe. It was obvious that these wolves were completely oblivious to our presence here hidden in the bushes; and both Niklaus and I wanted to keep it that way._

" _They're magnificent. But I really think we should be heading back now, Henrik." Niklaus suggested, and I nodded; satisfied that I had seen what I had wanted and we turned to go. But I found myself thudding right into my brother's back._

" _What is it?" I asked. One glance at my brother's deathly pale face, made me question what was wrong. Harsh panting and the sound of a guttural growling noise attracted my attention and I paused and turned in the direction that Niklaus was looking in: it was another wolf; this one a beautiful tan and dark brown … and it was_ _ **not**_ _happy to see us. Its golden eyes narrowed dangerously on us and drool was dripping from its chops as its fangs were bared. "Niklaus… what do we do?" I asked, appalled by how small my voice sounded._

" _Don't move. Whatever you do, don't move." My brother warns me, with a firm tone in his slightly shaky voice. I found myself nodding and unable to break eye contact with the wolf. Then without warning, the wolf took a single step forward and an overwhelming urge to run came over me, and I immediately bolted. "Henrik, NO!" I heard Niklaus shouting at me from behind. But I did not look back; I was completely terrified of the sound of the wolf chasing after me, and the sound of my brother grunting as he hit the ground with a thud. "LEAVE HIM ALONE!" I heard Niklaus yelling at the wolf and I chose the wrong moment to look back at the wolf and tripped on an exposed root._

 _The next thing I knew was excruciating pain…_

* * *

 _ **~:REALITY (GRACE'S P.O.V):~**_

Nobody dared to breathe. I didn't have to look over at Rebekah to know that horrified tears were streaming down her flawless face when she heard Henrik's final hours from his own point of view. But I did take a glance at Elena, and she had gone ashen and looked like she deeply regretted asking the question and wanted to be anywhere but here.

I glared at her with uncontrolled fury.

"I won't even begin to describe the amount of pain and fear I was experiencing at that moment. All I could see apart from the wolf that was mauling me; was Niklaus trying desperately to pull that infernal wolf off of me." Henrik explained. "I must have lost consciousness, because the next thing I knew, I was being carried somewhere and it was morning." He said, dully. Elena swallowed hard, and managed to regain her composure.

"I'm sorry for what happened to you." She told Henrik, who looked at her in astonishment. "But my question hasn't been answered." Elena said, stubbornly and defiantly. Rebekah and Henrik were astounded by Elena's reaction, and I dreaded to think what expression was on mine. All I knew was that I was baying for her blood.

"You don't have a compassionate bone in your body, do you?" Rebekah snarled, angrily. "My brother did not have to reveal exactly what happened that night he was killed. So how dare you, demand more from us!" Rebekah was livid and I didn't blame her at all. "Surely what Henrik had just revealed to you, should be enough evidence to why we do not want Mikael to return to Mystic Falls. It is folly." Rebekah stated. Elena opened her mouth to retort when I raised my hand to silence the both of them.

"No, wait a minute, Rebekah. Fair is fair." I reminded her, earning a scandalized look from my sister. "If Elena wants to learn more about why you and your brothers have been running from Mikael for so long; then by all means, let's indulge her." I said, my voice as smooth as silk. Elena was lucky that Nik was not present. But then again, if Nik was present, none of this bullshit would be happening. Rebekah was silenced for a moment, still looking at me like I was crazy. But eventually she nodded and continued on with her family's personal story.

"Klaus brought Henrik's bloodied and mangled body back to the Village; screaming for our mother. He was immediately greeted by both Grace and myself." Rebekah begrudgingly told Elena.

"Both of us were beside ourselves with grief and terror. But that was nothing compared to their mother's reaction." I indicated to Rebekah and a very quiet Henrik. "She begged Ayana to save him, but the damage was already done. And that was the beginning of the end of peace with our neighbours." I said.

"And one of the last moments my family had together as humans." Rebekah added. Suddenly, Elena's phone started to vibrate, bringing us crash landing back into reality. I glared at the phone like it was a potentially venomous snake about to strike. "You better get that. That'll be Damon checking up on you." Rebekah pointed out, with disgust.

I raised an eyebrow, intrigued.

"Is it really?" I immediately snatched up Elena's phone and answered it, before Elena had the change to do so herself. Rebekah and Henrik were looking at me strangely.

"What the hell?" Elena yelled out in protest, but I ignored her; focusing on Damon's slightly stressed out voice talking down the line.

" _Elena?"_ Damon sounded confused.

"No, actually. This is Grace." I responded, evenly. Elena was glaring holes into the back of my head.

" _Can you put Elena on?"_ Damon sounded frazzled, but I was determined to get my point across to him, since it was obvious that Damon was having trouble picking a side and staying there. His little animosity towards Nik was becoming tiresome.

"I think you can wait a few minutes to hear what I have to say to you, Damon." I stated. "Now, correct me if I'm wrong. But are we friends, or were you lying to me when you told me that you loved me?" I demanded. Elena stopped fighting for her phone, to look at me dumbfounded. I heard Damon groaning.

" _Of course I do, Grace. Don't be ridiculous._ " Damon answered.

"Ridiculous? Really?" I was dubious. "I'm ridiculous that I don't want you to help those trying to lure a notorious vampire hunter to hunt down and kill both my family **and** me?" I said. "Yeah, I'm ridiculous." I agreed. There was silence over the other line. "You better decide where you stand, Damon. Or you could lose everything." I warned him, before tossing the phone to Elena and retreating into the kitchen. I was followed closely by Rebekah who looked worried.

"Are you alright?" She asked, cautiously. I glanced up into her blue eyes and gave her a tight smile; which would indicate how not alright I was feeling at this moment.

"Will be." I reassured her as we both listened to the one-sided conversation between Damon and Elena. The second she hung up, I reemerged from the kitchen with my arms folded cross my chest. Henrik looked at me with deep concern, as Elena turned to give me her full attention. "Are you through with your phone call? Can we get on with the story?" I asked her. Elena frowned.

"You know what, I'm just gonna go." She decided and started heading for the front door, but Rebekah stepped into her path.

"You haven't even heard half the story." She tells Elena, who placed her hands on her hips and scowled at her.

"And you are not going to tell it. You're just bored and looking for someone to push around. Find someone else to play with … maybe Rebekah, you can compel the both of you a friend." Elena suggested snidely, before making another attempt to leave.

"No. You wanted to know their story; so you are going to shut up and listen." I insisted. Elena just looked at me, before continuing her bid for freedom. Rebekah tried a different angle.

"The necklace wasn't Stefan's to give, you know. It belonged to the Original Witch." Rebekah told her. Elena paused and turned around to face us. Henrik had chosen that moment to get up from the couch to approach us, and wrapped a comforting arm around my shoulders, which I leant into.

"The one who put the Hybrid Curse on Klaus?" Elena asked, walking back over to the couch to sit down. I nodded in confirmation.

"The one and the same." I said.

"Except that it wasn't just the Hybrid Curse that she performed on Klaus. She's the one who turned us into vampires." Rebekah added. I took a seat at one of the bar stools surrounding my island bench.

"I have a vague memory of Rebekah confessing to me her fears one afternoon a thousand years ago, about her parents plotting something sinister with Ayana." I said, grabbing Rebekah's attention. "Do you recall that, Bekah?" I asked, curiously.

She nodded. "It's not something that you can forget that easily." Rebekah admitted. "I was preparing for bed, when like Grace said, I eavesdropped on a heated conversation between my parents and Ayana." Rebekah picks up her discarded champagne glass and pours herself another glass of the golden liquid.

"So vampirism was a form of protection?" Elena deduced.

"What else could it be?" I asked. Elena shrugged.

"A curse?" She suggested, like it should've been obvious. Rebekah shook her head, dismissing the idea entirely.

"My parents only saw a way of keeping their children alive." She insisted. Elena focused upon Henrik, curiously. That made him uncomfortable.

"I get that. But why stay if you were so afraid of the werewolves? Why didn't you just leave?" Elena asked.

"Pride." Henrik responded, much to Elena's surprise. It was the first thing he had said since revealing what really happened the night he had been killed. "Our father's fatal flaw." He said, grimly.

"He didn't want to run anymore. Our father wanted to fight and be superior to the wolves." Rebekah said. "Where they could bite, we had to bite harder. Where they had speed, we had to be faster." She listed.

"Agility. Strength. Senses…" I reiterated. "But Ayana refused to be a part of that. So their fate rested in their mother's hands." I said. Elena blinked at us, probably wondering if she had heard me correctly.

"In _her_ hands? How could your mother do anything?" She asked both Henrik and Rebekah, in confusion. Henrik shrugged; like it was no big deal.

"Our mother was a witch." He confirmed, as Elena's mouth dropped open in shock.

"What?"

"The witch of the Original Family. The Original Witch?" Rebekah translated, taking a sip from her champagne. Elena still looked confused.

"But if your mother was a witch, then…" She trailed off, but we all knew where she was heading with her thoughts.

"Nope." Henrik confirmed. "We used to be, but not anymore." He said.

"A witch is nature's servant; a vampire is an abomination of nature. You can either be one or the other, never both. Our mother did this for us. She did not turn." Rebekah explained. Elena turned to look at me.

"Obviously you didn't turn. Where were you when all this was happening? Or don't you remember?" Elena was spiteful. I glowered at her.

"Grace was ignorant of what was happening to us; an innocent. And after we turned, we created a temporary berth from her for her own safety. But it was hardest on Klaus to do so, because the both of them were newly betrothed." Rebekah said, not impressed with Elena's attitude towards me.

"Why?" Elena asked.

"Think, Elena. Think very hard; what do we feed on?" The teenager immediately paled, earning an unkind smile from Rebekah. "None of us would be able to live with ourselves if something should have happened to her during our newborn months." She said.

"I remembered feeling hurt and confused about why I was being avoided, and when I did eventually catch a glimpse of them from dusk onwards, they would immediately disappear without a word. I didn't learn the truth until it was too late." I said, wincing at the memory of Mikael's snarling face. Rebekah nodded, reaching for and squeezing my hand in what I assumed was a very belated apology for putting me through that all those years before, on behalf of her brothers and herself.

" _None_ of us wanted her to go through what we went through when we were first turned." Rebekah stated, firmly.

"How did you turn?" Elena asked.

"Our mother called upon the sun for life, and the ancient white oak tree, one of nature's eternal objects, for immortality." Rebekah said. "That night, my father offered us wine laced with blood. Your ancestor's blood, actually. And then he drove his sword through our hearts." I flinched and pulled away from Rebekah, as the memory of cold steel passing through my side came back to me. Rebekah looked at me with worry and surprise.

"He killed you?" Elena whispered, sounding stunned.

"And he wasn't delicate about it either." Rebekah confirmed. "What is it, Grace?" She addressed me, setting aside her champagne glass. Elena eyed me curiously as well. Henrik's eyes widened in horror. Wordlessly, I began unbuttoning my old flannel shirt that I used whenever I was painting and turned to show the three of them my birthmark that I had only shown to both Damon and Elijah previously. Rebekah gasped in realisation.

"No. That bastard!" She yelled, furiously.

"What's so special about a stupid birthmark?" Elena frowned.

"Because that is no ordinary birthmark. That birthmark represents how Grace had been killed in a former life." Henrik explained to Elena with a grave expression on his face. Elena shrugged.

"So? What does that have to do with your story?" She was impatient. I rolled my eyes.

"It's not entirely relevant. But it is a representation of exactly what happened to them, and what Mikael is capable of. Tell me, Elena. What does that mark look like to you?" I asked, dryly.

"A stab wound." Elena replied, then paused when she realised what she had just said. "Are you telling me that Mikael killed you with his sword?" She demanded.

"Pretty sure I did tell you that before, but yeah pretty much. I relate wholeheartedly to what both Nik and Rebekah had gone through when they first became vampires. Only I never woke up afterwards." I said. Rebekah broke the champagne bottle in her hand in her fury.

"He will pay dearly for this. Does he not realise the pain and turmoil he caused that night when Klaus brought her lifeless body back to the caves?" Rebekah exclaimed, mostly to herself. I was touched by Rebekah's concern for my wellbeing, but it was also not good to reflect upon something that was part of my past, and as I was determined that I wasn't going to have a repeat performance of that night ever again; I wasn't going to let her reflect upon it for much longer.

"You said that he wasn't delicate about your transition? Why? What happened?" I asked her, aiming for distraction. Rebekah eyed me strangely, but hastily cast it aside and resumed the story.

"We woke up on the floor, with blood staining our clothes where our father had stabbed us with his sword. We were very confused and scared, more so when he came into the room leading a girl with him." I shuddered at the mental picture Rebekah painted for us, and I could clearly visualize the horrified expressions on Nik, Rebekah and Elijah's faces. "We had to drink more blood to complete the ritual, and I was the first one forced to complete transition." Rebekah confirmed.

Elena looked appalled.

"Forced?" She blurted out. Rebekah just fixed her with a condescending look.

"We were young, vulnerable and had just endured something horrific that was thrust upon us without knowledge. Tell me how you'd be feeling had you been in our position?" Rebekah retorted, scathingly.

"You could've resisted." Elena protested. Both Henrik and I snorted, earning a glare from her.

"Against Mikael? Get real. I'd like to see you try." I challenged her.

Rebekah smiled.

"It was euphoric! The feeling of power was indescribable … but Ayana was right about the consequences of my parents' actions. The spirits turned on us, and nature fought back. For every strength there would be a weakness: the sun became our enemy, it kept us indoors for weeks." The clouds parted outside, allowing sunlight to filter through the window Rebekah was sitting in front of and wash over her. Specifically, on the daylight ring on her right ring finger which glowed brightly; drawing our attention towards it. "And though my mother found a solution…" She raised her hand and wiggled her fingers to indicate the ring. "…there were other problems.

'Neighbours who had opened their homes to us could now keep us out. Flowers at the base of the white oak burned, and prevented compulsion. And the spell decreed that the tree that gave us life, could also take it away." I noticed Elena taking exceptional interest in this factoid and I narrowed my eyes at her, warningly. "So we burned it to the ground. But the darkest consequence was something that my parents never anticipated: the hunger." Elena turned slightly green. "Blood … had made us reborn and it was blood that we craved above all else. We could not control it, and with that the predatory species was born." Rebekah downed the rest of her champagne, and looked at Elena for comment.

Elena swallowed hard, obviously having a hard time taking in the information Rebekah was relaying to her before looking at me accusingly. For once, I knew it was just a reflex action: Rebekah's personal story had obviously had an effect upon her, and was taking it out on me.

"How are you being so calm about this? After all, their father killed you?" She was extremely accusatory.

I blinked at her. "I've spent most of my life ignorant of the supernatural; believing that Henrik was my imaginary friend for a good part of it until I realised what he really was." I told her, bored. "From the moment I decided to move here to Mystic Falls, I began having dreams about a former life that I barely remembered. And by the time I was reunited with Elijah that day we were both kidnapped by Rose and Trevor, and I started getting my memories of him back; there wasn't any point in being afraid, because there was nothing for me to be afraid of." I said. "As far as I was aware, Mikael was gone and wasn't a threat towards me anymore." I locked eyes with her, trying to get her to understand. "But bringing that monster back to where it all began, would be a colossal clusterfuck of epic proportions." I emphasized. "Nothing good can come from luring him back here, you should know this." I pleaded, quietly.

Elena just looked at me with a deadpan expression before turning to look at Rebekah, who seemed to be irritated with how quickly and easily she had dismissed my warning.

"Why did Mikael start hunting Klaus?" She demanded. I sighed exasperatedly.

"He triggered his werewolf gene after making his first human kill." Rebekah explained. "As a result, he became Mikael's greatest shame." Elena rudely waved a dismissive hand, and I could see Rebekah bristling with anger.

"Yeah. Elijah already told me this part of the story. Your mother had had an affair with one of the werewolf villagers. Klaus wasn't his son." Elena said.

I nodded. "And as you know, she placed the Hybrid curse on Nik to suppress his werewolf side. But what you don't know is that I witnessed this firsthand, and it resulted in my own untimely demise at the hands of Mikael." I answered before Rebekah could, pointing towards my birthmark.

"Why? Was it to leave no witnesses, or to shut you up?" Elena asked, and I noticed the tiniest smirk threatening to appear on her face.

"It was to teach Nik a lesson actually." I retorted. "But your question would be best asked after Rebekah, for obvious reasons." I stated.

"After Grace was brutally murdered, by my father it seems, my mother turned her back on Nik; which was decidedly the worst thing she could have possibly done when he had just lost the love of his life. It was one thing to have your werewolf genes suppressed to hide the shame of your infidelity, but it is another thing entirely to reject your son after he had suffered a traumatic loss." Rebekah sounded ashamed of her mother's actions, where I was speechless.

"What happened next?" Elena pressed for more information. Rebekah sighed.

"Mikael's greatest weakness as a human was his pride. As a vampire, that was magnified. He went on a rampage and killed half the village. Then he came home and killed her." Once again, Elena looked stunned. But I frowned, realizing that Rebekah was still to learn the real truth. After all, everything that she had just described sounded exactly like something that Nik would've done, rather than Mikael. Especially the killing Esther part of the story.

"Mikael killed your mother?" Elena whispered.

 _Nope. Nik killed their mother … justifiably, of course._ I thought privately to myself. Rebekah nodded; sad tears welled up in her eyes.

"He said that she broke his heart, so he would break hers. He tore it from her chest as Nik watched." Her voice broke, as I closed my eyes and shook my head with disgust.

Was it a coincidence that Nik just _happened_ to be there when this supposedly happened?

No. Not at all.

 _I can see your reasons for doing it, Nik. But why lie to your sister?_ I scolded him, mentally.

"Afterwards, my father took off in a rage, and the rest of my family scattered. Nik stayed, so he could help me bury her. He knew I had to say goodbye to my mother. Elijah had stayed behind too, and from that moment each of us made a pledge to stick together as one: _always and forever._ " Rebekah gave a weak smile, while Elena just scoffed with disbelief.

"Always and forever … even though he locked you in a coffin for ninety years?" She pointed out. Rebekah just looked at her with distain.

"We're vampires. Our emotions are heightened. I'm stubborn, Elijah moral, and Nik—" I cut her off, just wanting to end this pointless conversation and get Elena the hell out of my apartment. It was clear that she was hellbent on bringing Mikael to Mystic Falls, and this entire visit was just a painful waste of our time.

"—Nik doesn't suffer fools lightly, or have tolerance for those who disappoint him." I said, impatiently. Rebekah blinked at me with shock, but recovered and nodded in agreeance to what I had just said.

"Over a thousand years as a family we've all made that mistake at least once. I've made it several times." Rebekah said, grimly.

"But you all still love him?" Elena sounded skeptical. There was a dead silence as Rebekah, Henrik and I looked at Elena in disbelief.

"That is possibly, by far, the most idiotic thing that has ever passed through your lips." I decided, angrily.

Henrik got to his feet, retreating away from Elena and disappearing into the living room. Rebekah nodded, in agreement.

"He's my brother. And I'm immortal. Should I spend an eternity alone instead?" She questioned Elena. I immediately got to my feet and headed straight for the front door, pulling it open with a flourish.

"Right. You've heard the story, and you've overstayed your welcome." I gestured for her to leave. Elena didn't immediately get up and go. "Damnit, Elena! I said leave! None of us know what you are up to, but we don't want to play along." I yelled in frustration, as Elena stubbornly stayed where she was. I was about ten seconds away from grabbing her by the upper arm and tossing her out of there.

"I'm just looking for one good reason why we shouldn't wake Mikael." Elena protested her innocence.

I scoffed. "Rebekah and I have given you thousands of reasons! But we might as well be talking on deaf ears, because you'll wake him up anyway." I stated.

"I know you want him to help you kill my brother, I'm not stupid." Rebekah pointed out, as Elena frowned back at us.

"It's no secret that I want Klaus dead. He has a hold over Stefan's life and over mine." She persisted, stubbornly.

"And our hearts bleed for you, but it's not our problem." I insisted.

"Do what you need, and wake Mikael at your own peril." Rebekah gets to her feet and walks over to Elena, seizing her by the arm and forcibly escorting her to the front door. "But make no mistake, if you come after my brother, I will rip you apart. And I get my temper from my father. Now leave!" Rebekah practically tosses Elena out of the apartment and snatched the front door from me to slam it in her face.

* * *

They say that bad things happen in threes; and Rebekah, Henrik and I were about to learn the hard way. Not an hour had passed before there was another knock at my front door. I heaved myself up from the couch – where I had been the middle of watching a movie with Rebekah and Henrik – disturbing Henrik, who had been nodding off against my shoulder.

"What now?" He grumbled, sitting up and peering over the back of the couch to see what was going on. Rebekah stepped out from the kitchen, after pouring herself a glass of scotch. I opened the front door and nearly slammed it shut again when I saw that Elena had returned.

"I thought we told you to leave. Twice." Rebekah pointed out, casually. Elena barged straight in, without waiting for my permission to enter. However, I noticed some more photos of the cave drawings clutched in her hand; this time depicting the story mural. I felt the blood leave my face.

 _Oh, shit…_

"How do you know that Mikael killed your mother?" Elena got straight to the point. Rebekah looked at her suspiciously.

"Nik was there. He told me." She replied, missing the suddenly alert expression on Henrik's face as he got up from the couch and came over to stand beside me; both waiting for the blow to descend upon Rebekah. _You've really cocked it up now, Nik…_ I thought.

"He lied to you." Elena told her, causing Rebekah to frown deeper.

"And how do you know that?" She demanded. Elena hands Rebekah the photos Alaric had taken back in the cave.

"The cave where you carved your family's names is covered in symbols. The story of your family: how your parents arrived, how they made peace, the spell that turned them into vampires, and this." Elena reached over and pointed to several of the pictures. Henrik and I approached and looked over her shoulder at the pictures for ourselves. "This is the symbol for 'hybrid'. It's a combination of the werewolf and the vampire symbol. And this is the one for your mother." Rebekah's eyes widened.

"Her necklace." She whispered.

Elena nodded, "And this is the story of her death. The hybrid killed the Original Witch. Not Mikael. Klaus." The doppelgänger looked concerned, but I knew better than to trust her. Rebekah looked like she was in denial.

"No! No, he wouldn't." She was horrified. Elena moved in for the 'kill', and Henrik and I were standing near a ticking time bomb.

"She put the curse on him, made it so that he would be the only one of his kind, and then she rejected him. With the werewolf gene comes aggression and violence … when he turned, all of that was heightened. He killed her, Rebekah. And then he made up this entire lie about your father, so that he wouldn't lose you." Elena said, 'sympathetically'.

 _Yeah right. Sympathetic, my arse…_ I thought.

Rebekah was silent for several minutes as she stared at the photos with horror and disbelief, letting the facts sink in. Then she completely lost it.

"These mean nothing! They're just stupid drawings, done by stupid people who had no idea who my family was!" Rebekah shouted, angrily. She then started to rip the photos to pieces.

"Then why are you so upset?" Elena asked, cautiously.

Rebekah glares at Elena, causing her to take a step back.

"Why are you doing this to me? I've done nothing to you!" She snarled at Elena.

"Klaus killed your mother. He has a hold on you, on me, on everyone. He has for a thousand years. We have to make it stop!" Elena insisted.

"You seriously think that you have been hard done by, just because Nik killed you in his ritual to free himself from the hybrid curse?" I stepped in, furious but not at all surprised that Elena could be so low. She was proving to be a very manipulative and selfish little cow. Much like how Katherine had been when she was still 'alive'. "You're alive aren't you? You're in one piece. And you most certainly, do not have the right to come into my apartment and try to persuade someone, who you just dropped a shocking fact about her brother, to just kill him to get your own bloody way." I growled at her.

Elena turned and looked at me vindictively.

"You're just saying that because you don't want your boyfriend to die." She said, snidely. Then without warning, Rebekah grabs Elena by throat and vamps out.

"Shut up! Shut up! Don't talk anymore! Nothing!" Rebekah snarled at her. Elena's eyes widened with fear. I swore underneath my breath and both Henrik and I moved to stop her.

"Rebekah, stop! She's not worth it! Nik will never forgive you if you kill her!" I reminded her, urgently. Rebekah didn't break eye contact with Elena.

"I don't care what Nik wants! He killed my mother!" She said, tearfully. I nodded, trying to gently pry her hand away from Elena's neck.

"I know he did. But he had a good reason for why he did, we both know that." I pleaded, using calming tones. Rebekah stops and calms down slightly, before eventually letting go of Elena. She begins to gasp, before turning and throwing herself into my arms and sobbing into my shoulder. "Shush … everything's going to be okay, sweetie." I promised her as I glared venomously at Elena, who was staring at the three of us looking horrified.

Henrik was the first to speak.

"You've worn out your welcome. Leave, and don't come back." He spoke, with a low concentrated tone. Elena didn't need telling twice and immediately bolted from the apartment and disappeared down the stairs. Henrik sighed with relief and quickly closed the front door, and leaned against it; looking at Rebekah with deep concern.

* * *

 **A/N: I completely made up the flashback involving Henrik's final hours. So I hope that it doesn't suck. Thanks for reading. Next update should be done soon.**

 **TTFN! Xx**


	45. Homecoming

**A/N: In this chapter Klaus and Henrik reunite for the first time in a thousand years, and Grace and Klaus have an emotional reunion as well. Let's hope I do this chapter justice.**

 **As always, please review with your thoughts on this chapter. No flames will be accepted.**

 **I don't own** _ **The Vampire Diaries.**_ **All characters (except for Grace) are owned by author L.J. Smith.**

 **Enjoy! Xx**

* * *

 **HOMECOMING**

" _It's not the face that makes someone a monster, it's the choices they make with their lives."_ _ **~Unknown.**_

* * *

 _ **~:GRACE'S NIGHTMARE (MEMORY):~**_

 _I was running as fast as my feet could carry me. I knew something was definitely about to kill me … and I knew that somehow it was all my fault. My long hair obscured my vision, and my heart pounded frantically in my chest as the adrenaline fuelled my every step._

" _Father, stop! She doesn't understand!" I jerked when I heard Elijah's familiar deep voice echoing behind me, reverberating hauntingly through the surrounding trees._

What the hell? _I ran faster, still hearing Elijah's frantic voice and questioning why this was all familiar._

" _She is innocent!" Esther's voice chimed in, and it fuelled my curiosity and confusion._

 _Heavy footsteps were closing in behind me but I did not dare look back. Suddenly, Nik appeared from out of nowhere. Totally freaking out, I immediately started fighting against him, scared out of my mind. But he pulled me down into some nearby bushes and clamped a hand over my mouth._

" _Hush, love. I'm trying to save you." I stopped fighting him and looked at him in bewilderment; recognising those familiar words._

" _Huh? Save me from what?" I asked, confused, and I immediately started panicking._

 _"Grace, please. Trust me." Nik begged, looking hurt that I was frightened of him. My eyes widened when I realised why this was so familiar to me: it was the night I had witnessed Mikael and Esther curse Nik with the Hybrid Curse, with Elijah's reluctant assistance, and as a result condemned myself._

 _Except that it was different somehow. For instance, Nik had called me 'Grace' not 'Gràinne' like before. Plus, instead of his 10_ _th_ _Century attire, Nik was dressed like he was when I had last seen him: dark wash jeans with a black leather belt, a grey Henley T-shirt with his usual black leather jacket and black boots. And his curly dirty blonde hair was short and neatly groomed instead of the long, shoulder-length I recalled him wearing the last time I visited this memory._

 _He was also in autopilot mode, since he was repeating the exact same words he had spoken a thousand years before, in verbatim. I decided to play along as best as I remembered. I looked into his familiar blue-green eyes, instantly calming down and nodded._

 _Nik started glancing around for any sign of Mikael, Elijah and Esther, and I absently wondered if they would be dressed just like Nik was in his 21_ _st_ _Century garb. "Okay, I think we're safe." I saw the same anger, fear and betrayal reflected his blue-green eyes as I remembered a thousand years before, and just like before, I never wanted to see those emotions in his eyes again._

 _He grabbed my hand and immediately took off, leading me away to safety like I remembered. However, we didn't get far; and I grimaced when I realised what was about to happen next. As predicted, something inhumanly fast slammed into Nik, restraining him up against a nearby tree. I was thrown to the side, knocking the wind out of me._

 _Nope. I do not miss this at all._

" _NO!" Nik yelled, and I forced myself to my knees, bracing myself to look into the face of my worst nightmare as I relieved my greatest nightmare all over again. "Father, please!" I heard Nik beg from where Elijah – who wasn't surprised to see dressed in his usual pinstriped suit - had pinned him against the tree. Nik was trying to pry his brother's hand from his neck in a fruitless attempt to get to me._

" _Be silent, you stupid boy!" I jerked to my feet and steeled myself as I turned to face a smirking Mikael; dressed surprisingly dapper in a dark jacket and a plum button-down shirt, and his blonde hair that used to be shoulder-length like I remembered from blurred out memories; was now much like Nik kept his. What horrified me the most was the fact that Mikael didn't seem at all surprised by my reaction. It was like all of this was expected._

 _I frowned, as his large hand grabbed my shoulder and shoved me – like before - against the tree behind me, in full view of Nik._

 _I was stunned, completely lost._

 _Mikael's smirk broadened, catching me off guard; this was_ _ **definitely**_ _not what I remembered from the first time._

What gives? _I thought, then cried out in pain and fear as Mikael grabs a handful of my hair and leaned in to whisper into my ear._

" _Nice to see you again, Graínne." My eyes widened in horror. "Or, should I be calling you 'Grace' now?" I immediately attempted to pull myself free. "No matter, I suspect we'll be seeing each other soon." He raises his sword like before, and I eyed it fearfully. "Be seeing you, girl." Mikael promised._

 _Then he stabbed me with his sword…_

* * *

 _ **~:REALITY (GRACE'S BEDROOM):~**_

I sat bolt right up in bed, screaming and clutching at my 'pierced side', before I realized that I wasn't bleeding to death once again. My eyes darted about the room as though expecting to see Mikael standing in the shadows, ready to strike. My heart was hammering against my rib cage and I was covered in a thin layer of sweat from head to toe.

Trembling, I threw back my duvet and sat on the side of my bed with my head in my hands; raking back my hair with them and pulling tight. I drew in a couple of deep breaths to calm myself down and then, after a few minutes I slowly rose to my feet and padded over to my bedroom window. Pulling my blinds aside, I realised that it was early in the morning and the sun was just rising in the east. The sounds of birds chirping could be heard. I reflected back upon my nightmare; shuddering at how realistic it felt at the time, and almost didn't hear when my bedroom door opened.

"Grace?" I started and turned towards my bedroom door where I saw a groggy looking Henrik (with a rat's nest for bedraggled hair) standing in the door frame, looking a combination of annoyed and concerned. "Is everything alright? I heard you screaming." He mumbled, trailing off when he let out a rather loud yawn in the process. I grimaced, and shook my head.

"I had a nightmare … about Mikael." I admitted, and Henrik's eyes widened almost immediately.

"What?" He breathed, looking horrified. "Why on earth would you be dreaming about him?" He demanded, coming over to me; now completely alert and looking serious. I scowled at him.

"It's not like I actively planned for it to happen, thank you very much." I bitched back, still wincing at the memory and feeling of Mikael's sword piercing my side once again.

"What was the nightmare about?" Henrik asked, as I reached for my robe and pulled it on, tying it shut and slipping on my slippers. "C'mon…" He sighs and grabs my hand, dragging me from my room and out into the living room and kitchen, where we both found a fully dressed Rebekah sitting on the couch, drinking from a mug of coffee and fully immersed in angst mode. She eyed us curiously, taking in my stressed out demeanour that I was probably shedding like an old skin at present.

"What happened to you?" Rebekah set aside the magazine she was flipping through, and got to her feet to approach us. Henrik led me passed her and over to the couch where he pushed me down onto it.

"Grace had a nightmare about Mikael." Henrik explained to his sister, whose mildly concerned face went pale and she looked afraid. "I'm gonna get you a tea." He told me and I nodded, absently. When it was ready, Henrik pushed the cup into my hands, then perched on the coffee table in front of me; wearing a no nonsense expression on his eternally teenaged face.

"What?" I muttered, taking a sip of the robust black tea I liked. Henrik's eyes narrowed at me, as did Rebekah's.

"You know bloody well 'what'. You haven't answered my question. What was the nightmare about our father about?" Henrik demanded.

"And don't try to lie about it. We've both known you long enough to know when you are lying." Rebekah reminded me, sternly. I smiled at her; even though she was dealing with something painful herself, she was willing to set it aside to help me. I was suddenly feeling a bit better, but no less eager to spill what I had dreamt.

I sighed.

"I had a nightmare about the night Mikael killed me, which also happened to be the night that Esther placed that Hybrid Curse upon Nik." I admitted, reluctantly. "I was running through the woods surrounding the caves, trying to evade Mikael who was coming after me with the intention of killing me to teach Nik a lesson." They both nodded, curious. "Except this time, the dream … it was different from what I remember. This time, Nik and Elijah were wearing their usual attire from now: pinstripe suit, and jeans, button-down shirt, leather jacket and boots. With both of their hair cut short and well-groomed." I explained. Rebekah and Henrik exchanged confused looks with each other before looking at me with frowns on their faces.

"It sounds like history could be potentially repeating itself." Rebekah observed.

God, I hope not.

It took Nik half a century to finally achieve his freedom. He would rampage through all of Virginia and then some if he got cursed again. But I was not through with my explanation yet.

"I don't think so. I think it's more likely a very ominous warning." I disagreed.

"Why do you say that?" Henrik asked. I took a generous sip from my tea to lubricate my suddenly dry mouth.

"Well, in the nightmare; after Nik found me and told me he was trying to save me like he did for real a thousand years ago. We tried to make our escape, but then Elijah appeared from out of nowhere like how it happened a thousand years ago, and pinned him against a tree. But when Mikael appeared on cue, wielding his sword to finish me off; I knew something was different. For starters, he was dressed in 21st Century style and was very pointedly smirking at me." I shuddered at the memory of his malicious smirk.

"What happened next?" Rebekah asked, also looking a little disturbed.

"A thousand years ago, all he did was shout at Nik to 'be silent, you stupid boy!'" I imitated Mikael's deep voice, causing both siblings to grimace at the memory of their father's harsh booming voice in their heads. "Which he did, word for word. But this time he greeted me like we were old friends and seemed to already know that my name was not 'Graínne' anymore, but 'Grace'." Rebekah and Henrik looked at me with horror. "And then he promised me that we'd be seeing each other very, very soon … before he stabbed me, and I woke up screaming." I concluded.

Rebekah clenched her fists, unflinchingly drawing blood in the palm of her hand.

"I hate this!" She hissed. "Why won't he just leave us be? Let us live our eternity without this constant harassment?" Rebekah looked at me with angry eyes that caused me shrink away instinctively, looking at her with wide eyes.

 _Woah…_

"Every time we get a word or a whisper of Mikael, Nik immediately panics and lashes out at all of us when we attempt to calm him down, before ordering us to run for it. I'm growing tired of this constant relocating every time our father pinpoints our location." Rebekah looked like she was on the verge of tears, and Henrik wrapped a comforting arm around his sister's shoulders; looking disturbed by what he was hearing.

"Was it really that bad? Why didn't you try to confront him before?" He asked her, trying to sound reasonable.

Rebekah just scowled at Henrik.

"Because every time we tried or resisted, Nik would just simply threaten us and/or dagger us because we dared to defy him or stand in the way of what he believed to be the right way to deal with the situation regarding Mikael." She told him.

I let my head fall into my hands, and shook it exasperatedly.

"For God's sake, Nik…" I mumbled.

Just then Rebekah's phone rang and we all looked at it, in astonishment. It was still fairly early in the morning for anybody to be awake and completely alert at this hour. As Rebekah reluctantly picked up her phone and moved off to answer it, I reflected back upon last night after Elena was forcibly ejected from my apartment. Rebekah was inconsolable. It took a while to completely calm her down after she had found out the truth about Nik killing their mother. But once all the tears had been shed, Rebekah had...

… Well, sort of withdrawn into herself.

But I wasn't really surprised to be honest; and I wasn't going to hold that against her. She was grieving for her mum, and the fact that it had been her brother who had cut her life short was a bitter pill to swallow. And while I wasn't Esther's #1 fan, she was still somebody's mother; and every girl needs their mother at some point in their life.

When Rebekah came back from answering her phone, she looked confused and wary.

"What's up?" I asked her.

Rebekah looked over at me and offered a small smile that I assumed she meant to be reassuring.

"Damon Salvatore wants me to come down to the Boarding House at noon." She reported back, and both Henrik and I frowned at the weird request.

Since when did Damon want to see her? I mean, sure, they were developing an interest with each other; but this seemed oddly coincidental, since I had just bitched him out over Elena's phone just last night and requested that he picked a side (Nik's and mine, or Elena's) and stayed there. He must have known that Rebekah would've been nearby to hear the conversation between us, or that there was a very slim chance that she would even consider betraying Nik.

"What for?" I asked, surprised.

"They never said." Rebekah replied, succinctly.

" _They?_ " I parroted. Rebekah looked frustrated with the interrogation.

"Stefan and Elena Gilbert were listening in on speaker. They apparently need my assistance with something important." She said, flatly.

"Yeah. Probably something to do with killing our brother, Bekah. You can't trust them." Henrik pointed out.

Rebekah looked indecisive, and also looked slightly irritated with the entire thing. And while it was extremely likely that the only reason why Elena, Stefan and Damon would want Rebekah's presence was to plot a way to get rid of Nik before he could cause more trouble for them; the idea did have some merit. Rebekah could go down there and act as spy while agreeing to 'help' them.

"But at the same time, Henrik, this could also be a good thing too. And while I have no doubt that Rebekah probably has a yen for hurting Nik right now, because he had killed your mother; Rebekah's presence could serve as a double edged sword." I said, trying to aim for the optimistic.

"Huh?" Henrik blurted out.

"She could act as a double agent; pretend that she wants to kill Nik for killing Esther, while in reality find out exactly what Elena and her entourage are planning, and help unravel it on the inside." I translated. Rebekah made a face at the idea.

"So, I'm basically being used as part of your nefarious plot?" Rebekah stated, flippantly.

I raised an eyebrow at her whining.

"Seems like it." Henrik sounded amused. I just looked at him before continuing to persuade his sister to the idea.

"Do you want your father gone permanently, or not?" I asked her, pointedly. Rebekah fell silent for several minutes before eventually she nodded. I couldn't help it; a triumphant smirk spread across my face. "Good." I said. "Because this time, Mikael is going down … once and for all." I vowed.

* * *

So here I was: walking along the same street I had previously gotten myself lost on the last time I had desired a walk to distract myself from my brooding thoughts. Only this time, it was on purpose, and I had a companion with me.

"Are you okay?" Henrik eventually asks, knowing that I was getting increasingly anxious, as every day and every hour; possibly right this second, Mikael would be arriving in Mystic Falls to potentially take out Nik once and for all.

As if life wasn't already complicated enough.

"Not really. I'm mostly worried." I replied, truthfully. Rebekah had left for the Boarding House almost an hour ago, and feeling restless (or on Henrik's insistence) I decided to go for a walk and pick up a take away lunch to munch on during it. The street was quiet, with just the odd car passing beside us; and Henrik was curiously glancing around just observing everything.

"Well, don't let that worry suddenly spiral into panic and then paranoia. I think one member of this family with those traits is enough, don't you?" Henrik mused, casually. I scowled and lightly nudged him in the ribs. He grunted, but it didn't erase the playful smirk that appeared on his face the very second he had finished insulting me about becoming just as paranoid as Nik sometimes could be. I would not allow myself to get that far; it was unhealthy.

We turned a corner and I stopped, looking at the same house I had unintentionally stumbled upon when I had last been here, totally lost and requiring Damon's assistance to come drive out and take me back.

"Huh. That house has sold? Didn't think that would happen, what with so many people upping stakes and leaving nowadays." I observed, steering Henrik towards the same beige sandstone two story I had semi-admired the last time. Only this time round it was currently being renovated: the French doors and windows had been given a fresh lick of paint and the previously overgrown and incredibly ugly front yard had been immaculately tidied up and some fresh sprays of flowers and shrubbery had been planted.

Frowning, I approached one of the workers nearby who were darting in and out of the expansive mansion with various materials needed to repair the impurities, and decided to interrogate them about who the newfound owner was; if they knew, of course. "Excuse me, sir?" A young man in his mid-to-late twenties and dressed in a grubby tradies' outfit paused mid-step and turned towards me, looking at me politely but also raising an eyebrow at being addressed. "Do you happen to know who bought this place?" I asked, not holding my breath to get an answer.

He shook his head, "Dunno. I've never even seen the guy. I just go where I'm told. He just gave our foreman a set of instructions and checks in periodically. Why?" The guy asks, looking unnecessarily suspicious.

I frowned at him.

"No reason. Just the last time I saw this place it had been repossessed by the bank. Didn't think that there would be anybody who could afford this place." I admitted. He shrugged, dismissively.

"Well, now you know. Gotta go." He said, and disappeared back on site.

"Well, that was insightful." I remarked, sarcastically.

Henrik didn't respond, but he too was frowning at the incredibly brusque and dismissive response to my innocent observation. We continued walking along the pavement to the side of the property, and I was relieved to see that the little stone bench I had sat upon the last time I had been here had not been disturbed. I approached and sat down on it with relief, as Henrik chose to remain standing and moved to stand in front of me with his hands buried deep in the pockets of his duster jacket.

"When were you last here?" He asked me. I glanced up at him, registering the question before reaching into my purse and withdrawing my sketchbook, flipping through the pages until I got to the one with my sketching of Nik and I, beaming down at a beautiful little baby girl cradled carefully in Nik's arms.

"It was back when we first suspected that the Lockwood's were werewolves. Remember?" I asked.

"Vividly." Henrik drawled, dryly. Then he noticed the sketch. "What's that?" He asked, taking a seat beside me and peering down at the picture I was currently completing. He raised an eyebrow. "Why did you draw a picture of Nik and yourself smiling down at a baby?" He asked, curiously. I finished drawing in Nik's facial features before responding.

"Because that same day, I had just learned from Elijah that Nik was missing me just as much as I was missing him, and that lead to an unplanned walk through town that brought me here to this mansion." I gestured to the mansion behind us, surrounded by the ebony coloured iron fence with a thumb over my shoulder. "Only it had been foreclosed and overdue for a tidy up. This is clearly not the case now, but I digress. At that same moment I had received a rare premonition (courtesy of my medium abilities) about Nik and my child, and was inspired to create this." I gestured to the picture.

Henrik looked disbelieving.

"But that's impossible. Nik's dead, which means it's not possible for him to father any children." He insisted.

I nodded, agreeing with him.

"I thought that too at first. But then realised that I wouldn't have gotten that vision if it wasn't possible, which also led me to believe that it might be his werewolf gene that might be responsible." I listed the facts. Henrik still looked a little sceptical, but at the same time willing to concede given the right evidence.

"So I could potentially become an uncle one day?" He ventured. I giggled at the hopeful expression on his youthful face.

"It's certainly not being dismissed entirely." I said, optimistically. "I for one am holding on to hope that it will come true. I think that Nik would make a great father; because he will learn from Mikael's mistakes." I predicted. Just then, my phone rang, and it startled both Henrik and me as I fumbled around trying to find the damn thing to answer it, and silence its overly loud chiming.

I really needed to turn down the ringer on this thing.

"Hello?" I answered without looking at the caller ID. I heard affectionate chuckling coming down the line, that I instantly recognised (and felt slightly freaked out) as Nik's.

" _Hello, darling."_ Nik responded, warmly.

I instantly beamed.

"Nik!" I exclaimed, grabbing Henrik's attention as well. "Wait, hold on!" I asked him, and pulled the phone away from my ear to put it on loud speaker so that Henrik could pitch in with the unexpected conversation about to take place. "Okay. Just letting you know that Henrik is here too." I announced to Nik. Henrik laughed at how enthusiastic I was being, and I scowled at him warningly.

"Hello, brother." Henrik greeted Nik.

" _You have no idea how wonderful it is to hear your voice, baby brother._ " Nik responded to Henrik, earning a grin from said boy. " _How have you been?_ " He inquired after the youngest Mikaelson.

Henrik hesitated.

"Uh…" He looked to me for assistance, and I shrugged; out of ideas of how to break it to Nik that his prideful stepfather was going to be setting foot in Mystic Falls at any moment. And that he (Nik) and I were in serious danger when he did arrive. "We've got a bit of a situation about to unfold here, Nik." Henrik admitted, reluctantly. It was probably better to rip of the metaphorical plaster and have Nik freak out now, than wait until he actually gets here and go completely mental.

" _What do you mean 'situation', Henrik? What's going on?"_ Nik demanded, sternly. All the affection and humour was replaced with seriousness. I was about to open my mouth and explain when an odd beeping noise sounded from Nik's end. _"Hold on a second. I've got an incoming call. I'll just get rid of them. Be right back."_ Nik ordered, and there was silence for several agonising seconds, as both Henrik and I tried to figure out between us how to explain Mikael's imminent arrival back into our lives. _"That was Stefan on the other line. He says that he has something urgent to tell me."_ Nik's voice had a deceptive tone that made both of us nervous. _"Am I going to happy, or disappointed?"_ By 'disappointed' I'm pretty sure Nik meant, 'fly off into a ferocious rage'.

I took the plunge. "I'm pretty sure 'disappointed' would be a safe bet here, Nik." I admitted, truthfully. I heard Nik growl underneath his breath that sounded uncomfortably close to what a dog would sound like when it was snarling warningly.

I swallowed hard.

" _Well, whatever it is. I'd rather hear what it is from you and Henrik. So out with it."_ Nik insisted, impatiently.

"Mikael's back, Nik." There was a deadly silence. "Mikael's back, and I am utterly terrified." I am not ashamed to admit that my voice shook from fear when I admitted this. "Nik? Please say something…" I whispered, feeling Henrik taking my hand and squeezing it comfortingly.

" _Don't worry, baby. I'll think of something."_ Nik eventually responded with a tender, soothing voice; while somehow managing to sound equally as terrified as I felt, but also extremely pissed off. " _Just hold on while I deal with Stefan—"_

"Wait, Nik! Don't hang up on us. Add our conversation to the one you're about to have with Stefan. Henrik and I wish to listen in to what Stefan has to say to you." I requested. I could practically sense Nik frowning at our weird request.

" _Why on earth for?"_ He asked, sounding bewildered.

"We had a feeling something like this might happen. So we came up with a plan with Rebekah to send her in as a double agent, so we can figure out how to stop Elena and the others from implementing their plans to bring Mikael to town." I explained.

" _How pray tell is that going to help?"_ Nik sounded dubious.

I rolled my eyes.

"Did you seriously think that we were just going to sit back and let them find a way to kill you, Nik? Even Rebekah was for the idea." I chided him. "The more information we can get about their plans to bring Mikael to Mystic Falls, the better the plan we can construct to help defend you. If you hadn't called, we were going to get in contact with you to assist you." I told him.

Nik was once again, briefly silenced.

" _Fine."_ Nik reluctantly agreed. I sagged with relief. _"But when I see you again, darling, you better be prepared to explain all this to me. Understood?"_ He demanded.

I scoffed at him.

"Nik, I'm gonna do more than just explain the sodding plan to you when I see you again. Do you have any idea just how much I've missed you? The bloody plan can wait." I told him.

" _I'll hold you to that, sweetheart. I've missed you too."_ Nik admitted, sounding pleased. Beside me, Henrik was making a face at the probably nauseating spectacle Nik and I were making of ourselves (not that we give a flying toss, mind you).

"If you're both through grossing me out, can we get on it with it please?" He said, crossly.

* * *

Next thing we know, Nik had successfully linked our conversation with the one he was about to have with Stefan. We just hoped that none of them would catch on that Henrik and I were spying on them. The first thing Stefan did was inquire where Nik currently was.

Which I admit, I was ashamed I hadn't asked before myself.

" _Portland is fantastic_." Nik shared with us all, jovially. " _Once you get over all the whiny music and healthy looking people, it is literally a breeding ground for werewolves._ " He told us. Then Stefan moved in for the 'kill'; which would've been earth-shattering for Nik, if Henrik and I hadn't beaten him to the punch first and fully prepared him for the shit storm currently heading our way, courtesy of one Elena-Bloody-Gilbert.

" _ **Your father is dead.**_ " Stefan said.

There was silence for what seemed like a split second before Nik angrily responded. Hell, even Henrik and I were surprised; but also highly suspicious. That seemed a little too good to be true, and Mikael wasn't the sort to be easily taken down by a couple of – let's face it – 'baby' vampires, and a doppelgänger. It just seemed highly bogus.

" _What did you just say to me?"_ Nik sounded royally pissed, and Stefan appeared to immediately backtrack.

" _ **Oh, my mistake. Not your**_ **actual** _ **father and not dead. Mikael. Daggered. What do you want me to do with the body?**_ _"_ Stefan asked, sounding way too casual for somebody trying to break the news that their father had been 'killed'.

Nik sighed with frustration.

" _Well, first I want you to explain to me exactly what happened?"_ He demanded.

" _ **It happened this afternoon when Elena came by the Boarding House to visit. Turns out that Mikael had been tracking her – presumably because he knew that you were using her blood to create hybrids - and he followed her inside and made an attempt to grab her."**_ Stefan explained.

" _ **But we got the drop on Mikael, and managed to vervain him before he could take Elena as bait. In the process we discovered that he was in the possession of a dagger."**_ Damon piped up, causing me to bristle out of anger.

" _ **Which he planned on using on Rebekah. But instead we managed somehow to drive it into his own heart."**_ Stefan said. Henrik and I frowned at each other, growing increasingly mistrustful with this entire situation.

" _I wanna see him. I want to see his rotting body for myself."_ Apparently, Nik agreed with us.

" _ **Well, he is here. Come by whenever."**_ Stefan invited him. I made the mental note to ask Nik if Henrik and I could tag along also.

" _If you are lying to me Stefan, your compulsion will expose you."_ Nik cautioned him, sternly. _"So, answer with your life: is what you are saying the truth?"_ He demanded. I held my breath, hoping that everything was false and that Mikael was not currently lying dead in the parlour at the Boarding House, or even better, not in Mystic Falls at all.

" _ **It's true. I saw it with my own eyes."**_ Stefan insists. I had to bite down on my tongue to stop myself from calling him out.

 _So we're supposed to just take your word for it, huh?_ I thought, sceptically. I must've been physically showing how angry I was feeling, because Henrik had taken my hand in his and was squeezing it gently, obviously intending on calming me down from doing something that could give it away that we both were listening in.

" _I want to talk to Rebekah."_ Nik demanded, irritably.

" _ **That's not a problem. She is right here."**_ Stefan confirmed and about two seconds later, Rebekah comes on the line.

" _ **Hello, Nik."**_ Rebekah's bored sounding voice greeted her older brother.

" _Rebekah, love."_ Nik's stern, no nonsense tone instantly mellowed. _"What's this I hear about Mikael's tragic run in with the dagger?"_ He asked her, pleasantly.

I smiled at the affection I could hear in my boyfriend's tone. Nik had always had a soft spot for Rebekah, and it appeared a thousand years hadn't changed their feelings for each other at all. Although, the knowledge that Nik had killed their mother in cold blood; probably might have put a bit of a strain in their relationship at the moment. But by the fact that Rebekah strongly defended her brother against Elena, proved that despite their sibling rivalry and the fact that if pushed too far, Nik will dagger his siblings; they loved each other deeply.

" _ **It's true."**_ Rebekah confirmed. _**"He's finally out of our lives for good."**_ I would've believed her if the words coming from her mouth didn't sound so false. _**"I miss you. I'm miserable here."**_ Rebekah whined. I could picture Nik smiling fondly.

" _I'll be home sooner than you think."_ He promised, and I felt my heart flip over and lodge in my throat.

" _ **Good. I'll see you then, brother."**_ Rebekah said, sincerely. _That_ I did believe. Rebekah hung up.

"I so don't trust them." I commented. Nik started chuckling over the line and Henrik rolled his eyes, but had a fond smile on his face as well.

" _Glad we're on the same page."_ Nik agreed with me.

"You are coming home now, aren't you?" I asked, hopefully.

" _I'll be home within a day. I don't trust any of them, but if there is even the slightest chance that Mikael is actually dead; I need to confirm that that bastard is finally out of our lives."_ Nik reassured me. I could feel the fear rising again.

"I hope so." I mumbled. Henrik looked at me with worry.

" _Are you alright, baby?"_ Nik's voice was quiet and full of deep concern.

"No. I'm not, Nik. Hurry back, please." I responded, my voice cracking a little, and I could feel the tears welling up in my fear and I hung up. I got up from the bench and started to walk away, ashamed that I was letting my fear overwhelm me.

"Grace? Wait!" I heard Henrik running after me, but I ignored him. My little brother had to grab onto my hand and stand in front of me to stop me from retreating before I finally gave in to my fear and anxiety and started weeping into his shoulder. "Everything's going to be okay, Grace. Rebekah, Nik and I won't let anything happen to you. I promise." Henrik muttered into my ear, trying his best to comfort me as we both sank to our knees on the pavement leading back into town.

 _Nik… help me…_

* * *

I don't know how long Henrik and I were kneeling there on the pavement while I cried my eyes out, but pretty soon I was all out of tears; and was filled with a numbness that soon evolved into a determination to enact my revenge and frustration upon Mikael. I normally prided myself (in a good way) for being a strong-willed person, and falling apart like I did back at the beige sandstone mansion vexed me completely.

I was human, justified in having these fears about Mikael. But now was not the time to fall apart. I needed to be useful, and I intended to help Nik get rid of Mikael once and for all so the both of us could stand a chance of being free and happy; without constantly looking over our shoulders and expecting to see Mikael there ready to take us down. Henrik and I made our way back to my apartment, and I ignored the deep concern on Henrik's face. Rebekah had made it back and she was waiting impatiently for us to return from our walk to report back on what she had 'found' at the Boarding House.

Too bad Henrik and I were already fully informed, and so was a probably worried-out-of-his-mind Nik; considering how I ended our conversation so abruptly an hour or so ago. Rebekah immediately got to her feet the very second we walked into the apartment. She looked thoroughly annoyed and at the same time anxious to report back.

"There you are! I have so much to tell you both." Rebekah announced, in her usual haughty way. I jumped in before she had the chance to reveal what we already knew. But there was only one thing that I wanted to know about her that really concerned me.

"Mikael is back in Mystic Falls and Elena and the Salvatore Brothers are currently plotting a way to help Mikael get rid of Nik once and for all?" I guessed, almost smirking at the astonished expression on my sister's face. "Yeah, we know." I stated, taking off my leather jacket and tossing it on the couch before flopping down on it myself. Henrik just went and slouched against the wall beside my bedroom door, still looking at me like I was a potentially lethal ticking time bomb of psychological proportions, about to implode and take out anybody within several feet of me.

Which essentially, I suppose I was.

Rebekah blinked, "How did you know that?" She demanded, looking surprised.

"Nik called me." I replied. Rebekah rolled her eyes and came over to sit beside me on the couch.

"That figures. I suppose he filled you in on the details?" Rebekah assumed. I shook my head, getting a little annoyed at her bored, dismissive tone that she was using in regards of Nik.

"No, you misunderstand me, Bex." I said, causing Rebekah to raise her eyebrow at me. "Nik called me _**before**_ the four of you got into contact with him to report Mikael being daggered at the Boarding House." I explained.

"You've lost me completely." Rebekah confessed.

"Henrik and I were listening in to the entire conversation you, Damon, Stefan, Elena and quite possibly Mikael were having with Nik. It was a deliberate move on my part, I'm proud to say." I admitted. Rebekah frowned at me, unimpressed.

"I see." She said, eventually. I gave her a serious look, which made Rebekah recoil slightly out of self-preservation.

"I must say we heard some highly questionable things during that conversation. Which begs the question: are you joining forces with them to take down Nik for what he did to Esther?" I asked, sternly. Rebekah looked appalled by the suggestion, but before she could deny it I continued talking. "Because you should know, Bekah, she deserved it and then some." I made my opinion very clear and Rebekah looked outraged. She immediately pinned me to wall, holding me tightly by the neck.

"Rebekah, stop!" Henrik protested, fearfully. She ignored him, jet black veins surrounding her eyes and she bared her incredibly sharp fangs at me as tears started threatening again in her eyes.

"How dare you!" She snarled.

I won't deny that I seriously feared for my life just then. But I wasn't going to back down from my opinion. I almost felt triumphant when Rebekah finally glanced over at Henrik, possibly expecting him to be just as affronted by what I said. But she faltered at the sober expression on his face. He agreed with me wholeheartedly, and it was time for Rebekah to accept her mother's fate as something that was well-deserved.

I glared at her, unflinchingly. "Oh, come off it, Rebekah. It is the truth and you know it!" I croaked, angrily. "What Esther did to Nik and to all of your siblings was horribly wrong and denying it won't change anything." I said. Rebekah released my throat and moved two paces away from me, as I coughed trying to draw breath back into my lungs. "However, she was your mother; and having lost my own mother to illness myself, I'm not heartless to know that you miss her deeply. But you can't blame Nik for wanting to get even." I conceded.

"No, I suppose I cannot." Rebekah agreed, begrudgingly. She finally looked me in the eye, still looking supremely resentful that what I was telling her was 100% the truth. I sighed heavily.

"Look, I get that you and your siblings are going to be a bit frosty towards Nik for a while when they eventually learn the truth for themselves. But be the bigger person, even if Nik makes the wrong decisions. All of you love one another unconditionally regardless of your faults." I reminded her. " _Always and Forever._ Remember?" I said. This familiar phrase that she, Nik and Elijah once vowed to each other a thousand years before, finally produced the tiniest of smiles from Rebekah.

"I remember. Thank you, Grace." Rebekah said, before coming over and wrapping me into a hug. Henrik came over to join the embrace too. Eventually, Rebekah broke off from the embrace and moved to pick up a garment bag and some strappy black stilettos from off the island bench.

I eyed them questioningly.

"What's this then?" I asked, curiously. Rebekah sniffed a little, before giving me a small smile.

"My homecoming dress arrived today." She said, excitedly. I smiled approvingly, pleased that Rebekah was capable of getting excited over what I considered – as a British immigrant – just another high school dance. It seemed tragic and unfair that she had been deprived from having an adolescence.

"What did you end up choosing after that ridiculous fashion show that you forced Elena and me to watch yesterday?" I asked, walking over to unzip the garment bag. It revealed the red dress that Elena had hastily chosen when Rebekah barked at her to choose a dress. "You were serious then? I didn't think that you valued Elena's opinion." I was genuinely surprised.

Rebekah shrugged.

"I was going to choose it anyway; mostly because the style would piss Nik off the most. He tends to be very over-protective of me; especially when he believes it is in my best interests." She stated, flatly. Then she eyed me, warningly. "Fair warning; he will _**definitely**_ be like that with you too. So be careful when he gets very possessive and territorial. It's the wolf in him." She told me, as she made a beeline for her bedroom.

"Looking forward to it." I yelled at her, cheerfully. "Not…" I muttered underneath my breath.

"I heard that!" Rebekah yelled back, breezily. I turned to head for the kitchen to fix myself a cuppa when Rebekah's golden head stuck out from the doorway. "By the way, did Nik tell you when he would be arriving?" She asked, pointedly.

I paused in the process of opening the fridge to retrieve the milk.

"Uh, I think he mentioned tomorrow some time." I confirmed.

"Excellent." She chirped a little falsely before disappearing back into her room. I sighed and glanced at Henrik who was quietly and patiently observing this from where he was perched on the couch's armrest.

"Nik couldn't come fast enough." I stated.

Henrik nodded in agreement, "I hear that."

* * *

The next afternoon, A.K.A the day of Mystic Falls High's homecoming dance, was pretty much all that Rebekah could focus on and was determined to make sure that it was her perfect night (considering that it was also her very first dance as a 'high school student'). It definitely starting to drive her brother and I up the wall, so we decided to just vacate the premises just for some peace and quiet and a chance to also distract ourselves from the fact that Mikael was lurking somewhere in the town, probably still plotting with Damon, Stefan and Elena for the best way to ruin all our lives.

I bet you can hear the false enthusiasm in my voice, masking my mounting fear and anxiety. Made worse by the fact that on our way to the Grill, I could swear that I could feel somebody watching me. But every time I turned around to spot the creep gawking at me and tell him or her to bugger off, there was no one there.

"What's wrong?" Henrik asked me, and I didn't immediately respond. I was still scanning the park we were currently standing in for somebody out of the ordinary. But all I saw was the War Memorial monolith and people passing through the park on their way to wherever they were going. "Grace?" Henrik was starting to sound impatient.

I glanced down at him.

"Nothing." I replied, and continued walking towards the Grill, hoping that my sudden onset of paranoia meant that I was hungry and just had low blood sugar, not that something bad was approaching rapidly. Once inside, Henrik and I were immediately greeted by Matt.

"Hey, Grace! Haven't seen you in here for a while. Who's your friend?" He smiled politely at Henrik who nodded back.

"Oh, this is my brother, Henrik Mikaelson." I introduced him to Matt, who looked a little confused.

"Mikaelson? Is he related to Rebekah?" He asked. Henrik smirked, and I laughed.

"Yeah, Rebekah's his older sister by two years." I explained. Matt still looked confused as he led the both of us towards a vacated booth and handed us some menus.

"But I thought you said that Henrik's your brother?" Matt said.

"Sorry, I didn't make myself clear. Henrik is _going_ to become my brother." I explained.

"Oh, right. Cool." Matt smiled. "That makes a little more sense. Well, congrats to you." He said, and I beamed at him.

"Thanks."

"So what can I get you?" Matt asked, politely. I scanned the menu, while Henrik just handed Matt his menu unopened.

"Nothing for me. I'm not really hungry, just here to sit with Grace. My sister's getting ready for the homecoming dance and we needed to get out." Henrik explained. Matt immediately looked sheepish, causing Henrik to raise an eyebrow at him. "What's up, man?" He inquired, a little surprised.

"Rebekah asked me to the homecoming dance, and I said that I would go with her. Hope that's okay?" Matt sounded nervous as hell, and Henrik looked bewildered; while I attempted to hide my smirk behind my menu.

"Why the hell would I mind? Rebekah can do whatever she wants, I don't own her." Henrik responded.

Matt seemed to sag with relief.

"Thanks, dude. That's a load off my mind." He said. I handed him the menu.

"A coke and BLT, please." I ordered, smiling politely at Matt who smiled back and left to fill the order. When Matt was out of earshot, Henrik looked at me questioningly.

"What was that all about? Why did he need my permission?" Henrik was adorably confused, and I couldn't resist hooking an arm around his shoulders and hugging him.

"Remember when Rebekah told us that Nik is extremely possessive and very territorial towards males not blood related to her?" I asked him.

"Yeah, so?" Henrik frowned at me.

"Well, it's been a tradition for many years in Southern states that if a guy wants to take out a girl, he must ask the girl's father or her brother permission to do so." I explained. "This would've happened a thousand years ago too. You essentially stepped in as the male representative of your family because Nik, Elijah, Kol and Finn aren't available." I told him.

Henrik made a face, "That's a weird tradition." He observed.

"Not one that's going to end any time soon, unfortunately." I said, sympathetically.

Henrik groaned. "And damn it, why did I have to get the job?" He bitched. I giggled again, and squeezed his shoulders with affection.

"It's called responsibility, mate. Sometimes it can be humbling, and other times it truly sucks." I said, pulling free my sketchbook and pencil and focused upon my latest drawing.

"Then I'm glad I'm technically a ghost and don't have to deal with that garbage." Henrik grumbled. I paused mid-scribble and put down my pencil, fixing Henrik with a disapproving and sorrowful frown.

"Don't ever say that again, Henrik." I scolded him. "What has happened to you was tragic, and you can't glorify the fact that you were taken from us way too young so you don't have to experience what it is to be an adult." I said. Henrik just frowned at me with confusion. "Having responsibilities is what helps you define who you are, and what you're going to become. It helps you make the right decisions and learn from the mistakes you make. What you did just now for Rebekah; giving her permission on behalf of your family and your older brothers, shows that you respect her enough to trust that she won't sully your family's name and reputation by doing the wrong thing with Matt. In essence, you became an adult the very second you said to Matt: _'Why the hell would I mind? Rebekah can do whatever she wants, I don't own her.'_ Do you understand what I'm saying?" I clarified.

Henrik was silent as he let what I said sink in, and the expression on his face told me that he was slightly ashamed by his flippant words. I'm not entirely sure if he will take what I said to heart, or dismiss it completely; but I gave it my best shot as the 'older' sibling. In the end, he smiled; albeit a very small one.

"Yeah, I get it. I'll keep that in mind for next time. _If_ there is a next time." He said. I grinned triumphantly at him, just as the waitress arrives with my lunch.

"Thanks." I said to her as she nodded politely and walked away. "You bet your arse there will be a next time. Make your brothers and sister proud of you." I encouraged him, before taking a sip from my coke and resuming to sketch. Henrik and I continued with the small talk, when quite unexpectedly my phone started to vibrate; indicating that I had a brand spanking new text message.

"Who sent that?" Henrik asked, craning his head over to see the name on the screen. I snatched the phone away before he could identify the caller. I typed in my password and hesitantly stabbed at the little unopened envelope which opened and revealed:

' _Home Sweet Home' – N. x_

My eyes widened; alerting Henrik who immediately grabbed my phone and read the three simple words, that right now, brought me more hope and comfort that never thought was actually possible. Without a word, I quickly dumped what I owed on the table, plus tip; and stuffed my sketchbook into my purse. I was out of the doors to the restaurant in seconds, with Henrik about a heartbeat behind me, also just as excited that his older brother was finally back in town, hopefully with a possible plan to resolve our current Mikael problem. What I hadn't counted on was the fact that I foolishly expected to practically run right into him outside the restaurant. It never occurred to me to ask where Nik was. So I felt kinda foolish when I stepped out, and instantly deflated when I didn't see him.

My phone rang.

"Hello?" I immediately answered, as Henrik sidled up to me to listen in. I impatiently nudged him away, throwing him an annoyed frown.

" _Hello, my Darling."_ Nik's deep European accent sounded like music to my ears. _"Are you okay since our last conversation?"_ He sounded slightly vulnerable. I must've really stressed him out when I abruptly hung up during our last call the other night.

"Better now that you're back, Nik. Where are you?" I asked, listening intently for his reply.

"Look!" Henrik suddenly yells and points in the direction of my apartment block. I turned and saw a figure standing there on the pavement with a phone to his ear. I grinned; recognising that smirk anywhere. I immediately hung up, at the same time that Nik did and he slid his phone back into his pocket and started to cross the road to get into the park.

Henrik and I mirrored his actions, but it just occurred to me that I couldn't be selfish right now as I glanced at the infectious smile spreading on Henrik's face, and the tearful and overjoyed one on my boyfriend's; as this was the first time both brothers had been physically reunited with each other in over a thousand years without a computer/smartphone screen between them.

So I chose to deliberately hang back, while Henrik continued running full pelt towards Nik. I somehow managed to stifle a giggle when at the last minute, Henrik launched himself into Nik's arms; causing his older brother to fall backwards on his arse out of surprise when he managed to catch his brother, since it was obvious (by the shocked look on Nik's face) that he hadn't expected this sort of reaction from his baby brother.

I also struggled to choke back tears when I realised that Nik was also crying grateful, overwhelming tears into Henrik's scalp while also attempting to smother his brother in a tight hug. Deciding that this was a moment best done unobserved and in private; I turned and headed back towards the Grill to give the two of them the time to reunite and get some closure over what had happened between them.

What I hadn't expected, was Nik to shout out at me.

"Where do you think you're going?" He said, and I froze and looked back to see Nik had momentarily abandoned a smirking Henrik and approached me. I raised an eyebrow.

"Giving you two some privacy?" I answered him, with a sheepish smile that Nik responded to with a mischievous smirk. He continued walking towards me, with a purpose.

"I've got the rest of eternity to do that. You're not going anywhere." He told me, his eyes filling up with a fiery determination, before pulling me into his arms and engaged me in a very passionate kiss; the type of kiss that instantly kick started that warm, fluttery feeling in the pit of my stomach. Nik wrapped a strong arm around my waist, as he held me against him, and cupped the back of my head with his hand; preventing me from pulling away prematurely. Not that I had visited any idea of doing so. I responded by flinging my arms around his neck and jumping into his arms, wrapping my legs around his waist while Nik caught me and chuckled with amusement and affection, before pulling back reluctantly to smile at me tenderly. "Hi, there." He whispered, and kissed my forehead.

"Hello." I replied, in an equally soft tone, playing with the small hairs on the back of his head. "I've really missed you." I told him, before hiding my face into his shoulder and quietly sobbing. Nik immediately tensed up and lowered me back onto my feet before rocking us side to side and shushing me.

"I've missed you too, sweetheart. And don't worry, we'll deal with that son-of-a-bitch, so he won't be able to threaten us anymore. We'll give him what's coming to him, together." He promised.

* * *

 **A/N: Mikael's last stand happens in the next chapter. Now that Klaus is back, all hell is going to break loose for not only him, but everybody else as well. Stay tuned.**

 **TTFN xx.**


	46. Face Your Fears

**A/N: Mikael's last stand begins!**

 **Please review, and no flames please.**

 **I do not own** _ **The Vampire Diaries.**_ **All characters (except for Grace) are owned by author L.J. Smith.**

 **Enjoy xx.**

* * *

 **FACE YOUR FEARS**

" _Your peace is more important than driving yourself crazy trying to understand why something happened the way it did. Let it go."_ _ **~Unknown.**_

* * *

I'm so sick of this crying thing. At this rate, I'll be dehydrated if I continue crying on and off like this. But I'm hoping that because Nik is officially back in Mystic Falls, that there will be less chance of me having another crying jag again.

After I finished crying for what seemed like the millionth time on a surprisingly patient Nik's shoulder; he, Henrik and I relocated to a more secluded place where we could regroup, catch up and also learn what plan Nik had in mind to finally be rid of Mikael once and for all. We found an unoccupied park bench and quickly sat on it, checking to see that we were hidden away from anybody we knew who could potentially rat us out to Elena and her posse and fuck up any ideas we might come up with.

"So, my dears. Go on, catch me up what has been happening here in my absence." Nik requested, as he casually takes a seat on the bench and crosses his legs; looking unlike a powerful king commanding some attention. Without hesitation, Henrik eagerly sits beside him on the backrest of the bench, while I sit beside Nik but in front of Henrik between his splayed legs. Nik wraps an arm around my shoulders, encouraging me to relax against him as he waited for one of us to talk. However, neither Henrik nor I immediately jumped in with an explanation. "Well?" Nik asked us, raising an eyebrow at the lack of talking. I bit my bottom lip, questioning where to begin? I thought back to the night Nik left town on his pursuit of a Hybrid Army, and immediately frowned; remembering how hurt and annoyed I had felt after he dropped that particular bombshell.

"You mean after you called me an hour after I left the hospital, when you were siphoning Elena's blood for your cause telling me that the plans had been changed slightly?" I questioned, a little curtly. Nik sighed exasperatedly, and started to play with my hair.

"Don't tell me you're still sore about that, love?" He mused. I fixed him with a stern look. Eventually, I shook my head; a playful smile touching my lips.

"I don't hold grudges, Nik. It's not my style. It didn't stop me from being hurt though." I said. "I decided to go and confront Damon about the rumoured sighting of Mikael, and found him attending to Elena." I told him. "It also turned out that Damon had had Rebekah's necklace the whole time." Nik uttered a little growl of displeasure underneath his breath, but patiently waited for me to continue. For which I was grateful; I didn't want a rampaging Klaus Mikaelson heading for the Boarding House to rip into Damon, before I could explain the whole story. Especially when there was a chance that I could convince Damon to get away from Elena's toxic influence. The doppelgänger was an immature, needy and manipulative brat, and I wasn't prepared to watch her be his downfall.

"And to think I spared his life back in Chicago when you begged me not to kill him." Nik growled. My eyes widened in alarm, but he brushed a soft kiss on my temple. "Relax, darling. It's water under the bridge, but Mr. Salvatore just better watch his back." He warned.

I relaxed a little. "Then Stefan showed up and dropped another little bombshell on the three of us: instructions from you, to keep an eye on both Elena and me in your absence. Seriously, Nik? Do I look five to you?" I bitched at him, still annoyed after all this time. I became frustrated when Nik looked unrepentant.

"I stand by my decision. I wasn't about to let anything happen to you, if I wasn't there to stop it from happening." Nik said, stubbornly. "I thought I made that clear in the text I sent back to you." He frowned at me, obviously remembering back to the pissed off text message I had sent to him the second I learned that Stefan was going to be my unofficial bodyguard (whether I wanted one or not).

"Except that Stefan took your orders a little too much to heart, Niklaus. He basically made Grace go to the High School so that he could keep an eye on both her and Elena at the same time." Henrik pointed out, remembering when he had come with me; both of us expecting to see a smirking Stefan sitting amongst the crowd of bored looking students waiting for Alaric to get on with the history class; but the Ripper had been noticeably absent.

Nik blinked, "Well, that was unfortunate."

"It was a pointless waste of my time." I corrected him, scowling at the fact that apparently Nik saw that as amusing. "Thank god, I had something to do to occupy my time." I said, raising my sketchbook into the air as evidence. "Well, this; and it was a little more bearable because Rebekah had enrolled herself at the school, so she could experience High School education for herself." I said, with a small smile on my face. Nik smiled also.

"Ah, yes. How is my dear sister?" He asked. Both Henrik and I rolled our eyes, earning a raised eyebrow from Nik.

"Very excited for the homecoming dance tonight." I replied, feeling both harried and fond.

"But also driving us up the wall with her non-stop, incessant talk about it. To the point that we needed to get out of Grace's apartment for some peace." Henrik added, also looking weary.

"She's probably getting ready as we speak." I said, before continuing on with what went on in Nik's absence. "Alaric, Damon and Elena 'discovered' the cave our families used to hide out in and wait out the werewolves every month. Even though we both had already 'rediscovered' the cave the day you returned to Mystic Falls to break your curse." I added.

"Which then prompted Elena to stick her nose in where it wasn't needed and interrogated Rebekah, Grace and me about why we were so against the idea of Father coming here to Mystic Falls, and why you and Rebekah had been running from him for so long." Henrik said.

"But she got too greedy, and we told her to bugger off." I stated. Nik looked troubled; possibly because of the off chance that Elena might have possibly discovered and revealed that he was the one that killed their mother to Rebekah. I drew a deep breath, bracing myself from Nik's reaction to what I was about to tell him. "Then Elena returned uninvited and she lowered a harsh blow upon Rebekah that nearly destroyed her, and almost inspired her to destroy you, Nik … that is, until I talked her out of it by pointing out that your actions were justified; but she was still allowed to grieve." I told him, solemnly.

I shuddered at the dark look that passed over Nik's face. And for once, I feared for the life of one Elena Gilbert.

"She had no right…" Nik growled with a very cold and deadly voice that shook me to my very core, and I wasn't even the one who Nik was absolutely livid with.

"We know, and we get that you're pissed, Nik. But you've kept Elena alive for one purpose. Hold onto that purpose." I suggested, earnestly. "Besides, Henrik angrily kicked her out of my apartment while I comforted Rebekah who was sobbing her eyes out. That little bitch didn't seem to give a shit who she was hurting in her pursuit to get the information she needed." I was bitter and feeling overprotective.

"That was when we came up with the idea to send Rebekah to the Salvatore Boarding House; because it seemed that they believed that Rebekah would potentially be out for your head, because they called almost immediately." Henrik continued.

"Yes, I was there for this part." Nik stated, a bit sharply. His temper it seemed hadn't simmered down.

"So, we decided to go for a walk to distract ourselves from anything Mikael related, and so I can distract myself from my mounting fears and feelings of frustration and helplessness." I confessed.

"And Grace told me about this premonition she had about—" I immediately cut him off, starting to panic.

"Henrik!" I hissed, earning a frown from Nik who looked at us questioningly.

"What's this? A premonition? About what?" He demanded, as I threw Henrik an irritated glare, and earned a shame-faced look in return. But unfortunately, when Nik gets a bee in his bonnet; he's like a pug dog: he will latch on and will not budge until he gets the answers he seeks.

Thank you, Henrik. For putting me in this position.

"Back before you broke the Hybrid Curse, we all suspected that the Lockwood's were werewolves; which was confirmed with Elijah's help. At the time, I asked him if you missed me as much as I missed you." I reluctantly explained. Nik looked confused, but also managed a small smile.

"Deeply." He confirmed, and I smiled and nodded, cuddling up to him as I continued.

"Pretty much what Elijah confirmed at the time. So I went for a walk, like I did yesterday and ended up getting lost near this foreclosed McMansion, which had its own private meadow behind it." Nik's eyes widened slightly, sparking curiosity. "It reminded me of the simpler times we shared a thousand years ago, and quite unexpectedly; I was hit with a premonition. It was one of those rare ones I sometimes get with my Medium abilities, and I glimpsed a vision of our future, Nik." I said.

"What did you see?" He muttered, curiously.

"Our child." I replied simply.

Nik looked astonished, at first. But then frowned almost immediately, and I was surprised by how dismissive he was being.

"Impossible. I'm dead, therefore I'm sterile." Nik stated, bluntly.

"That's what I thought at first. But in the 'premonition', I saw Henrik like he is now; and at the time, Nik, I thought I had just drifted off into a doze." I tried to placate him, but Nik was stubborn.

"Enough with this foolishness! I wish more than anything that this could be possible, Grace. But it is nothing more than a pipe dream. Let it go!" Nik told me, firmly. I sighed and glanced at Henrik who looked disappointed with his brother and was scowling at him with disapproval.

"You're wrong." I whispered, feeling tears welling up in my eyes. I thought I caught Nik wincing when he noticed this; but just as quickly hardened and turned away.

"Well, it sounds like a lot of interesting things went down in my absence." Nik mused, moving swiftly away from this topic. "But now it's time that we get serious. If those Salvatore's and Ms. Gilbert think that Mikael is their salvation, they are sadly mistaken. But lucky for us, I am always one step ahead." Nik reassured us, with a crafty smirk on his face.

* * *

"So, what is your plan anyway, Nik?" I asked, deciding to just let him have his way for now – but make no mistake, I had the feeling that this topic was going to be making another reappearance in the future – and I frowned when he simply whipped out his phone and accessed his speed-dial.

"Hello mate, I've got a job for you." Nik ordered the unknown accomplice in a jovial tone. He paused for a moment, listening to what the person had to say, and the smile wavered a little to be replaced with a mildly annoyed frown. "I'd watch that tone, if I were you, Lockwood. Lest something happen to your little girlfriend or even your mother…" Nik threatened, mildly. My eyes widened as he got up off the bench and moved a little ways away from Henrik and me.

 _Why the hell was he calling Tyler Lockwood?_ I thought, puzzled. Then promptly wanted to kick myself for forgetting that Tyler Lockwood just happened to be Nik's first ever successful Hybrid.

"What's he up to?" Henrik muttered to me, eying his brother suspiciously. I shrugged, feeling just as clueless as he did, but it was apparently part of whatever plan Nik had constructed. I just hoped that he was going to be letting us in on it; just so I wasn't caught off guard if I was somehow interrogated about it.

"Knew you'd see it my way." Nik suddenly said, wondering closer to the bench with a triumphant grin on his face. "Here's what I need you to do: correct me if I'm wrong, but the Homecoming Dance that my sister is apparently so fond of, is being held tonight at the school gymnasium?" Nik casually enquired. Both Henrik and I gave Nik our undivided attention. "Excellent. Do whatever you can to get the dance cancelled at the school, then make the suggestion to move it to your home." Nik orders. "Good lad. Talk soon." He rang off, and slid the phone back into his pocket.

"What does changing the venue to the Homecoming Dance have to do with killing Mikael?" I questioned my boyfriend, quizzically.

"The dance is a public affair, and I am confident that Mikael would've figured out from Elena that I need her blood to create my hybrids, thus it is likely he will think that I will attend to seek her out." Nik responded, matter-of-factly.

"Aren't you?" I asked.

Nik shook his head, much to my surprise. "Not this time. But definitely when the threat of Mikael has been taken care of once and for all … and _all_ of us are safe," He eyed me pointedly, and I flushed. "Then I may consider replenishing my stock." I sighed and shook my head, standing up from the bench and walking over to him, wrapping my arms around his waist and resting my head against his chest; listening to his sluggishly beating heart. He smiled and kissed the top of my head as he returned the embrace.

"What are you going to do now?" I asked him, quietly.

"I have a few loose ends to tie up before tonight's showdown with Mikael. But I'll meet you there, I promise." Nik explained.

"Great." I replied, smiling a little. Nik kissed me – slowly and leisurely – again before pulling away and smiled warmly.

"See you later, darling." He said, before vamp-speeding away to wherever he was headed off to. I watched him go, huffing in frustration as I draped my arm around Henrik's shoulders and started walking back towards my apartment.

"Let's go see if Rebekah needs any last minute help in her preparations." I suggested, unlocking the door to let us inside the block, and Henrik reluctantly agreed. We made our way across the vestibule and upstairs towards the second level. I was placing my key into the lock when my apartment door unexpectedly opened.

"Did you leave that unlocked?" Henrik asked, uneasily. I frowned, knowing fully well that I wouldn't be that careless and neither would Rebekah – despite the fact that my sister was more than capable of taking care of herself – which meant that somebody had jimmied my lock and barged into my home, uninvited.

"I don't like this." I muttered, and was about to call out to Rebekah when I heard movement coming from her bedroom. I didn't lower my guard; for all I knew, it was some creepy pervert or burglar having a perve through Rebekah's and my personal belongings. And if that was the case, this guy's life would not be worth living. I crept cautiously towards the slightly ajar bedroom door and paused when I heard movement… then a _very_ familiar voice.

"Getting a head start, huh?"

I bristled, angrily.

It was Elena.

I thought that the three of us made it imperatively clear that she was not welcome back here in this apartment when she flippantly revealed that Nik had been the one to cut Esther's life short, thus devastating Rebekah.

"Embarrassing truth?" Rebekah glanced at Elena through the floor to ceiling mirror. "This is my first high school dance." Rebekah confessed.

Elena's eyes widened in surprise.

"Ever?" She said. I narrowed my eyes at Elena's back, suspiciously. While Rebekah nodded, seriously.

"I never really had time for high school before. Nik and I were always moving around, running." She trailed off and sighed, forlorn, and I grimaced; feeling sorry for what she had obviously been through in the past, caused by her brother's short fuse and paranoia over Mikael's actions. "Anyway – I didn't want to leave anything to chance. Have you heard anymore from him?" Rebekah asked, casually. Both Henrik and I pricked up our ears. It was obvious that the both of them were talking about Mikael. Elena shook her head.

"No. But I'm sure that when he does return he'll do it with flair." Elena predicted.

No. Strike that. They were talking about Nik. I think I better let Rebekah know that Nik is back in town, just in case. Rebekah frowned at Elena.

"And Damon and my father are all set with their plan?" She asked.

"Yes." Elena confirmed, succinctly. Rebekah then turned back towards the mirror and straightened out her dress.

"Don't tell me. I don't want to know." She said.

 _Well, I do, Bekah!_ I thought, annoyed.

"I just- I want to go to the dance and leave the rest to Mikael." Rebekah confessed, tiredly. I winced, sincerely hoping that I didn't have to remind my sister that Nik's actions were faultless; and that she was just saying what she thought Elena wanted to know. The teenager offered Rebekah a sympathetic wince.

"I know it's really hard. So thank you for helping us get Klaus back into town." She sounded very sincere. I frowned, hoping that Rebekah wasn't on her side.

She nodded, "Just be careful. I've been running for a thousand years for a reason. Mikael is not a good person and he definitely can't be trusted. No one in my family can." Rebekah insisted.

"Not even Grace?" Elena enquired, blandly. Rebekah immediately spun on her, eyes narrowing as I felt my heart stop at the idea that Rebekah didn't trust me.

"Grace is the exception. She is, and always has been completely innocent in all of this." She insisted. Elena looked like she didn't believe her one bit, but I didn't give a shit. I was just relieved that I still had my sister's trust and love, despite all the bullshit that has been happening around us all. Rebekah had tears in her eyes.

"Are you okay?" Elena asked.

Rebekah nodded once again, "I've spent my whole life loving and hating my brother with equal measure. I never thought that I'd be the one to help drive a stake through his heart." Rebekah seized a tissue from her vanity table and started dabbing underneath her eyes. "No tears- I don't want to ruin my makeup." She insisted, turning back towards the full-length mirror again. "How do I look?" She asked Elena, fixing her freshly curled blonde hair. Elena stepped up behind her, with her hands behind her back. Something silver glinted in her hands and my eyes widened in alarm.

"You look amazing! But you're missing one thing." Elena stated. The silver thing in her hand turned out to be Rebekah's necklace. I relaxed a little as Rebekah's eyes zeroed in on the locket.

"My mother's necklace." Rebekah breathed, her eyes wide. Elena nodded, smiling a little.

"You should wear it tonight. May I?" She asked, holding it up. My sister turned and looked in the mirror, and nodded; pulling aside her hair long enough for Elena to fasten the chain around Rebekah's swan-like neck. Rebekah smiled, sincerely.

"Thank you." She said, graciously.

Then without warning, Elena drives a silver dagger through Rebekah's back and into her heart. Rebekah cried out in pain and turned grey and started to shrivel up like a prune, before pitching forward and landing hard face first on the wooden floorboards. I gasped and attempted to rush to her aid, but Henrik hooked a surprisingly strong arm around my waist, stopping me from going into the room and clapped a hand over my mouth to stop me from making any noise. I glanced back at him accusingly, but mellowed when it was obvious that he too looked outraged by the betrayal.

"Motherfucker…" Henrik muttered angrily underneath his breath, as he struggles to keep me from bursting into Rebekah's room to bitch slap Elena for 'killing' our sister. Then the goddamned doppelgänger had the nerve to look shame-faced by her own actions.

"I'm so sorry. But I can't leave anything to chance either." Elena insisted to Rebekah's corpse.

I suddenly found myself being bodily dragged by Henrik into my bedroom, as Elena stepped out of Rebekah's room, through the living room towards the front door. The minute the front door closed behind her, I broke free from Henrik and practically stampeded into Rebekah's room and immediately pulled free the dagger, setting it aside so Rebekah could see it when she eventually woke up. It took a few minutes, but eventually Rebekah sat up with a gasp looking confused and disoriented before her eyes settled upon Henrik and me sitting on her bed, looking austere.

"What the bloody hell just happened?" She demanded.

"What do you remember?" I asked, just barely holding back my temper. Rebekah frowned with confusion, before her eyes widened in realization and narrowed as the memories came flooding back.

"Elena." Rebekah hissed. "That little backstabber!" She added. I got up from her bed and walked over to where I had set down the dagger and held it up for her to see. Henrik helped his still slightly weakened sister from the ground, and Rebekah walked over to me and took the specialized weapon from me; looking at it distastefully.

"It's a good thing we arrived when we did." I told her, walking out of her room and over to where I stashed my duffel bag full of weapons I had collected and practiced with over the years since I first started learning how to swordfight and defend myself. "God knows what would've happened to you when it comes to Elena." I said, picking up my duffel and dumping it on my coffee table. Rebekah walked over to me, looking curious while sipping on a blood bag. Presumably from her own personal stash, as I don't recall ever having any blood bags on hand for my (very few) vampire friends when they come for visits. Henrik came over to inspect the collection now that he was able to physically pick up objects in his hands.

"Why were you here? I thought you and Henrik went for a walk?" Rebekah demanded.

"We did." I looked up from inspecting a machete's sharpness by dragging my thumb across the blade. "During our walk, we reunited with Nik. He's returned as he promised you and Stefan." I reported, and Rebekah instantly straightened up and nodded stiffly.

"I see." Rebekah said. I bit my bottom lip, and gave her a very worried look.

"Were you just telling Elena what she wanted to hear? Or were you serious when you said that you both loved and hated Nik and never thought that you'd be willing to help stake him?" I asked, quietly. Rebekah's elegant blonde eyebrow rose.

"Eavesdropping, were you?" She said, a little crossly. I picked up a sai and inspected it.

"Be thankful we did; or else you would still be lying on the floor, daggered." I pointed out to her. Rebekah sighed, and took a seat on the couch.

"I wasn't lying when I said that I both loved and hated Nik." She admitted. "But I thought long and hard about what you told me about mother. And while I don't like it, I will admit that you raised a few very valid points." Rebekah conceded. "So no, I'm not aiding Elena, Stefan or Damon in their suicidal plan. I choose to continue existing hopefully for another thousand years." She said.

I smiled, bittersweetly.

"That reality will hopefully come true this evening. Nik is still currently tying up some loose ends, but then we will finally take out Mikael once for all, or die trying." I vowed. "Pray that it's the former." I joked, half-heartedly.

"You need to work on your wit, Grace." Rebekah drawled, sarcastically. "I better call Matt, just to confirm that I still intend on making an appearance at the dance tonight." She added, walking over to where she had stashed her phone.

"Hope you're prepared for a venue change." I said.

"What do you mean?" Rebekah asked, confused.

"Niklaus ordered Tyler Lockwood to trash the school gymnasium to get the dance cancelled." Henrik explained. Rebekah instantly looked apoplectic.

"He did what!? He knows how much this dance means to me!" Rebekah screeched angrily. I zipped up my duffel bag after retrieving the weapons I intended on taking with me tonight, and set them aside as I went over to calm her down, feeling amused at the same time.

"Relax, Bekah. The dance isn't cancelled. It's all part of Nik's plan. He's just having the dance relocated to the Lockwood Mansion tonight." I explained, still questioning why on earth Nik wanted the dance to be at that location of all places. The Lockwood Mansion has been the site of near disastrous events since I first set foot in this one-pony town.

"Why?" Rebekah looked mystified.

"You'd have to ask him when you next see your brother. I still haven't worked out how his mind works." I replied, evenly. Rebekah closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose as she disappeared back into her bedroom to make her phone call to Matt. While I gathered up my weaponry, and headed for my bedroom; to shower, and sort out what clothing I was going to wear tonight. Henrik chose to remain in the Living Room and promptly switched on the TV set and started channel surfing.

Since I wasn't going to the dance for the sole purpose of actually 'dancing', I decided to dress appropriately. I had settled on my 'combat' outfit, which consisted of: tight black skinny jeans with a matching black belt that I could move in like a second skin, a simple white sleeveless tank, and my black combat boots. I was also going to be wearing my black leather jacket, and Nik's silver werewolf tooth necklace (for luck, and to have a piece of Nik close to my heart while facing off against my murderer), and wearing my long dark brown hair in a severe high ponytail.

I glanced up when Rebekah barged into my room, looking no less furious than before she had called Matt. I frowned with concern.

"I am going to kill that little doppelbitch." She vowed.

"What's happened?" I asked, questioning if I wanted to know what the latest conundrum Elena had stirred up.

"She had the nerve to call Matt up and tell him that I was likely to be unavailable tonight, and asked if he'd like to escort her to the dance instead." Rebekah was practically breathing fire.

"Did you manage to set him straight?" I asked.

"Of course. I'm still going with him to the dance as planned. He actually sounded angry that Elena had the nerve to deceive him." She sounded pleased that Matt hadn't dumped her like a hot potato and gone off with Elena the second he heard that Rebekah was supposedly down for the count.

I grinned, "I can see why Nik likes being 'one step ahead' of his enemies. It's a great feeling to know that you've outsmarted someone with or without their knowledge." I said.

"It definitely has its perks, love." Rebekah nodded, then she took in what I intended on wearing tonight. "You're seriously wearing that?" She sounded appalled. I rolled my eyes.

"I'm not going for the bad catered food, spiked punch and dancing, Bekah. I'm going to face my fears alongside Nik, and get rid of your bastard of a father once and for all." I declared.

"If he doesn't kill you first." Rebekah pointed out, pessimistically.

"I wish you would look on the bright side, Bekah. You've admitted yourself that Mikael has made your life a living hell as well." I said.

"I'm just being realistic. I want this just as much as you and Nik do. But it doesn't mean that I'm not terrified at the prospect either." She reminded me. I gathered up my clothes and headed for the shower after tying back my hair.

"So am I, sister. Believe me, so am I." I agreed, trying to hide a shudder as I stepped into the bathroom and closed the door behind me.

* * *

"So, how are you getting to the Homecoming dance tonight? Have you and Nik discussed that?" Rebekah asked, as she sat across from me on the coffee table watching me using a whetstone to sharpen my weapons. I glanced up at her, testing the sharpness of my broadsword with my thumb.

"Probably via my own way. Nik didn't really say that he was going to be escorting me there." I said, not overly concerned. "Besides, when it comes to your father; I think the element of surprise is the way to go as far as I am concerned." I stated.

Rebekah looked doubtful.

"Well, I've got news for you, Grace; Mikael is never surprised, and he has a thousand years of battle strategy experience on you." Rebekah felt the need to inform me.

I nodded, "But I feel confident that he won't be expecting me." I said, but decided to humour the anxious expression on her lovely face. "But just in case, what do you suggest I do to avoid being killed a second time?" I asked.

"Not fighting?" Rebekah replied, promptly.

"Yeah, not going to happen. Anything else?" I insisted, rather impatiently, picking up another weapon and heading for the bathroom with Rebekah following. I had taken the liberty of liberating a baseball bat from the high school, and was taking the opportunity to coat it in a layer of vervain water and wolfsbane. It was crude for a weapon, I realised; but I daresay that it would potentially inflict a great deal of pain upon Mikael for as long as I could manage; should the bastard actually make an appearance … although I sincerely doubted that he'd miss the opportunity to eliminate the supposed bane of his existence.

"I can see that there's is no talking you out of this." Rebekah sighed heavily, as she observed Henrik – who was helping me prepare my arsenal, like the proud and determined Viking he was – taking the baseball bat from me and dipping it carefully into the vervain water he had created in my bathtub. "The best advice I can offer you, is keep to the shadows and wait for the opportune moment to grab his attention away from Nik in any way you can." Rebekah suggested, reluctantly.

I smiled at her.

"Thank you, Rebekah." I said, sincerely. She nodded and turned to leave the bathroom, but I reached out and grabbed her wrist; stopping her in her tracks. "Hey." Rebekah looked at me, her face filled with obvious concern. "It's not like I'm going to facing Mikael all by myself, you know. This is an opportunity to vent your frustrations too." I reminded her.

Rebekah frowned, "I doubt that Nik will allow me anywhere near him."

I grimaced.

"Yeah, and I guarantee that he's likely to enforce that with me as well. But this isn't the 10th Century anymore, Bekah. It's the 21st Century, women are not chained to the kitchen sink and expected to be baby birthing machines for the rest of their lives. I deserve the right to get my revenge." I said, vehemently. Rebekah smiled at me, sympathetically.

"You and I know for a fact that Niklaus will do everything in his power to prevent you from being killed a second time, despite the fact that you've gotten yourself some skill with a blade." Rebekah reminded me. I was about to open my mouth to retort when there was a knock on the front door. I glanced at my phone and realised that it was most likely Matt, here to escort Rebekah like the Southern Gentleman he was.

"Your date's here." I said, headed for the front door to let him in. Rebekah immediately lit up like a candle, dropping the topic like a hot potato and vamp-speeding into her room to retrieve her matching blood red patent Lady Dior calfskin cross body clutch. I rolled my eyes at my sister's exuberance as Henrik meandered out of the bathroom and wondered over to perch on the backrest of my couch, looking at Rebekah with a raised eyebrow. I opened the front door to reveal a nervous but eager looking Matt Donovan wearing a smart, tailored charcoal suit with a white shirt and a black, charcoal and blue patterned tie, and well shined shoes. His dark blonde hair had been groomed and gelled.

I grinned at him, "Hey Matt!" I greeted him, warmly. "Wow, you scrub up well." I complimented him, flicking my eyes up and down his body approvingly. Matt blushed, scratching the back of his head nervously.

"Thanks, Grace. Is Rebekah ready yet?" He asked, looking awkward as I waved him inside. Rebekah made her entrance back into the living room just as I closed the front door and leant against it with my arms folded casually over my chest. I seriously felt like a proud parent witnessing my kid's first date to a school dance.

"Hi, Matt." Rebekah greeted him with a shy smile that I just barely stopped myself from giggling at. Matt looked like a deer-caught-in-headlights before I nudged him and he offered her a corsage he held in his hands. The corsage itself was made up of a single blood red rosebud, surrounded by white gyp and asparagus fern.

"Um, hey Rebekah. You look really beautiful." Matt stammered, as he looped the corsage around Rebekah's wrist and securing it with a thin red bow. I glanced over at Henrik, who was staring at the couple with a very perplexed look on his face, and I snorted in amusement just as Matt offered Rebekah his arm and guided her to the front door.

"Right then. No shenanigans, you two." I teased, smirking from ear-to-ear. "And make sure she's back by midnight." I added, earning a scowl from Rebekah; which I countered by poking my tongue out and winking at her.

Matt smirked back, getting the joke. "Of course, Ma'am." He replied, mock saluting. "See you, Grace." He added, as he and Rebekah descended the staircase to the vestibule.

"I'll see you there, Bekah. Don't kill Elena; she's not worth it." I muttered loud enough for only Rebekah to hear, before closing the door behind me and grinning at Henrik who immediately burst out laughing at what he had just observed. It couldn't be more than a few minutes later when my phone suddenly rings, and still in the midst of laughter myself; I scoop it up and accept the call. "Hello?" I answered, slightly breathless.

" _Nice to hear that you're having fun, sweetheart."_ An amused and affectionate voice responded. I immediately brightened.

"Hello, Nik. Are you prepared for tonight then?" I asked, grabbing Henrik's attention the very second I mentioned his brother's name. It seemed that even he was getting excited about the chance of getting rid of his father once and for all.

" _Everything is set. Just waiting for the 'guest of honour' to show his ugly face."_ Nik responded promptly, and I couldn't help but smirk.

"Excellent. Where are you?" I asked, strapping on my weapons and gesturing for Henrik to get ready also with my free hand.

" _On my way to the dance. I require a date, would you like to attend?"_ Nik sweet-talked me and I rolled my eyes, fondly.

"Thought you'd never ask." I agreed.

" _Meet you outside the Mystic Grill, love."_ Nik instructed.

"See you soon." I replied before hitting the end button on my phone and sliding it into the back pocket of my jeans. I couldn't help but notice the sad, pensive expression on Henrik's face as I strapped my broadsword to my hip and then shrugged on my long black thigh-length leather jacket to hide it. "You okay?" I asked him, coming over and placing a hand on his shoulder. Henrik looked up at me with large eyes. "You're not having second thoughts about this, are you?" I queried. Henrik immediately shook his head, but still looked troubled.

"No, I'm not. But it doesn't mean that I don't feel comfortable about this entire exercise. After all, he is my father, and I did have _some_ positive memories about him." He admitted, which caused me to wince. Henrik might be thousands of years old – even as a ghost – but mentally and physically, he was _still_ a fifteen year-old boy in need of a stable father-figure. And unfortunately, Mikael was that father-figure. I pulled him into a hug, and he clung to me tight.

"I understand. Truly I do. But those few positive memories that you have of Mikael does not exonerate him against the negatives." I told him, emphatically.

"Don't remind me. Let's just get this over with." Henrik seemed to immediately shut down and close himself off against his warring emotions as he headed for the front door, opened it and headed downstairs.

 _Henrik…_ I thought miserably. I had just closed the front door and deadlocked it when my phone unexpectedly rang.

"Geez, you're popular tonight." Henrik piped up, making me jump a little. He hadn't gone as far as I thought he had. I pulled my phone out from my pocket and peered down at the ID, blinking at the name in astonishment. "Who is it?" He asked. I didn't reply, instead I chose to answer the phone.

"What do you want?" I answered, coldly.

" _Hello to you too."_ I bristled at the amusement and the sheepish tone in his voice when he greeted me.

"Whatever it is, I don't have time. I'm about to go and face my fears, and I'm not about to let you stop me or attempt to psych me out." I growled, intending on hanging up.

" _I'm not going to stop you. I'm actually calling to ask what the hold-up is."_ I froze midway in hanging up my phone and cautiously and reluctantly took the 'bait'.

"What do you mean?" I demanded, suspiciously, then heard a frustrated huff coming down the line; as well as the sounds of the dance increasing in volume in the background.

" _Goddamnit, Grace! I'm on your side!"_ He insisted, urgently. _"I always have been."_ I made it downstairs with an overly curious Henrik trying to grab my attention, unsuccessfully.

"Then why are you collaborating with Elena? And why couldn't you have come clean before now?" I demanded, angry and hurt. "I thought we were friends!" I almost shouted at him.

" _We are friends, it's just in order for this plan to work, and for everything to fall into place; you had to be kept in the dark. Because Klaus has ways of finding things out, and it couldn't be risked of him doing just that."_ He insisted.

"Finding what out?" I lowered my voice, as to not alert Nik if he happened to be lingering nearby; even though this apparently had everything to do with helping him conquer Mikael once and for all.

" _I'd prefer to tell you face-to-face. There's no telling who could be listening in."_ He insisted. I couldn't help but bristle at what he was insinuating.

"You mean you don't want Nik to know just in case?" I interpreted his meaning.

" _Something like that."_ He agreed.

I felt cornered, but it seemed like if he had truly been on both Nik and my side all this time; he wouldn't be lying to me just to throw me off and take on Nik himself. Not when he had Mikael warming up in his corner of the ring, ready to barrel in 'guns blazing'.

I had no choice.

"Fine." I agreed.

" _Thanks. I'll find you at the dance and tell you everything then."_ He promised, before hanging up. I pulled my phone away from my ear and blinked down at it, feeling pained.

"Grace? What's going on?" Henrik looked annoyed with the lack of information. I shoved my phone back into my pocket as I walked out onto the main street.

"It seems like we had another ally in our fight against Mikael all this time." I responded, vaguely. Henrik's eyes widened.

"What? Who?" He exclaimed.

"Damon." I replied, simply. Henrik looked shocked. "But keep that to yourself for now." I insisted. He nodded, as we crossed the street and cut through the park to get to the Grill where we promised to meet Nik. We didn't have to wait long before he arrived, catching me off guard when he came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist.

I jumped at least ten feet in the air, while he and Henrik laughed in amusement, and Nik kissed my neck in greeting. I turned and scowled at him playfully before slapping him on the arm.

"Missed me, darling?" Nik questioned and I smiled coyly.

"Always." I responded, kissing his cheek and heading straight for my car. "I'll drive." I said, and both Nik and Henrik followed without protest.

* * *

We could hear the thudding nightclub style music from the bottom of the Lockwood's expansive driveway, and both Nik and I couldn't help but make a face at it.

"Yep. Tyler Lockwood's taste in music sucks." I drawled, emphatically, as I put my car into park and turned towards the backseat to retrieve my weapons that I had hastily discarded into Henrik's care while I drove.

"The appalling music isn't what we are here for, sweetheart. Remember that." Nik reminded me, as he got out of the car also and leaned up against it. I snorted at him, slamming the car door with a little more force than originally intended.

"You don't have to tell me, Nik. I've been waiting for this my entire life, and I don't intend on wasting a second here talking about it when we should be acting on it." I vowed, before making my way up the driveway towards the mansion. However, Nik stepped into my path; a very serious expression on his handsome face.

"Woah, woah. Where do you think you're going?" He demanded, sternly. I looked at him, aghast, and despite being forewarned and prepared by Rebekah for this very thing, it was still annoying.

"I'm going to say 'hello and fuck you' to an old acquaintance. Is that going to be a problem?" I replied, casually; just barely holding back the frustration. A very dark look passed over Nik's face for a split second before being replaced with a pleasant, highly amused look as he looked at his baby brother and chuckled.

"Please tell me she is joking." He demanded Henrik who wasn't laughing, but looking nervous.

"I don't think she is, Nik." Henrik confirmed. I rolled my eyes and let out an impatient huff as I stepped around my overprotective and highly possessive boyfriend. I was stopped again when Nik gently but forcefully grabbed my upper arm, pulling me to a stop.

"What now?" I growled.

"You are not going to go head-to-head with Mikael, Grace." Nik insisted, actually looking angry at the idea. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Uh, yeah. I am." I insisted, matter-of-factly. "The bastard is going to pay for ruining what should've been a fantastic life, for the both of us." I said, pulling my arm from his grasp and continuing on my way up the driveway to find Damon and get the explanation from him.

"I am not going to lose you again!" Nik roared, alarming Henrik who was obviously torn about whose side to stand with. I spun on the spot and glared at Nik, just as angry.

"You're not going to, Nik!" I exclaimed. "I can take care of myself!" I insisted.

"But I'm supposed to protect you!" He growled.

"So I'm supposed to just let you take down Mikael all by yourself, while I stand on the sidelines cheering you on like the weak and defenseless damsel-in-distress I was before?" I spat, incredulously. "Not bloody likely. I'm not the same girl you once knew, Nik. I spent nearly my whole childhood and most of my adolescence waking up screaming from nightmares revolving around being at the mercy of Mikael, and being bled like a stuck pig for my troubles. I trained long and hard to become an expert in Taekwondo and to become proffient in sword-fighting." I told him, firmly. "I never wanted to feel that frightened or vulnerable as I did a thousand years ago. So don't you dare deprive me of my revenge!" I warned him, tears threatening AGAIN.

Nik still looked pissed, but instead of flying off the handle like he probably would've if anybody else had dared to talk back to him like I had just done; he merely approached me, cautiously, like I was a potentially lethal jungle cat and enveloped me into a hug that caught me a little off guard. I had been expecting an equally caustic tongue lashing from him in return.

"This is dangerous. I just want to keep you alive." He insisted, pressing his face into my hair as his voice broke a little at the idea of me dying again. I sighed; feeling my heart clench at the vulnerability and fear that I was sensing from the normally fierce, arrogant and ruthless Original Hybrid standing before me.

"Then let me help. Because I guarantee if you put me on the sidelines like before, then I will die, because Mikael will seize that as an opportunity to break you; and then he'll kill _you_." I pointed out, quietly, squeezing him back and feeling just as anxious as he.

"Fine. But we do this, my way." He insisted, firmly.

"You're the boss." I replied, smirking a little. Nik pulled back and studied my determined face for a moment before smirking himself and leaning down to rest his forehead against mine.

"And don't you forget it." He whispered, before kissing my nose and finally letting me go.

"Your ego wouldn't let me." I retorted, winking and blowing a kiss at him before I immediately continued the journey towards the house. I heard Nik chuckle before a sudden rush of wind blowing passed me suggested that he had vamp-sped away, presumably to get the night rolling with whatever he had planned to get rid of Mikael officially. But I was more interested in what Damon had to say.

"Now what do we do?" Henrik asked me, looking about all stealth-like. I almost smiled.

"Now, we find Damon and demand an explanation for his recent actions." I said, as we both stepped into the crowded hallway filled to bursting point with high schoolers doing what they did best: boozing, flirting, fighting, dancing etc. "Do you see Damon?" I asked my brother, as I attempted to blend into the crowd knowing that I stuck out like a sore thumb due to my severely anti-Formal outfit. Henrik shook his head.

"How did he plan a better party than me so fast?" I discreetly turned my head in the direction of the shocked voice and noticed that Caroline and Bonnie had arrived, dressed up in their Homecoming Dance finery. The blonde vampiress was pouting and looking extremely put out that Tyler had single-handedly saved the 'cancelled' school dance and had it relocated here.

I couldn't help but snort. Nik had obviously assisted his Hybrid minion with this sudden change in plans, and had the muscle to help pull this off in the form of his legions of Hybrids. There was no freaking way that Tyler would've been able to do all this on short notice, and with his mother's permission to boot.

"They don't look too happy, do they?" Henrik observed.

"Nope." I agreed, and we both followed the girls to observe and hopefully be one step closer in locating Damon along the way. It didn't take long to find where the majority of the high school students were congregating, mostly because of the live band that was playing on a makeshift stage out in the Lockwood's garden, while their captive audience 'shimmied, swayed or grinded' on the dancefloor.

Caroline's mouth dropped open. "What? Is that a band outside?" She blurted out, looking annoyed. Bonnie frowned as she scanned all around her.

"Who are all these people?" She wanted to know. I was amused to see that Rebekah was among the dancers in the audience. But thankfully, she had the decency not to be dirty dancing with Matt. Nik would have her guts for garters if he caught her being that vulgar. But I was pleased that she was having fun, if the bright smile on her face accounted for anything at this point.

"This is weird! Where is Tyler?" Caroline demanded, and disappeared through the crowd in search for him; followed by Bonnie. Suddenly, the music stopped playing, and everyone turned to find out why. The answer to this riddle strode across the stage like he owned the place, wearing a cocky little grin before taking his place in front of the microphone while the crowd of students cheered.

"Good evening everyone!" Nik greeted the sea of half-drunk students with a charming smile. "I wanna thank you for being here with me to celebrate!" He appeared to be searching the crowd for something, and I knew that he had found it when his eyes clapped onto mine with a knowing look, and the charming smile subtly changed into a devilish smirk. "It's been a long time coming!" He promised, winking. I smiled back at him, and shook my head as Nik finally turns and walks off stage and I glanced over to see the reactions from three different people: Caroline looked shocked, Bonnie cautious and Rebekah; a combination of bored and apprehensive.

"Let's keep looking for Damon." Henrik suggested. I nodded, and we both grabbed each other's hands in an effort not to be separated in the sea of students, and quite unintentionally stumbled across Stefan who was across the room engaging a mildly annoyed Nik in conversation, while they both walked around the party.

"Quite the homecoming." Stefan observed, guardedly. Nik nodded, looking proud of his achievement.

"I've been planning my father's funeral for a thousand years. Granted, in no version of it were any of these people invited, but you get the idea." He said, confidently. Stefan looked at him with distain.

"So, what now? Stop running?" He asked, bluntly.

"Hm- now I reunite my family." Nik responded, narrowing his eyes a little at the insolent tone Stefan was using. It was obvious that he had switched on his emotions once again; because he wasn't exactly disguising his 'hateful' emotions very well. I decided to tune out their conversation and continued on with my search for Damon, who was yet to make an appearance.

"I'm going to keep an eye on Stefan. I somehow get the feeling he's gonna pull a fast one on Niklaus." Henrik said over the loud din the live band was creating. I smiled slightly at him.

"Knock yourself out." I said, waving him off. He rushed away through the crowd and almost immediately afterwards, Rebekah sidled up to me; wearing a gaudy looking tiara on her well-coiffed head, and hooked her arm through mine.

"Nice to see that you've made an appearance." Rebekah observed.

I smirked, "What and miss out on all the fun? It's like you don't know me at all, Bekah." I replied, sarcastically. "I seem to recall that parties back then were all the rage; considering you used to drag me and sometimes one or most of your brothers along with you." I reminisced absently, still looking for Damon before I noticed the absence of her date. "Where's Matt?" I asked, casually.

"Getting us drinks." Rebekah responded. Then I eyed the tiara and frowned questioningly.

"You won homecoming queen? How exactly is that possible; you haven't been at the school long enough for any of the students to know who the hell you are?" I said, a bit disbelieving. Rebekah didn't look worried.

"I didn't exactly win, per say." She admitted, flipping her hair over her shoulder. It took me a few seconds before I realised what she was getting at and glanced heavenward, sighing heavily.

"Tell me you didn't kill the poor girl." I urged, praying that Rebekah had the common sense not to do something foolish that could expose herself and Nik to the Council. As if we didn't have enough problems without those idiots snooping around where they weren't wanted. Rebekah, much to my relief, actually looked a little insulted.

"I find your lack of faith in me questionable, sweetie." She stated, dryly. "I just compelled her and the people in charge of that inane competition to give me the title, no questions asked." Rebekah explained, and I looked at her with amusement.

"That's good, I guess." I said after a few minutes just as Matt came up to us carrying two glasses of punch (that I could safely bet was probably spiked). One of which he handed to Rebekah who took it happily.

"Hey, Grace. Didn't think you were coming tonight." Matt observed, looking a little confused. I threw him a fake smile.

"Nobody told me that it was a private party." I pointed out, and Matt shrugged; conceding that I had a good point. I pulled my arm back from Rebekah. "I'll leave you two to it. See you later." I said to Matt and gave Rebekah a meaningful look, which she nodded at before she allowed her date to pull her back into the wave of high school students. I knew that Rebekah would keep Matt safe from what was about to go down. It would probably devastate her if he should be seriously injured, or worse, killed.

* * *

I resumed walking around, and it didn't take long for me to feel the small hairs on the back of my head stand on end. I tensed, realizing that I was being followed, and reached for my concealed dagger on my hip; waiting for the right moment. It came when a hand descended onto my shoulder, and I immediately broke away, turned and brandished the dagger at the individual's throat while backing them up in the process.

"Geez, jumpy much?" The individual commented in bewilderment, as his back hit a tree trunk. I froze, recognizing Damon's voice. "I mean, I get that I'm not exactly your favorite person at the moment, but was that reaction really necessary?" He continued to bitch at me. I took a step back from him and sheathed my dagger.

"Clearly you don't know Mikael very well, or you'd be just as paranoid and alert as I am." I retorted, turning and striding away from potential eavesdroppers. Damon followed. "I'd rather not risk being killed again, if it's all the same to you." I said, evenly. Damon's annoyed expression softened into a grimace.

"Believe me, I understand. Considering I've seen the man face-to-face and talked with him." He said, gravely. "He's not exactly as cuddly as a kitten." My eyes widened in fear; this was becoming all too real right now.

"He's here?" I muttered, feeling the blood draining from my face. He nodded, and I immediately turned away. "Shit…" I whimpered, wishing that Nik was around. Damon was immediately concerned, I could hear it in his voice.

"Everything's going to be okay, Grace. I won't let anything happen to you. I swear." Damon attempted to reassure me and pull me into a comforting hug, but I instantly pulled away. I noted the hurt expression on his face, but I was too anxious to pay it much attention.

"How can you promise that? How exactly is everything going to be okay when the one person whom I unfortunately associate as my stepfather-in-law, can fuck it all up in a literal blink of an eye?" I hissed. Damon looked at me shrewdly.

"Put the brakes on, Negative Nancy, and just chill for a moment. I'm going to explain how." He insisted, exasperatedly. I straightened up and gave him my undivided attention.

"Alright. I'm all ears." I said. Damon sighed heavily, as I eyed him suspiciously and folded my arms across my chest.

"It was after you and Alaric helped me figure out what was hidden in the caves." Damon began his explanation.

I nodded, "I remember. Mason practically forced you to follow him, and Henrik and I tagged along out of curiosity. Go on?" I said.

Damon nodded, "The next day, after you and Henrik left, Alaric and I lured Elena down into the cave – an admittedly bad move on my part. I'm sorry – and we confirmed – not that Alaric and I didn't believe you, of course – that you, Klaus and the rest of them had carved their names into the stone." He said.

"Okay?" I was confused; as I already knew all this before.

"Alaric took pictures of the runes, so that we could observe them closer, and we retreated back to the school." Damon continued.

* * *

 **A/N: Damon's explanation will be in the next chapter. This chapter was getting too long. Please excuse my absence, I was trying to find my way through this maze and making it my own, and was dealing with a few personal issues as well. Please enjoy and the next chapter shouldn't be too long in getting out. TTFN xx.**


	47. We're Not Gonna Take It Anymore!

**A/N: This is the continuation of Mikael's last stand, which will start off with Damon's explanation as to why he has been seemingly on Elena's side. My apologies** _ **if**_ **the beginning seems a little long and a bit boring, but it was the only way I could think to bring Damon back into the story without him being against Grace and Klaus.**

 **Please review, and no flaming.**

 **I don't own** _ **The Vampire Diaries.**_ **All characters (except for Grace) belong to author L.J. Smith.**

 **I also don't own the quote made by Madame De Pompadour in the** _ **Doctor Who**_ **episode:** _ **'The Girl in the Fireplace'**_ **(Season 2, Episode 4 [2006]).  
I will leave an asterix beside the quote when I write it in, to let you know. **

**Enjoy!  
Xx**

* * *

 **WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANYMORE!**

"Oh, you're so condescending.  
Your gall is never ending.  
We don't want nothin', not a thing from you!"  
 **~Twisted Sister: 'We're Not Gonna Take It' (Stay Hungry [1984])**

* * *

 _ **~:Flashback:~**_

 _Damon was reluctantly attempting to teach Elena some basic self-defense moves as part of her combat training, while Alaric stood behind his desk in the history classroom, poring over the photographs of those runes._

 _"These images tell a story … to learn the story, you have to decipher these images." He explained. Damon had disarmed Elena who was trying to stake him, and it was becoming obvious very quickly that her inexperience with gaining the upper hand over Damon, was getting her increasingly frustrated with him._

 _"Sloppy!" Damon stated, bored._

 _"Shut up! I'm new at this." She shouted, making a grab at the stake that Damon had taken from her half-heartedly. But he was more interested in what Alaric had to say so he willingly gave her back the stake._

 _"The 'Ghost of Christmas Past' Mason Lockwood set up the cave and led us to a weapon that can kill Klaus." Damon said. Elena frowned at them._

 _"But doesn't Mikael have a weapon?" She asked. Damon scowled._

 _"Considering the type of man he is; very likely." He replied, blocking Elena's attacks easily. Elena raised an eyebrow in astonishment._

 _"You know him?" She asked._

 _"Hell no! I caught a glimpse of him via Grace's memories when she was sleeping upstairs in my room." Damon shuddered. "Let's just say, I can understand why Klaus is scared of him, and why he has been running for as long as he has been with his family. Mikael's not winning awards for 'Father of the Year' any time soon." He revealed. "Which means the wall will lead us to Mikael, who has reportedly been found already … and lost." Damon dodges and disarms Elena._

 _"Damn…" She curses, as Damon overwhelms her._

 _"Bang! You're dead!" He leans in to pretend to 'kill' her by biting into Elena's jugular, but she pushes him away and walks over to join Alaric at his desk going over the photographs. Damon follows._

 _"These images at the very least might tell us what that weapon is." Alaric theorized._

 _"Then all we have to do is find out what they mean." Elena looked relieved and triumphant at the same time, presumably believing that Mikael was their saving grace. Damon snorted._

 _"Or, we can leave well enough alone and abandon that idea altogether." Damon protested. "Not all of us can be as irritatingly optimistic like you two." He added. However, he was immediately ignored by both Elena and Alaric – although you could tell that Alaric was having doubts about the chances of success also – who carried on as though Damon hadn't even spoken._

 _"Well, if the story is about the Original Family living here, then we go straight to the source!" Elena decided, with a reckless determination in her eyes that Damon didn't like._

* * *

 _ **~:Reality:~**_

"Ah, that explains why Elena was so insistent that Rebekah reveal her family history with her." I said. Damon shrugged.

"Apparently, this is – in Elena's warped little mind – her world; and we're just spectators in it, expected to just toe the line and go with what she believes to be the correct course of action." Damon said, rather flippant.

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Rebekah and I learned that the hard way, unfortunately." I confirmed. Damon blinked at me with confusion. "Suffice it to say, Damon, Rebekah eventually caved and revealed hers and my family history to the annoying little bitch." I translated.

"So, Elena's prediction payed off? Why am I not surprised by this?" He wondered out loud.

"You tell me. What happened before she came to annoy us during Rebekah's cheerleading practice?" I demanded, having to shout to be heard over the live band playing loudly in the background.

I so couldn't wait for this night to be over…

"'Search me. I was paying a visit to dear old Stefan whom Elena had been attempting to wean off the three month (and then some) blood binge he had gone through with your boyfriend." He recalled, and I shuddered at the memory of watching Stefan losing control the few times I wasn't quick enough to leave the room when the frenzy began.

"Yeah, don't remind me." I mumbled, trying to fight down the bile that was creeping up my throat. "But that also explains why Stefan never showed up to class when Henrik 'returned' from the dead. How did that visit pan out?" I asked him, only mildly interested.

Damon snorted.

"About as successful as trying to raise the _Titanic_ with tweezers. My baby brother has always been an incredibly stubborn asshole, even more so sloshing with warm human blood and not ever wanting to stop bingeing on it." He stated. "But why stop a good thing?" He asked, rhetorically.

"Why indeed?" I agreed.

* * *

 _ **~:Flashback:~**_

 _Damon stepped into Stefan's cell in the City Jail, and paused taking in the image of his brother shackled down and slumped over in a chair. He didn't have to wait for very long before Stefan raises his head and glares at him. The youngest Salvatore brother had already had to endure his ex-girlfriend and the ghost of his dead best friend torturing him non-stop, over curing him of his human blood consumption 'issues'._

 _He wasn't about to endure his older brother's mocking._

 _"You know, if you two are gonna keep me locked in here for the next decade, I think we can skip the routine visits." Stefan growled, as Damon rolled his eyes and walked over to him._

 _"You know I'm not a big champion in this whole Lexi-Recovery-Plan … but Elena thinks – naïve as she is – that this place is gonna weaken you up, break you down and make you feel again-"_

 _"And we should all listen to Elena, right? I mean her plans always work out so well, don't they?" Stefan's voice practically dripped with sarcasm. "Why are you here?" He demanded._

 _Damon grinned. "Well, for once we actually agree on something regarding your ex-honey. I do believe she is clutching at straws." Damon stated brightly, causing Stefan to frown at him with suspicion. "As for why I am here? Well, it's Family Day at Vampire Rehab! Yay! So, I'm paying a visit to my baby brother." Damon explained, smiling falsely at him._ _Stefan glowered._

 _"Go away."_

 _Damon ignored him. "Nahhh. I thought we could hang out, a little brother bonding. How've you been, Stef? Huh?" Damon asked._

 _"Like you give a shit." Stefan bit back. Damon offered Stefan a dangerous smirk that indicated to his brother that he was pushing his luck._

 _"Humour me." Damon requested, insistently._

 _Stefan sighed. "You know, Klaus may wanna keep Elena alive, but that doesn't mean that she's safe with Rebekah…"_

 _"Liar, liar. Pants on fire, brother." Damon interrupted. "Klaus compelled you to protect Elena, and if you thought for even a_ second _that she was in danger, you'd be working a lot harder." Damon pointed out. "Besides, Grace will be there also; and while I'm pretty sure the ship has well and truly sailed on Grace and Elena's friendship, I highly doubt that Grace would allow Rebekah to harm Elena."_

More's the pity… _Damon thought aside, as Stefan considered his brother's words._

 _"Took you long enough to work that out, huh?" Stefan drawled. "You got me. You got me!"_

 _"Yep." Damon said, popping the 'p'._

 _"You got me. You're good. Congratulations! You can go now." Stefan requested sullenly, staring Damon down. His brother actually looked surprised, if not disgusted with Stefan._

 _"You've actually given up."_

 _Stefan smirked, "Actually this is my 'happy' face…" He trails off when Damon makes an impulsive move and breaks through the chains shackling his feet and hands together, thus freeing Stefan from his imprisonment in the cell. "What are you doing?" He demanded, confused and wary. Damon turns on his heel and goes to leave the cell._

 _"You know what? Screw this Lexi-plan. I think we could both use a drink." Damon stated._

* * *

 _ **~:Reality:~**_

I eyed Damon, questioning his intelligence with what he just told me.

"You sure that was a wise move?" I asked, doubtful. Damon shrugged carelessly.

"As it turns out, no it wasn't. But what's done is done." He said, dismissively. I made a face at his remark.

"Yeah, you look real broken up about it. Those lives Stefan probably snuffed out obviously don't matter either." I stated, acerbically.

"You have your boyfriend to thank for that." Damon felt the need to remind me and I glowered at him for it.

"But you're the bright spark who set him free in the first place. Don't go pointing fingers, dude." I fired back, and Damon raised his hands in the 'surrender' gesture.

"I knew what I was doing." Damon insisted.

"Really? Can't wait to hear about this." I drawled. "But at least I've got an idea of what Elena was going on about when she received that phone call, while she was interrogating Rebekah and me about our lives a thousand years ago." I said. Damon's eyes darkened, and he even looked a little bit guilty too.

"Yeah, that was probably not my finest hour, I admit." He confessed, and I smiled and shook my head at him.

"You wouldn't have been you, if you hadn't done what you did." I said. Damon considered that and nodded.

"That bar we both went to, was the second time I paid witness to 'Fun-Stefan'." He said.

"Fun-Stefan?" I echoed, raising an eyebrow at the terminology.

"Well, 'Fun-and-deeply-sarcastic-Stefan' but details." Damon confirmed, waving a hand around dismissively.

"And what were you trying to prove with Stefan?" I asked.

"Strangely enough, Stefan had asked me the exact same question too." Damon told me.

"And? What answer did you give him at the time?" I prodded, a little impatiently.

"Nothing. There was no catch to my actions." Damon admitted.

"You took your brother to a bar so that he could sample not only the liquor and spirits, but also the vein of some luckless waitress, and there was no motive at all?" This seemed really strange to me. Damon shook his head.

"Of course there was a motive, but I had to say something in order to get Stefan to actually come out with me to the bar." He explained. "If I revealed that I wanted something from him, he wouldn't budge." He added.

"What were you trying to do?" I asked, questioning if I really wanted to know.

"Trying to get him to remember what his freedom was like before your boyfriend stole it from him to achieve his goals." Damon replied.

"Clearly it didn't work because Stefan is just as unpleasant as he was when Nik made him switch off his emotions." I sighed, sadly.

"Actually, I didn't get a chance to help him do something about it. Mikael chose that opportunity to butt into our private conversation." Damon retorted.

My eyes widened.

"What the hell did he want?" I asked, worriedly.

"Same thing he wants to do now; kill Klaus. And he was offering his services. It definitely seemed like Stefan was tempted to take him up on it." Damon replied. I bristled angrily.

"Goddamnit, Stefan." I growled. I eyed Damon with concern, hesitant to learn what happened next. So far, it truly did appear that Damon had no hand in bringing Mikael into town, or had any intention of siding with him tonight. But I had the feeling that Damon hadn't finished his explanation just yet. "What happened next? Considering that it's Mikael we're talking about here, it cannot be good." I prodded him for more information.

"He interrogated Stefan. But apparently Klaus had compelled him not to reveal anything that could betray him." Damon revealed.

I grinned, "That's my man; always one step ahead as usual." I praised Nik, proudly. Damon glowered.

"I had to learn that the hard way. I made the foolish decision to mouth off to Mikael and he retaliated by shoving his hand into my chest cavity and threatening both me and Stefan by squeezing my heart and threatening to yank it out." Damon said.

"What good was that going to do? Stefan wouldn't have cared if you lived or died, he had his emotions switched off." I pointed out, seeing the flaw in Mikael's plan.

Damon snorted, "Didn't stop him from making Stefan try and call his bluff. Luckily, Stefan managed to stop that psychopath before he could kill me." I clenched my fists, in anger.

"Just one more reason why Mikael is a dead man." I stated, darkly. Damon smiled warmly.

"Didn't know you cared that much for me, gorgeous." Damon sounded charmed, and I rolled my eyes and reached for his hand, giving it a quick squeeze.

"I've never stopped caring about you, Damon. You're one of my best friends, and it hurt me when I believed that you were plotting against Nik and me with the one person I truly despised." I reminded him.

"Like you, Grace. I choose life over death every time, and it would suck if Mikael drove a stake through my heart. So I played along as much as I could without drawing suspicion." Damon reassured me. "On the plus side, I finally managed to get through to Stefan the importance of his freedom from Klaus. Downside, he believes that can only happen if we wipe him out completely." Damon stated, regretfully.

"Over my dead body." I stated, coldly.

"For all our sakes, let's hope that doesn't happen. I don't think any of us would survive a heartbroken and distraught Original Hybrid ripping through town causing bloodshed in his grief." Damon said.

"There's just one thing I don't get." I said, frowning.

"What's that?" Damon asked.

"Why does Elena believe that you're on her side, when you made it clear since Nik came to town to rid himself of his curse that you were on his side?" I asked him, suspiciously. Damon looked pained.

"Probably because I went over to her house to let her know about Mikael, so she didn't get suspicious that I wasn't on board with everything." He explained.

"Since when have you given a shit about what Elena thought?" I asked.

"Since she became a martyr and a stubborn danger magnet. If she hadn't been kept in the loop, she would've found out another way and gotten herself into trouble in the process." Damon pointed out.

"So basically, Elena believes that you're helping Mikael with his plans to kill Nik?" I stated, annoyed.

"Basically, yeah." Damon confirmed.

"Wonderful. Can't wait to see her face when we finally get rid of Mikael and she learns you were our own personal cheerleader for our cause." I said, tiredly.

"Let's not get carried away." Damon smirked. I made a face at the mental image of Damon wearing a cheerleader's uniform and waving pompoms while doing high kicks. "I don't really care what she thinks. She's become just as bad as Katherine was, if not close to it." Damon stated. I pause for a moment, mulling over everything as the sounds of the dance continued blaring loudly from inside the mansion.

"So after you revealed all to Elena, am I correct in assuming that that was when you all got the bright idea to fake kill Mikael, and then get in contact with Nik to lure him back here?" I deduced. Damon looked surprised and a little suspicious that I seemed to know that.

"How did you know that we called Klaus to lure him back here?" He asked, cautiously.

Fuck! I almost spilled the beans about the fact that Henrik and I eavesdropped on the conversation Nik had with the four of them a couple of days ago. I tried to paste a neutral expression on my face while I wracked my brains trying to think of a good lie.

"Rebekah told me when she came home later on that day." I lied. "She's my sister, we tell each other everything. Always have." That part was true. A thousand years ago; there were no secrets between us up until the night and the subsequent days afterwards when she withheld the knowledge that she and her brothers had been transformed into vampires by their parents. As far as I know, that was the _only_ lie Rebekah ever told me. "By the way; did you know that Elena foolishly decided to dagger Rebekah this evening?" I asked him, feeling sly. I had expected him to look shocked or maybe even a little guilty. But I was surprised to see anger on his face. "It's probably a good thing that Henrik and I arrived and witnessed this literal backstabbing." I told him, watching his eyes narrowing with every word I said. "And I suppose Elena should be relieved and grateful that my brother held me back from beating the shit out of her. If she believes that Nik is a cold-hearted and ruthless arsehole, then she has not seen nothing yet and she better stay away from me." I warned.

Damon was silent for several minutes, which made me think that he had snuck off, leaving me speaking to thin air. But to my relief, he hadn't disappeared but looked like he was barely holding back his anger.

"Can't believe that little bitch ignored me…" Damon muttered to himself, and starting to pace agitatedly.

"You've lost me completely." I said, frowning with confusion. "Care to share?" I requested. He shrugged, almost dismissively.

* * *

 _ **~:Flashback:~**_

 _Elena barged into Damon's bedroom, where she found him in the middle of preparing weapons. He glanced up for a microsecond and grunted to acknowledge that she was there before finishing with the weapon in his hands and setting it aside. Elena watched him for a few minutes, looking like she wanted to say something and hesitating. Finally, Damon got frustrated with her and decided to speak up._

 _"Something you wish to share with the class?" Damon quipped, impatiently. Elena frowned at him, and moved forward to help him with the preparation._

 _"We can't trust Rebekah not to turn on us." Elena finally said. Damon raised an eyebrow at the randomness of the topic._

 _"Oh, really? Cause these Original Vampires are usually so reliable." He responded. Elena ignored him, obviously lost in thought._

 _"Bonnie was right. Rebekah may be mad at Klaus now but – he is her brother." She said._

 _Damon snorted, "Her lying, mama-killing, dagger-happy brother." He holds up the wolfsbane grenade he had been working on. "Wolfsbane is ready." He announced. "But yeah, I agree. Their family is everything to them. Can't see why we can't let them be." Damon added. Elena looked at him strangely, questioning why he was suddenly pro-Mikaelson all of a sudden._

 _"You've changed your tune." She observed._

 _Damon shrugged, "Let's just say, I've observed what they're really like from Grace's memories. I think they're just like any other family; just trying to survive in any way they can." He suggested. Elena looked disapproving._

 _"So you're just going to ignore the fact that they've most likely killed loads of innocent people to continue 'surviving'?" She retorted._

 _"And your precious Stefan and I haven't over the years? Nobody's perfect, Elena." He reminded her. "You're letting witchy's judgey attitude rub off on you." He said. Elena looked aghast._

 _"Klaus is never going to stop coming after me, Damon. My blood is the only thing he needs to make his hybrids. And I'm pretty sure that Rebekah can still turn on us and side with him, despite what she says." Elena insisted. Damon rolled his eyes, setting aside another completed vervain grenade. "There are too many things that can go wrong with this plan. Too many people that can make it go wrong." She added._

 _"Well, I am formulating a secret contingency plan." Damon told her. Elena instantly brightened; believing that Damon had caved and was agreeing with her._

 _"Really? What is it?" She asked, immediately. Damon smirked at her, but it didn't reach his eyes. He was getting thoroughly irritated with her and seriously questioned why he had developed feelings for this girl in the first place._

 _"Well, if I told you, then it wouldn't be a secret." He told her._

* * *

 _ **~:Reality:~**_

We both paused as a couple of drunken teens went passed, laughing and leaning on each other to stay upright. I wrinkled my nose at the smell of beer clinging to them like a perfume, and we glared at them for their ill-timed interruption.

"I gather you told her that the idea was stupid." I guessed, the second they were out of earshot.

"Yeah, that was the very first thing I said to her; then right afterwards she agreed and dropped the matter." He responded sarcastically. I narrowed my eyes at him, unamused.

"If you're going to behave like a jackass, I'm gonna head back into the mansion and get myself ready to kick Mikael's proud Viking arse into the Other Side." I said, and turned to head back towards the dance. However, Damon reached out and easily grabbed my arm to stop me from going anywhere.

"Sorry. But you and I both know that Elena doesn't think things through. Yeah, I did tell her it was a shitty idea; but since when has Elena listened to any of us? Even Elijah couldn't convince her when we last saw him." He said. "Speaking of, do you know what happened to him? We could really use his help during this showdown against Mikael." Damon enquired out of interest.

I froze. The last time I had actually seen Elijah, was directly after Nik had broken his curse and both he and Elijah had found me and decided to regroup and plan their next attack in Alaric's apartment. Only until Elijah received the business end of a silver dagger Nik had on his person. He is currently, tucked safely away in one of the four coffins Nik totes around with him wherever he goes.

"No idea." I lied, but Damon seemed to buy it for now.

"Well, I'm glad that Rebekah's okay." He said, sincerely.

"So am I. She's having the time of her life in there." Then the smile on my face slowly faded. "Hope it lasts the night."

Suddenly, Henrik comes running up to us. He had an anxious look on his face that we immediately reacted to.

"Grace, something's about to go down. I can feel it." Henrik insisted, then narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Damon. "What's going on?" He wanted to know. I placed a calming hand on Henrik's shoulder.

"Relax, little brother. He's on our side." I reassured him, but decided that if this was going to go down without any serious hitches, Damon still needed to act the part. "But I think you should still continue pretending that you're out to kill Nik." I said. Damon looked at me with concern.

"You sure?" He asked.

"Positive. I have the feeling something is about to go down that I don't think even Nik has planned for." I predicted, uneasily.

Damon nodded.

"Works for me. I'll see you in there." He promised, and moved to head back to the front of the house. But not before placing a chaste kiss on my cheek, which I blinked at him for in astonishment. "For luck; I think we're gonna need it." Damon said.

"That's not feeling me with a lot of confidence, Damon." I grumbled back, and Damon chuckled half-heartedly as he disappeared around a corner. I tugged free the vervain/wolfsbane coated baseball bat and handed it to a surprised Henrik. "Better to be armed than vulnerable, mate." I told him. Henrik nodded, and tucked the bat underneath his arm for safe keeping.

"Shall we?" Henrik asked, offering me his other arm like the gentleman his mother had raised him to be. I smiled warmly at him before taking it.

"We shall. Let's go teach your father a lesson he won't soon forget." I said. We both made our way towards the backdoor and weaved our way through the crowd. It was then that what Bonnie had said before: _"Who are these people?"_ suddenly made more sense as Henrik and I accidentally bumped into a dancing couple that looked way older than seventeen or eighteen-years old.

"Hey, watch it!?" The male turned away from his partner to swear or have a go at me. He looked like he was at least in his mid-to-late twenties, and his partner, in her mid-twenties. But the weird thing was, the very second he saw me, the anger and challenge in his eyes disappeared in a split second, and he couldn't be more apologetic. "Oh, sorry. Our mistake."

I blinked at him in confusion. "Uh, don't worry about it." I responded, glancing over my shoulder at Henrik who looked just as weirded out as I did by this guy's sudden personality change. "Do you know me?" I asked, politely.

The guy looked nervous, looking at something over my head and in the distance. He gulped.

"Only by reputation. Gotta go." He responded, seizing his partner's wrist and disappearing through the crowd of high school students. The couple could not get away from Henrik and me fast enough.

"What the hell was that all about? We only just bumped into them." Henrik wanted to know. I glanced around the crowd of students before spotting Nik looking in our direction, smiling pleasantly. It appeared that he was having a one-sided conversation with a calm looking Elena. I groaned.

"I think it might have something to do with your brother. He hasn't taken his eyes off us the second we collided with those two." I told Henrik, nodding in Nik's direction. "Overprotective sod." I muttered, and noticed Nik frown at what I said. Suddenly, the music changed into a slow number and I noticed Henrik shuffling his feet, looking awkward. "Okay, what now?" I asked him.

"I was just wondering…" He trailed off, looking embarrassed.

"What's the matter?" I asked, confused. Henrik looked like he was debating with himself, and I was getting slightly concerned at how flustered he was becoming. "You're kinda scaring me here, bud. Come on, spill." I insisted, impatiently.

"Would you like to dance with me?" He asked, going red. I blinked at him in astonishment, then glanced up when I heard soft laughter coming from Nik's direction. I raised an eyebrow at him, and he responded with a 'go ahead' gesture which indicated to me that he had heard exactly what Henrik had just asked.

"I don't think now's the best time, Henrik." I told him. "What brought this on now of all times?" I asked, kindly. Henrik looked like he wanted to die – again - on the spot rather than admit what he wanted to say at this point.

"Well, I never got the chance to have a dance with you at Aemilia's wedding. I was hoping that you would like to." He said, bashfully.

"Aemilia?" That name sounded oddly familiar to me, and I was about to enquire exactly who this woman was, when Henrik beat me to it.

"Yeah, she was a friend of both you and Rebekah. Her wedding was the same night that Niklaus proposed to you. Remember?" He prodded. Remember? That memory was probably one of my more favourite memories to remember since returning to Mystic Falls and reuniting with family I was supposed to be officially marrying into. It just surprised me that it took forever for me to remember the name of the woman whose wedding I had attended that memorable night.

I glanced at Henrik's hopeful face, and sighed; realizing that one dance with my little brother couldn't hurt just this once.

"Why not?" I agreed and immediately wrapped my arms around Henrik's shoulders as he awkwardly, but eagerly grabbed my hips. We swayed on the spot for several minutes, and I couldn't help but glance over at Nik for his reaction. To my surprise, he was smiling at me tenderly and mouthing 'thank you'. I shrugged and smiled back at him before returning my focus upon the youngest Mikaelson. "You're not a bad dancer, sweetie." I complimented him, causing Henrik to blush a little.

"Thanks." He replied. "Be thankful I haven't stepped on your toes yet. I used to do that all the time with the girls I learned to dance with." I giggled at the thought, earning a slightly affronted glare from my brother. Then Henrik got back at me for the giggle by surprising me with a spontaneous twirl on the spot, and finishing with a cheeky little expert dip that momentarily sent all the blood rushing to my head.

I scowled at him.

"Now you're just showing off." I protested, a little bit flustered at the unexpected dance move. Henrik straightened me up and grinned playfully at me.

"Sorry." He said, not sounding sorry at all. Thank god we both knew what we were doing, courtesy of compulsory dance lessons begun the second we were capable walkers a thousand years ago. Otherwise, I'd have been flat on my arse.

"Woah…" A nearby teenager muttered, as both he and his girlfriend looked at us with wide eyes. I rolled my eyes and scowled at the pair, causing them to scarper. The song finished, and everybody started clapping and cheering at the band giving Henrik and me ample opportunity to escape to a more secluded area to regroup and focus upon why we were really here.

"Thank you, Grace." Henrik told me sincerely, and wrapped me up in a tight hug. I squeezed him back.

"You're welcome, sweetheart." I replied. Then spied Nik in the middle of a game of beer pong … and it looked like he was winning. "Look, there's Nik." I had wondered where he'd disappeared off to, after he observed us dancing. The both of us started to walk over to him, when one of his hybrids suddenly approaches. I put out a hand to stop Henrik from coming closer. "Wait, hold on." I said. Thankfully, we had come close enough to hear the conversation; but not enough to be noticed.

"You have a visitor." The hybrid announced, almost robotically. Nik kept his eyes upon the drunken teen he was facing off against, barely even acknowledging her.

"Well, tell my visitor I'm on the brink of victory here." He ordered, watching his opponent bouncing the ping pong ball once and missing one of Nik's cups. The teens surrounding Nik all cheered loudly, while the ones surrounding his opponent groaned with frustration. Nik managed to grab the ping pong ball before it could roll away, and prepared to take his shot. The hybrid was persistent.

"He said his name is Mikael." She announced. Henrik, Nik and I all froze the second Mikael's name falls from her lips; although Nik is the first one to recover quickly, and somehow managed to look seemingly unaffected and more disappointed. He sighed and accurately throws the ping pong ball into one of his opponent's cups.

"Then we mustn't keep him waiting." Nik declared and turned to walk away from the table. His spot is quickly taken by one of the other drunken teens. Nik's face appeared to be completely calm, but his blue-green eyes told a different story: they were hard and determined. "Move everyone out back. I'm gonna have a little chat with my dad." Nik stated, 'pleasantly'. The female hybrid nodded once and darted away, and Nik turned to a second hybrid. "Tony, you know what to do." He stated. Then Nik made his way in the direction of the front door.

"Quick. Let's follow." I suggested to Henrik, who nodded and darted forward. I was about to follow when I heard movement coming from behind me, and saw something or someone darting into another room. Frowning, I went to investigate. "Is someone there? I don't think you're supposed to be in here." I called out, thinking that it was one of the students. There was no response, and nobody that I could see. Shrugging, I turned to leave and follow Henrik; only to come face to face with a tall, hulking man – obviously one of Nik's hybrids - who staring at me in a sort of trance. I let out an instinctive scream, and went to sidestep him; sensing danger, when someone grabs me from behind. "Hey!? Get off me!" I yelled angrily, trying to buck the person off. A solid fist suddenly clocks me in the face, and I grunted in pain going limp in the other hybrid's arms.

* * *

"Quick, grab her and let's go." I heard a familiar female's voice urging my jumpers hastily before the hybrid restraining me half-carries, half-drags me to another part of the mansion. That hybrid really must have rung my bell, because I felt dazed and confused; however, I could hear everything was going on and the next thing I knew, we had paused outside near some bushes that I recognized as part of the Lockwood's front yard.

 _Oh, shit…_ I was in deep trouble. That was when I heard the deep, harsh European male's voice that had haunted my nightmares for as long as I could remember.

"Hello, Niklaus." Mikael greeted Nik, sardonically. I shook with fear.

"Hello, Mikael." Nik replied, and I was surprised that his familiar casual voice wasn't bringing me comfort; only fear. "Why don't you come in?" He requested, before laughing darkly. "Oh, that's right. I forgot you can't." I struggled again uselessly, but the grips on my arms tightened and I received another punch to the face. It was a warning that I wasn't going anywhere any time soon. I could feel something warm trickling down the right corner of my mouth. The metallic flavor told me that it was blood.

"Or you can come outside if you want." Mikael retorted, pleasantly.

"Or I could watch my hybrids tear you limb from limb." Nik didn't sound like he was playing around now. I hear a low animalistic growl, then the sound of high heels running frantically up to where Nik was.

"Calm yourself, Nik. Don't let Mikael get to you, it's what he wants." It was Rebekah.

"Hello, daughter. Nice to see you again." Mikael greeted Rebekah cordially.

"I cannot say that the feeling is mutual, father. I eagerly anticipate your demise." Rebekah's voice dripped hate.

"Pleased that you chose the right side, Bekah." Nik greeted her, before returning his attention towards Mikael. "As I was saying, I would much prefer to watch my hybrids rip you apart." Nik sounded positively triumphant, and I wanted to yell in despair as several hybrids sprinted passed us and gathered behind Mikael, who sounded bored.

"They can't kill me." Mikael stated.

"True. But it'll make a hell of a party game. All I have to do is rub these two fingers together and they'll pounce." Nik explained, and I could picture him standing there with his hand in the air ready to click. I closed my eyes, trying to steady my nerves and attempted to calm myself down by breathing in and out slowly.

"The big bad wolf." Mikael drawled. "You haven't changed. Still hiding behind your playthings like a coward. You only forget, they maybe sired by you; but they're still part vampire." My eyes widened in horror, when I realised what had happened and why I was being held captive. "They can be compelled by me." Mikael pointed out Nik's mistake. I start to struggle again when my two hybrid captors move me forcibly closer to where this conversation was taking place.

I instantly saw Mikael; dressed in the exact same suit he had been wearing in my nightmarish memory, and just beyond him standing in the threshold of the Lockwood's double front doors was Nik, who was glaring angrily at his stepfather, and Rebekah who was standing a little behind Nik, trembling slightly, but also wearing a look of utter distain on her lovely face. They were surrounded by wide-eyed and bewildered high school students. The same female hybrid from before, who had told Nik of Mikael's arrival walks up behind Mikael and pushes a frightened looking Elena towards him. He grabs Elena by the nape of the neck and turns her forcibly in Nik's direction.

"Come out and face me, Niklaus. Or she dies." Mikael threatens Nik, who eyes Elena briefly, before shrugging.

"Go ahead. Kill her." He said, carelessly. Elena's eyes widened in horror.

"No, Klaus. He'll do it." She insists, obviously believing that Nik would do anything to prevent his hybrid-making blood bank from being killed. Mikael seemed to be thinking along the same lines.

"If she dies, this lot will be last of your abominations." Mikael didn't hesitate to remind him about his troupe of hybrids that he had spent the entire summer and then some 'recruiting'. Nik doesn't blink.

"I don't need them. I just need to be rid of you." He insists. Mikael sneers at him, roughly pulling Elena along with him as he advances towards Nik a little, trying to intimidate. And by the looks of both Nik and Rebekah; it seemed to be working. He pauses after walking about five paces forward.

"To what end, Niklaus?" Mikael sincerely wanted to know. "So you can live forever, with no one at your side? Nobody cares about you any more, boy!" My head shot up when I heard this, and I saw red. Slowly and cautiously, I reached for my dagger; trying not to make any sudden movements that could give me away. It seemed that Mikael had forgotten about me … and I was about to rectify this mistake. "What do you have other than those whose loyalty you forced? No one. No one!" Mikael continued to taunt Nik, and I saw my opportunity.

Without warning, I mule kicked the hybrid restraining me in the groin; feeling a sense of satisfaction when he instantly released me and cupped himself, going down for the count. Another hybrid advanced towards me, but I viciously slashed at his throat with my dagger causing him to grab at his gushing throat and look at me with betrayal as he fell to the grass. But I was beyond caring at this point, as I sheathed my dagger and pulled free my broadsword letting out a war cry as I charged at Mikael, cutting down hybrids as I went; aiming to dismember his arm from his shoulder.

What I hadn't anticipated was Mikael turning on the spot and easily grabbing my blade with his bare hand, uncaring that the steel was cutting into his palm and spilling blood from an ugly gaping wound. Stunned, I could only stare at him in horror before he ripped the broadsword from my hands and brutally slugged me across the face, releasing Elena who took that opportunity to run for safety. I sprawled clumsily to the ground, hearing gasps and screams. The loudest screams coming from Nik and Rebekah.

"GRACE, NO!" screamed Rebekah, terrified.

"MIKAEL, STOP!" I heard Nik roar. But Mikael ignored him, focusing entirely on me with a look of amazement and slight irritation.

"Hello, my dear. Forgive me, I had almost forgotten you were here waiting in the wings." He tossed aside my sword, and advanced towards me as I sat up and looked at him defiantly. "What has it been? A thousand years since we last saw each other, Graínne?" Mikael mused, thoughtfully.

"Not long enough." I looked to the side and spat out a mouthful of blood. "And it's Grace." I corrected him, wiping my mouth with my sleeve. Mikael raised an eyebrow.

"So I hear. I believe I heard Rebekah shout that out earlier." He glanced up at his seething and horrified children.

"What I am struggling to understand, Mikael, is this: how the bloody hell did you know I was here? Last I had heard, you were trapped and hidden away in some cemetery in Charlotte." I demanded. "That is until some fucking idiot got it in their head to wake you up. You couldn't have possibly known, or have managed to project that horrific nightmarish memory to me in my sleep if you didn't." I added. I didn't bother to look up to see the horrified expression on Rebekah's face, that would've suggested to me that she remembered when I told both her and Henrik about that nightmare several days ago about Mikael. He shrugged carelessly.

"That's hardly relevant right at this moment. Back to business." He advanced towards me, and in a moment of panic I kicked out at him. Unfortunately, Mikael easily grabs my leg and casually snaps it like kindling. I scream out in absolute agony, just barely holding on consciousness. I knew that this was probably killing Nik, to see this. Then Mikael forcibly pulls me to my feet, and holds me against his chest and faced Nik and Rebekah; both of which were tearing up, and I could see Nik was starting to morph into hybrid mode, he was so furious. I could clearly see his golden wolf eyes from here.

"Mikael…" Nik was visibly shaking so violently in anger, that I was worried for his sanity. Mikael was no longer pretending to be pleasant; and it was clear that both men were out for each other's blood.

"Come outside and face me, you little coward." Mikael ordered.

"My whole life you've underestimated me!" Nik roared, tears streaming down his face. "If you kill her again, I swear to you I will hunt you down and show you the true meaning of pain. And you will beg for death when I am through with you!" He vowed. Mikael laughed at him.

"Your impulse, Niklaus. It has and will forever be the one thing that keeps you from truly being great." Mikael mocks him, and I feel the cold steel of my dagger – which I hadn't realised he had unsheathed – resting against my neck, ready to call Nik's bluff. I was terrified, and I couldn't help it; I actually started laughing. Truly; hearty belly chuckles that made both men stop what they were doing and look right at me in astonishment. "And what pray tell, could possibly be so funny, girl?" Mikael spat at me, with distain.

"You, fool." I stated, causing Mikael to freeze and listen to what I had to say. "Do you honestly think that you have won? ***** You think I fear you? But I do not fear you, even now. You are merely the nightmare of my childhood. The monster from under my bed. And if my nightmare can return to plague me, then rest assured, so will yours." I promised, whispering the last part of my speech. Mikael snarled at me, and moved to drag the dagger across my throat. But at this point, the adrenaline pumping through my system was all but spent, and black spots started blossoming before my vision and I started passing out. However, the last thing I heard before oblivion was the most unlikely voice imagined: Henrik's.

"Enough, father."

* * *

 _ **~:Damon P.O.V:~**_

It honestly took every fiber of my being to stay hidden where I was, and not burst in and snatch Grace from that dickhead's arms. But rest assured, the second this whole bullshit experience is over and done with; I'll be the first to throw that Henrik kid the biggest party he's probably ever seen. It was like he had come out of nowhere, and not a moment too soon either.

Mikael was seconds away from taking away the best thing that had ever existed in my 172-years on this planet, with one simple slash of her dagger across her throat. But before any of us – including Klaus, I might add – could even react; up strides Henrik, a baseball bat of all things, clenched tightly in his hands right behind Mikael; cocked back and ready to let fly. I was resisting the urge to yell out 'batter up!' and give away the surprise this fucker was surely about to receive.

"Enough, father." Henrik demanded, calmly and with enough coldness as he could muster filtering through that annoyingly cultured voice those Mikaelson's seem to have. Mikael seemed to turn into a statue; struck dumb by the sound of his late son's voice. "You will cease this pointless endeavor right now." Henrik insisted.

"Henrik." Mikael gasped, and quickly turned to face his 'dearly departed' child. Only to have his clock cleaned when the kid viciously swings the bat, colliding it with his face and knocking him right on his ass. The force of the blow Henrik had dealt his father, forced papa-Original to release his grip upon Grace out of shock and her limp body tumbled to the ground, unconscious and thankfully blissfully unaware of the shit storm occurring around her. I seized the opportunity to vamp-speed in – wolfsbane grenades in hand – and turned to grin at Klaus's kid brother.

"Nice swing, kid!" I complimented, before popping the pins on the grenades and hurling them at the hybrids. This was apparently the signal everybody needed to either get the hell outta dodge, or prepare for a possible showdown. I stooped down and scooped up Grace's seriously injured body, cradling it gently as to not cause her anymore unnecessary pain. "Let's go!" I told Henrik, who nodded grabbing Grace's dagger and sword, and followed me back to the safety of the mansion. We were greeted by a hysterical looking Rebekah, who immediately started fussing over Grace's slightly broken and bleeding body.

"Grace, you complete and utter moron!" She hissed at her, mad that she was unable to give Grace what for, for idiotically putting herself in harm's way. One glance at Klaus, told me everything I needed to know: that he too was also undoubtedly angry at his girlfriend for almost getting herself killed, but also and probably even more so absolutely relieved that she was not dead. Wordlessly, I immediately bit into my wrist and forced upon Grace's mouth; massaging her throat to get her to swallow my blood. "Thank you." I glanced up to see Rebekah smiling warmly and gratefully at me, and smoothing back Grace's hair with her hands. I glanced at her a little warily, before nodding at her in acknowledgement and refocusing my attention back on my fallen best friend.

"That's it, baby. Keep drinking." I urged Grace, soothingly. She eventually started taking pulls by herself, but she had not taken more than probably a couple of gulps of my blood before Stefan unexpectedly and randomly tackles me, pulling me away from her.

"Stefan!" Rebekah snarled angrily, but instead of attacking him for interrupting me in my attempts to heal Grace; she rips into her own wrist and continues healing her. Beyond pissed, I turned and seized Stefan by the lapels.

"What are you doing!?" I demanded. But Stefan was more interested in what was lying on the floor, and I turned and noticed that the white oak stake that Mikael had dropped when Henrik performed a home run on his father's face, had fallen from my jacket pocket and skittered across the foyer. Immediately, I tackled Stefan to stop him from diving towards the stake. A very familiar hand reached down to pick it up: Grace's. Apparently, Rebekah's Original blood was more potent than mine, so Grace was able to recover faster. But I did notice that she was still limping rather tenderly on the leg that had recently been broken.

"Grace, love?" Klaus suddenly spoke out, looking at her with concern and curiosity. She looked at him, coolly. Blood was smeared around her lips, before she cast her steely glare outside at Mikael.

"Let's end this." She declared.

* * *

 _ **~:Grace P.O.V:~**_

I woke up with the taste of something sweet and metallic exploding on my taste buds, and I sat up; coughing.

"Grace! Slowly now." I glanced at Rebekah, who was looking at me with wide, frantic eyes as she assisted me sitting up. I glanced down at my previously broken leg, now obviously healed from vampire blood.

"I'll live." I reassured her. It was tingling with pins and needles; but otherwise fully functional as I got to my feet shakily with some support from Rebekah. I glanced over to see Damon and Stefan wrestling violently on the ground, and frowned questioning why until I saw it: a stake whittled from an extremely pale wood that I recognized as white oak from my memories of a thousand years ago. My jaw set, and I strode determinedly towards the stake and picked it up; which caused Damon and Stefan to stop wrestling and look up at me in surprise.

"Grace, love?" I glanced over and saw Nik looking over at me with a look a combination of concern and relief. Then I glanced over at Mikael who looked apoplectic with rage as the hybrids he had compelled out of Nik's control, burned off in the distance. My hand tightened around the white oak stake.

"Let's do this." I stated, and Nik nodded before wrapping an arm around my waist and carrying me over to where Mikael was standing, restraining his stepfather to his knees before he had the time to react. Without hesitation, I used all my strength to drive the stake through Mikael's heart. There was a pregnant pause, before I leaned down to whisper into Mikael's ear. "Maybe you should've taken your own advice to heart, Mikael: _"Never trust a Mikaelson"."_ I threw back the four poison words he had whispered to me a thousand years ago on my own deathbed, as Mikael looked at me with betrayal before crying out in pain as he spontaneously combusts into flames and dies; taking the white oak stake with him.

There was several seconds of silence as I slowly got to my feet, still a little unsteady because my leg was still healing. I stared unblinkingly at the charred corpse of what used to be Mikael Mikaelson, before jumping when somebody touched my shoulder. I turned sharply, dislodging the hand and looked at an extremely concerned and visibly hurt Nik, looking at me with wide eyes. Another hand cautiously took mine, and still jumpy I pulled away glancing at Henrik who didn't look hurt by my reaction, but merely smiled at me with understanding.

"You're gonna be okay, Grace." Henrik promised me.

I frowned at him, "How?" I whispered. But before either brother could answer me, Damon interrupted; sounding furious.

"What the hell did you do?" He demanded, presumably talking to Stefan who probably looked unrepentant. Out the corner of my eye, I saw Nik reluctantly tearing his gaze away from me and striding over to where the Salvatore's were. I bit my bottom lip, wishing to be anywhere but here.

"He's earned his freedom." Nik confirmed, before addressing Stefan. "Thank you my friend. You no longer have to do as I say. You're free." He un-compels Stefan, as I immediately started walking as fast as my bad leg could allow me down the expansive driveway.

* * *

 _ **~:Rebekah P.O.V:~**_

Well, tonight was a complete disaster. Trust my father and brother to go and ruin everything; it had been fast becoming one of my favourite nights ever, and Matt was being the perfect gentleman. But Grace had to go and cock it all up by almost get herself killed again! I truly love that girl dearly, but honestly; she has no sense of self-preservation at times.

But things seemed to go from bad to worse in a microsecond. Firstly, Nik un-compelled Stefan; which is fine, a deal is a deal, no matter what bargain they shook hands on. Except that soon afterwards, Stefan ran off which was a bit suspicious. But it wasn't until Damon suddenly spoke up that the dread suddenly set in.

"Hey, where did Grace go?" He asked, out of the blue. I pulled myself out of my thoughts and glanced around, looking for a sign of my wayward sister … and panicked when it seemed she had disappeared without a trace. "Oh, wait! There she goes!" I glanced over at Damon and followed where he was pointing to see that Grace was almost out of the driveway, thankfully with Henrik not too far behind her. It seemed very obvious even from here that Grace was not in good shape at the moment, and I didn't blame her one bit. Damon went to run after her, but I reached out and stopped him. "What are you doing? Somebody's gotta go after her!" Damon protested, angrily staring at us with accusatory eyes.

"Somebody already is." I told him, calmly, indicating towards Henrik who was following her a little ways behind; giving her the space she needed but not overcrowding her. Damon made another attempt to go after her, and this time I lost my patience with him. "Just leave her, alright?" I snapped at him.

"Don't tell me what to do." Damon retorted back at me, and I was about to turn and teach him some manners when Nik, unexpectedly, beat me to it; seizing the insolent fool by the neck and giving him the full force of his glare that only a handful of people have ever seen personally: myself, Mikael and Kol.

"Listen here, mate. My sister has already requested that you to leave Grace alone, and now I'm _ordering_ you to." My brother growled. "Right now, the very last thing that Grace needs is a crowd suffocating her with concerns and offers of help. So if you'd be so kind, bugger off before I compel you to!" He said, assertively. I nodded, in silent approval as Nik finally released Damon and started to walk away.

Damon glared at his back, "And how would you know that?" He demanded, snidely. "I'm finding it hard to believe that you of all people wouldn't be attempting to do exactly what I have been trying to do for the past five minutes. So, what's the gag?" He demanded. Nik, remarkably, didn't turn and attempt to pull out Damon's trachea tube for back chatting him, like he would have previously. Instead, he sighed heavily and turned to regard him.

"I've been where she is, and I know how she is feeling right now." Nik stated quietly, but not completely simmered down just yet. "When Grace was killed the last time, I kept to myself; lashing out at anybody who tried to talk to me or help me come to grips with what happened. Over time, the only person I would eventually let in was Rebekah." He admitted, reluctantly.

Damon was quiet; obviously mulling this over in his head. My eyes widened, and I felt like berating myself for forgetting this. "Come, Rebekah. Let's get you home." Nik walked passed me, heading down the driveway after Grace. I nodded and started to follow when it occurred to me that I had arrived here with Matt, who had probably left with the rest of the guests when the fighting started.

"That might be a problem, Nik." I said.

"Problem?" Nik raised an eyebrow at me.

"Yes, I came to the dance with Matt Donovan in his car. He must've fled with the rest of the students when the fighting broke out." I explained, feeling completely over this entire evening.

"Did he now? That's a bit disrespectful isn't it? Stranding a lady without a way to get home. I think I might have a word with him about that." Nik looked a bit annoyed, and I rolled my eyes.

"Oh, be fair, Nik. I don't entirely blame him, to be honest. I'd much rather him flee for his life, than be caught up in the fight and be killed needlessly." I defended Matt's actions. Damon stepped forward.

"I can give you both a lift." He offered.

"Much appreciated, mate." Nik immediately said, clapping him on the shoulder and continuing walking down the driveway. Damon followed him, begrudgingly; despite the fact that he had graciously offered us transportation back to Grace's apartment. My phone suddenly buzzed, and I pulled it out and noticed that Henrik had sent me a text.

 _'Better come home fast, Grace isn't doing too good.' – H._

I glanced down at the words with dread.

"Oh, Christ." I swore, grabbing both Damon and Nik's attention almost immediately. "We'd better hurry. Henrik says she's not coping very well." We all sprinted for Damon's car, and the second we were in his car he peeled off down the highway.

* * *

 _ **~:Grace P.O.V:~  
**_ _ **(A/N: OPTIONAL: Listen to Bush's 'Letting the Cables Sleep [1999]' while reading the following)**_

I reckon I spent what felt like ten minutes sitting behind the wheel of my car, just staring off into space. Henrik and I had just arrived back at the Apartment block, but I was having a hard time budging from the car; because my mind was still going over and over what exactly had transpired this evening.

"Grace?" I turned and glanced at Henrik who was frowning with concern, and holding onto my broadsword and dagger. Two things that I had almost forgotten about when Mikael had thrown aside or attempted to use them on me.

"Mmm?" I responded, absently.

"You okay?" He asked, almost gentle. I nodded, reaching for the door handle and opening it.

"Absolutely. Fit as a fiddle." I said, trying to smile and failing drastically. My words sounded false even to my own ears.

"Right." Henrik answered, also reaching for the door handle and letting himself out of the car. "So explain to me why I don't believe you?" He requested. I chose not to reply and locked my car, heading straight for the door to the Apartment block and letting myself in. I felt like I was on autopilot, because it seemed like my body knew what to do when I was still questioning what to do.

I should've been happy.

I should've been relieved that the man that had murdered me in my past life, was now gone from our lives and banished into the Other Side to hopefully endure eternal torment and suffering for all the crap that he had put not only his children through, but also me.

But all I felt was numb; like I had been thrown headfirst into a pool of freezing water and unable to surface. Henrik and I made our way to the second floor and I pulled out my keys to let myself in, and the very second afterwards; I kicked off my shoes, pulled off my jacket and dumped my purse on the island bench and made a deliberate beeline for my bedroom.

"Just let me know if you need anything, Grace. Okay?" I heard Henrik call out from the living room, still holding my weapons in his hands. I didn't respond. I just wanted a hot shower, dress in my white cotton pajama pants with simple navy blue vertical stripes and a black T-shirt, with a pair of woolen socks; and to have some peace and quiet for a while in my bedroom … by myself.

And within ten minutes I had done just that; and found myself sitting on my bed on top of my duvet, just staring into space.

I heard the knock at the front door – but I didn't budge to answer it.

"Where is she?" I heard Nik demand Henrik, as I heard the sounds of Rebekah's high heel shoes walking hurried and briskly towards her own bedroom. But I must've unconsciously moved my lips to grant Nik access to my apartment, because the next thing I saw was my boyfriend's agonized face staring into my own.

And that was apparently all I needed for the dam to break.

"Nik…" I whimpered, and almost instantly curled into myself and started sobbing into my knees. Nik toed off his boots and shrugged out of his jacket, and my senses were immediately invaded with his musky, but pleasant scent when he got onto the bed and pulled me into his arms. "Don't leave me…" I whispered, turning my face into his shirt and grabbing a fistful of his smoky grey silk button down.

"I won't, darling. I'm not going anywhere." He promised, rocking me like a child and gently wiping away my tears with his thumb. Somebody took my hand, and I glanced up see a worried Henrik sitting in front of me, trying to offer comfort; and two seconds later, Rebekah came in. Warmth at my back told me that my sister was now not only trying to comfort me, but now also hugging Nik as well who I realised was now crying into my hair; but also stubbornly trying to hide it.

"You don't have to worry about anything anymore, Grace. You are a part of our family now, and we will always protect our family. Always and forever." Rebekah whispered as she shushed both Nik and I.

That was the last thing that I remembered before I drifted off to sleep, safe in Nik's arms.

* * *

 **A/N: And another one bites the dust. Hope that you've enjoyed this chapter. Please review, and the next chapter should be out soon.  
TTFN xx. **


	48. From The Fat To The Fire

**A/N: Welcome back! I hope that you enjoy this new chapter.**

 **I don't own** _ **The Vampire Diaries.**_ **All characters (except for Grace) belong to author L.J. Smith.**

 **Please review and no flaming please. Thanks :)**

* * *

 **FROM THE FAT TO THE FIRE**

" _When things are bad, we take comfort in the thought that they could always be worse.  
And when they are, we find hope in the thought that things are so bad they have to get better." __**~Unknown.**_

* * *

The sounds of birds loudly squawking from outside my bedroom window woke me up from what was probably the best night's sleep I had had in months. I frowned in confusion; questioning why that was, when I realized that my pillow was breathing.

 _What?_ I raised my head slightly, and glanced down at what I was lying on; which turned out to be Nik, still dressed up in what he had been wearing from the night before. That was when the memories of last night came rushing back, and I glanced back down at Nik; who was cradling me close in his sleep. It would be interesting to note that Nik looked younger when he was calm and relaxed, and I smiled, grateful that he had remained here with me in our time of need, and the substantial love that I already had for him, increased tenfold.

However, I also noted that I seriously needed the loo; and unfortunately, Nik was holding me in a possessive grip. Which meant that any sudden movement on my part could potentially wake him up, and if I remembered correctly; Nik was not a morning person and god help you if you woke him up before he was ready to greet the day. Slowly, and cautiously, I started to sit up and remove Nik's arm from around my waist gently. I immediately froze when he frowned and moaned in his sleep. Then, much to my dismay and frustration, tightened his hold around me and pulled me closer.

I decided to risk his wrath.

"Nik, honey? I kinda need to get up. Could you let go, please?" I muttered, still sleepy. No response. "Nik, please let go of me." I urged. But this time when he didn't wake up and let me get up, I simply growled underneath my breath: "Oh, fuck it!" and just moved. Next thing I knew I was lying flat on my back with a snarling Nik glaring down at me with his fangs bared. I froze instantly, looking calmly at my boyfriend who slowly registered my face and immediately mellowed.

"Grace? Oh, God! I'm sorry, love." He rolled back over and yawned. "What time is it?" He mumbled. I sat up and glanced over at my alarm clock.

"It's about 8:30 in the morning." I reply, quickly hopping up off the bed and darting quickly for the bathroom. Nik groaned in annoyance.

"It's still early, darling. Why did you wake me up?" He bitched.

"You were stopping me from getting up." I immediately retorted, coming back out of the bathroom after finishing my business and heading for the door. "Go back to sleep if you want, I'm not stopping you." I reminded him, pulling back my freshly brushed hair back into a messy ponytail. As I reached for the doorknob, a hand held the door shut and I jumped and froze; still a little edgy after what happened last night at the Lockwood's, and Nik's supernatural speed didn't help matters.

"I will in a moment. First, tell me how you are, Grace." Nik asked, gently. I trembled at the feeling of his overly warm body pressing up against my back and the way his lips caressed the back of my head – sending a wave of tingles shooting down my spine – when he asked me how I was. I just focused upon Nik's hand, unwilling to turn and face him just yet.

"Fine. I'm fine." I lied, in a quiet voice.

"You're lying, sweetheart. I heard your heart skip a beat." Nik pointed out, and I frowned at my traitorous heart. "Please tell me." He urged, sounding a little hurt. I swallowed hard, trying to moisten my suddenly dry mouth and throat.

"I don't know how I'm feeling, Nik. That's the thing, I'm not sure how I'm supposed to be feeling at this point." I admitted. Nik sighed heavily, before he gently turns me around and takes both my hands leading us back over to my bed. Whereupon he takes a seat, leaning against the headboard and pulls me onto his lap. I straddled him so that I was facing him, unable to actually hide the emotions of my face: which was probably the point. "What are you doing?" I asked him, a little wary.

"Just being here." Nik smoothed back a loose tendril of my hair behind my ear, and smiled at me. His blue-green eyes were full of longing, love and understanding. "I'm not going to pressure you to tell me how you're really feeling. I'm just going to let you come to your own conclusion in your own time, and hope that you trust me enough to confide in me eventually." He reassured me. "I just hope that my presence here with you, brings you comfort." He said, sounding hopeful. He encouraged me to lie down and cuddle up to him and rest my head on his shoulder, as he carded his hand through my hair. I was about to protest, before I let out a large yawn. So I made myself comfortable against him, giving in to the fatigue.

For some reason this position, laying against Nik felt oddly familiar. That was when I suddenly had a flashback: I glimpsed memories of times, back when Nik and I were children, then rebellious teenagers and even in most of our early adult lives; when we both would routinely sleep in this position together after a long day or after a hard working day. Whether it be in the green sprawling meadow or leaning against a log around a warm campfire … and I couldn't believe that I had forgotten this favorite past-time with my beloved boyfriend.

I smiled, feeling a bit better than I had before I remembered this positive memory. Maybe after another few hours' sleep, I might have a better answer to give Nik.

* * *

Both Nik and I shot up in bed, bleary-eyed and alarmed about an hour later (I happened to glance over at my alarm clock), because somebody was thudding loudly on my bedroom door.

"Get up, you two! I'm starting to get bored!" It was Rebekah. Both Nik and I groaned in annoyance before flopping back down on the bed and spooning together. I attempted to drown out her whining by pulling my pillow over my head. Nik chuckled in amusement, and cuddled in closer.

"Then go find something to amuse yourself, sister." Nik suggested with mock irritation.

"I have, and she's currently lying in there with you." Rebekah retorted. "Seriously, Nik. You can't monopolize Grace to yourself." I rolled my eyes at their slightly childish bickering, but at the same time smiled at their antics; it was bringing me some comfort and reminding me of home a thousand years ago. I let out a surprised 'eep' when my boyfriend suddenly wrapped a very warm and strong arm around my waist. I could feel my whole face burning up in embarrassment.

"I can and I will. I've been waiting a thousand years for her, and I have a lot of catching up to do." Nik teased, before dropping gentle kisses on my shoulder and attempting to fall asleep again, while Rebekah moaned in frustration.

"Oh, my God! Do not start up with the sibling rivalry. This is one thing that I have **not** missed in a thousand years." I grumbled, fighting my way out of Nik's grasp. He playfully put up a fight, before eventually letting go and sitting up also. I got out of the bed and stomped my way over to the bedroom door, wrenching it open to glare half-heartedly at my sister. "Okay, I'm up. Now where's the fire?" I asked her, earning a perplexed look in return.

"What fire?" Rebekah asked, confused.

"Exactly." I replied, letting out a large yawn as I padded through the living room towards the kitchen and clicking on the kettle. I noticed Henrik, fully dressed in a pair of baggy grey jeans, a Rock n' Roll T-shirt and boots, lounging on the couch in the middle of watching cartoons on the flat screen. He had a dirty great big grin on his face, which told me that he was thoroughly enjoying his brother and sister's antics like it was a sideshow attraction.

"'Morning, Grace." Henrik greeted me, with a sunny smile. I waved back in greeting, unable to respond properly due to a rather large obnoxious yawn expelling from my mouth at the same moment. I reached up for the cabinet above the kettle and tugged down two mugs, putting a teabag in each.

"I'll actually have a coffee, love." Nik interjected casually as he wondered into the kitchen and wraps his arms around my waist, dropping another kiss on my cheek. I nodded absently, and replaced one of the teabags back in the holder. I noted that he had slightly damp hair from a – ridiculously quick – shower and was now dressed in blue jeans, a black Henley and boots. A pair of rosary beads dangled lazily around his neck, and I automatically reached up to grab the silver wolf tooth he had given to me as a gift around my own neck; a gesture that earned an affectionate chuckle from Nik as he started rubbing my arm with his thumb. Rebekah and Henrik came over to perch around the island bench; both focusing on me as I spooned two generous teaspoons of coffee granules into Nik's mug.

"So how are you feeling this morning, Grace?" Rebekah asked, worried. I winced a little, before putting on what I assumed would be a brave face before replying honestly.

"I wouldn't count on any miracles, but I'm okay at the moment. I swear." I responded with a tight smile. Both Rebekah and Henrik managed a weak smile in response, but said nothing else. "So what's on the agenda this morning?" I asked, trying to change the topic away from my wellbeing as the kettle finally clicked off and I walked over to retrieve it and the milk.

"Well, I'm going to get the ball rolling with reuniting our family." Nik was the first to answer. Rebekah's eyes lit up like Christmas lights when she heard this.

"Really? Honest to God, Nik?" She asked, hopeful.

Nik smiled, "Of course. Daddy is dead; it's time for a family reunion." The smile dropped when he noticed Henrik's face suddenly pale. "What's wrong with you?" He asked, curiously.

"Oh, uh, nothing I swear. It's just, I'm worried about how Elijah, Finn and Kol are going to react when they see me again." Henrik admitted, uneasily. I handed Nik his coffee and took a generous sip from my tea, allowing the caffeine work its magic.

"You and me both, pal." I piped up, smiling at him to make him feel better. Henrik looked unconvinced. "But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it." I reassured him. Then something occurred to me that I nearly forgot to tell Nik. "By the way, there's something that Henrik, Bekah and I nearly forgot to tell you." I said, walking back over to my DVD collection and rummaged around the shelves until I located where I had stashed the silver dagger after we saved Rebekah from being 'daggered' by Elena to get her out of the way, before everything that went down with Mikael. Nik frowned the second he saw the silver dagger.

"Where did you get that?" He demanded, looking suspicious.

"You should be directing that question to Elena Gilbert. Henrik and I witnessed her 'daggering' Rebekah last night when she was preparing for the Homecoming Dance." I replied, dully. Nik took the dagger from me, and I noticed Rebekah looking at it nervously; especially because it was in Nik's hands, as he was notorious for being dagger happy whenever he was particularly angry. Or so Elijah had told me previously, before Nik came to break his curse, months ago.

"Why the hell would she do that? I thought she believed that Rebekah was on her side against me, with Mikael." Nik looked a combination of confused and angry that his sister had been 'killed'.

"She said that she didn't trust that Bex would've suddenly turn on them at the last minute and sided with you." Henrik filled in the gaps.

"Good thing that Henrik and I were there to save her." I added, quietly and smiled when Rebekah squeezed my hand in gratitude. Nik was quiet, and that usually was never a good thing; as that meant that he was plotting something.

"So. What are you doing today, Grace?" Rebekah asked, returning the subject to what we were discussing before, presumably to distract her brother from his scheming; and apparently it was my turn to give an answer. I shrugged, walking towards my room still sipping away at my drink.

"I'm gonna go for a run. Helps me keep my mind off things." I said. "Anyone want to come?" I asked, not expecting any takers.

"Sure. Sounds like fun." Nik agreed, and all three of us looked at him in surprise. "Along the way I can check up on something." He added. I smiled and nodded.

"Sounds great. I'll be right back." I said, and disappeared into my room to get changed into my working out gear. I was still questioning what he was playing at; because Nik had never shown any interest in going for runs, recreational or otherwise. I eventually reckoned it was probably Nik being overprotective again and didn't want to waste an opportunity to spend some time with me.

I immerged dressed in a pair of tight black leggings, black sports bra, an old oversized purple tank top, brown hoodie and a pair of black and white sneakers, and I had fixed up my fly-away ponytail. I picked up my phone, keys, wallet and iPod and shoved them into the deep pockets of my hoodie before striding up to Nik who had been waiting patiently. Rebekah had disappeared; presumably back into her room and Henrik was reading one of my books.

"All good, love?" Nik asked, warmly.

"Yep. Shall we?" I replied, returning the smile a little. "See you later, Henrik!" I called back to him, and the fifteen-year old ghost absently raised a hand in the air in acknowledgement.

* * *

The run I had with Nik quickly turned from being weird and unheard of, to fun and enjoyable as we shared stories about what we had been up to in our thousand years apart. Although, most of _Nik's_ stories were kind of gruesome, so we didn't dwell on those for very long. Part of me just hoped that Nik's unexpected decision to go for a run with me, wasn't so that he could scope out what Elena's typical everyday routine was and figure out a little bit of revenge, or lay down a warning against crossing him and threatening his family members.

Then, much to both my surprise and Nik's, Elena turned the corner of the opposite side of the street we were running down at that moment; iPod in her ears, and oblivious to the world around her. Surprisingly, Nik let her be. I had half-expected him to have ordered her head on a silver platter for being that brazen, the second he had learned that story from his younger siblings and me.

Eventually, I seriously needed to stop. My lungs were burning and so were my muscles. I did run occasionally, but I had been a bit slack and it was going to take a few more running sessions to find my stride again.

"Are you alright?" Nik asked, concerned; probably because of how red I had gotten. I nodded, taking in deep breaths to get my breathing under control.

"Fine. I enjoy the adrenaline rush. It's just been a while since I've ran." I responded, stretching out my muscles and enjoying the warmth shooting up and down my muscles and bloodstream. "I'll be good in a few minutes." I promised. Nik smiled.

"Take your time." He said.

"What was it that you wanted to check up on, Nik?" I asked, curiously.

"You remember the truck we traveled back to Mystic Falls in a month ago?" Nik asked, and I nodded.

"You mean the one that had those four coffins that you were transporting back here to Mystic Falls from Chicago, and where you snapped Stefan's neck twice when it turned out that he was fishing for information?" I reminisced, casually.

"That's the one." Nik confirmed.

"What about them?" I asked, a little disinterested. Nik wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled along down the street.

"Just going to check to see if they're in good condition after their long journey." He explained.

I shrugged, "Fair enough. Are we going there now?"

He nodded, "Hope you don't mind?"

"Why should I mind? This is your business, not mine. I know better than to question your good judgement, sweetie." I responded, raising an eyebrow at him and earning a kiss to the temple. Nik lead me towards where he had stashed the truck, and just as he was about to open the roller doors; his phone rang unexpectedly. Nik immediately answers it after briefly looking at the caller ID.

"Stefan! Miss me already?" He chirped, immediately catching my attention. I raised an eyebrow at him, and he accessed loud speaker; surprising me with that much trust.

" _I'm just calling to thank you for my freedom."_ Stefan replied back. I frowned; something didn't seem right here. I noticed Nik tensing up also, smelling a rat like I was.

"Oh, I like to believe I'm a man of my word, more or less." Nik said, breezily.

" _Yeah, well. The thing is, it came at too high of a price."_ Alarm bells started pealing in my head. _"You took everything from me, Klaus."_ Stefan stated, causing Nik to frown in annoyance.

"Let bygones be bygones. Trust me, resentment gets old." Nik suggested, as he passed his phone to me and approached the roller doors on the truck to unlock the bolt holding it shut.

" _You know what never gets old? Revenge."_ Stefan sounded almost triumphant, as Nik finally gets the door to slide up … and reveals that the back of truck was completely bare of all four caskets.

My mouth fell open in shock, "Oh shit…"

"No." Nik muttered, in horror. Then I noticed the color rising on Nik's face as the realization set in exactly what happened.

" _What's the matter, Klaus? Missing something?"_ Stefan taunted him.

"What the hell are you doing?!" I demanded, dreading the answer.

" _Is that you, Grace? Hmm, should've expected that. Well, if you must know; I'm just enjoying my freedom."_ Stefan sounded positively giddy, and Nik abruptly turned and snatched his phone back from me.

"I will kill you and everyone you've ever met!" He vowed, furiously.

Stefan snorted at the threat, _"You do that, and you will never see your family again."_ All the blood drained from my face at the thought that I wouldn't see Elijah again, or reunite with both Kol and Finn; both of whom I hadn't received any memories of just yet. Nik snarled, but apparently Stefan wasn't finished. _"I wonder, Klaus, as someone who has been one step ahead for a thousand years … are you prepared for this?"_ The phone went dead, and I suddenly felt sick.

Behind me, Nik let out an enraged scream; which caused me to maintain some distance from him. I wasn't stupid enough to approach him to attempt to calm him down. Mostly because I was just as ropeable as he was. But also, I wasn't suicidal. Thinking fast, I grabbed my phone from my pocket and accessed speed-dial; stabbing immediately on Damon's name.

" _Missing me already, Grace?"_ Damon's cocky voice answered after a couple of rings. I rolled my eyes, not in the mood for 'flirty Damon' at present.

"I kinda need you to be serious right now, Damon. I've got an enraged Hybrid boyfriend right now, and I really need your help." I urged him, impatiently.

" _Enraged? What's happened? Are you in danger, Grace?"_ Damon sounded alert.

" **I'm** fine. The only person you should be concerned about is your oh-so charming baby brother." I answered, tersely. "Tell me, Damon. Do you know the current whereabouts of Stefan by any chance?" I asked, getting straight to the point. This got Nik's attention if the sudden warmth at my back had any indication. I glanced back at him in alarm, but he nodded at me in reassurance that he had his temper under control for the time being. I relaxed a little.

" _Not since yesterday when your boyfriend gave him back his freedom, then he disappeared. Why?"_ Damon asked, sounding wary and long-suffering.

"Well, Stefan managed paint a giant bullseye on his back this morning when he pinched Nik's family from the back of his truck." I explained.

" _He did what!?"_ Damon exploded, causing me to hold the phone away from my ear.

"Geez, lower the decibels!" I grumbled back at him.

" _Why can't we catch a break? It's just one crisis after another around here."_ Damon bitched, ignoring what I had said. I rolled my eyes, as Nik growled and started pacing again. He was truly acting like an agitated wolf at this moment.

"Yeah, if it doesn't rain it bloody pours around here." I agreed before sighing. "So I take it by your reaction that you haven't the faintest idea where Stefan is?" I prodded.

" _No, I haven't got a clue. But if I do find him, and I'm gonna kill him. He just landed me in the shit with Klaus again."_ Damon yelled.

"No, actually. You're off the hook. Nik's not gonna come after you for information." I confirmed.

" _Huh? How do you know that?"_ Damon asked, surprised. I glanced back at Nik who was now currently on his own phone, yelling down the line at some poor sod called Tony – probably one of his hybrids – for some assistance.

"Because a) you helped out last night with taking down Mikael; which in Nik's eyes means that you're not a threat and therefore can be trusted. And b) your reaction just now, indicated that Stefan orchestrated this on his lonesome; and therefore you were completely ignorant of any threats towards him and the rest of the Mikaelson's." I clarified.

" _Oh. Well, that's good news, I guess."_ Damon sounded taken aback.

"Listen, where are you going to be today?" I asked, as Nik hung up his phone and looked at me for an explanation. I waved him off.

" _I'm supposed to meet Alaric at the Grill to 'regroup'. Why?"_ He asked.

"Nik's gonna be retaliating big time, and thus we will need a plan to figure out how to get the coffins back to avoid Nik's wrath." I said.

" _Okay. Well, I'll keep an eye out for the both of you then. Thanks for the heads up."_ Damon stated. I scoffed, feeling like I owed him another piece of information to help him avoid another headache.

"Yeah, well don't thank me yet. Unfortunately, I have something else to tell you, just so you're forewarned." I stated, tiredly. "This morning; Rebekah, Henrik and I revealed to Nik that Elena 'daggered' Rebekah last night to stop her from attending the dance yesterday." I confessed.

" _What?! Why? Why would you do that, Grace?"_ Damon moaned.

"Because now as a result, Elena also has a bullseye painted on her back; and is likely to run to you for help when she realizes the danger she will most likely be in. This will give you the chance to figure out how to deal with it." I explained.

" _Again … thanks for the heads up, Grace. Like I didn't have enough to deal with."_ Damon grumbled. I protested when Nik took my phone from my hand and started talking into it.

"Nik?! What are you doing?" I yelled. He ignored me, turning away so that he could address Damon properly, knowing that I wouldn't be able to hear what my best friend was likely to say back to him.

"Why don't you just say 'thank you, Grace for being so generous with the information' and actually be grateful, mate?" Nik suggested, bluntly. He paused, listening to what Damon said and frowned in annoyance. "I'd watch yourself, Salvatore. You've already used up your 'get out of jail free' card already when Grace gave you this heads up. Don't push your luck." Nik snapped, before hanging up and handing me back my phone.

"Thanks for your help, Nik." I said, sarcastically.

"You know that I'd do anything for you, sweetheart." Nik replied sincerely, obviously aware of the sarcasm in my voice and not caring. "Now, enough chit chat. We've got our work cut out for us." He said, shutting the roller door on the truck and locking it.

"Hell hath no fury on an Original Hybrid scorned." I quipped underneath my breath, as I followed him back to my apartment.

* * *

It didn't take long to get back to the Apartment, especially by how fast Nik was walking … and by 'walking' I actually mean _cantering._ So by the time we actually got back, Nik was no less angry and I had gotten an unwanted second workout just trying to keep up with him.

I was definitely going to feel it a few hours from now.

I felt the anger radiating off my boyfriend in waves as I let us back into the apartment; and Nik strides past me, making a beeline for my bedroom the second the door was open, not even casting a glance towards his bewildered and concerned brother and sister as he went.

"What's wrong with him?" Rebekah asked, eying my bedroom door that Nik had just slammed shut. "Did you two have a row?" She narrowed her eyes at me, disapprovingly. I just gave her a flat look in response.

"Hardly. Nik and I made an unpleasant discovery that affects all of us." I replied, sighing heavily. "You have Stefan to thank for that."

Henrik frowned at me, "Why? What did he do?" He asked.

"He stole Elijah, Kol and Finn from the moving truck last night the very second he had been liberated from Nik's control." I elaborated, not bothering to tell them about the mysterious fourth coffin; which I had absolutely no clue who could be residing in it.

"He did what?" Rebekah shouted, angrily.

"You heard me, Bex. Apparently, this is his revenge against Nik for taking everything from him during this past summer." I stated.

"I think I might actually kill him." Rebekah muttered, sounding mystified. My bedroom door opened, revealing Nik who had changed clothes again due to his own workout. He walked unusually calm towards the kitchen and helped himself to some scotch. I ignored him, but both Rebekah and Henrik watched him warily, like he was a cobra seconds away from striking out.

"Yeah well, join the club. I think Nik gets first dibs." I stated, dryly. "Excuse me, I need to take a shower. I'll be back shortly." I said, walking towards my room. Minutes later, I stepped out; dressed in black skinny jeans with a studded leather belt, a purple paisley blouse that was tight around the bust - showing off the 'girls' – and a pair of simple everyday socks.

I saw Henrik lounging lazily on the couch watching cartoons, with Rebekah sitting beside him flipping through a magazine and looking thoroughly bored out of her skull. But I was alarmed when Nik appeared to be missing.

"These paintings are wonderful, darling." I turned to see Nik examining the painting of him and his brothers and sister from a thousand years ago, with an artistic eye. "But why are Kol and Finn's faces blank?" He repeated the same question others before him had. I smiled and approached him, wrapping my arms around his waist.

"Because I haven't regained my memories of them yet." I said, grabbing Rebekah's attention as well. "Since I returned to this wretched town and reunited with Elijah, I knew that there was a very strong chance that I could potentially reunite with everyone else. So I made a pencil sketch of all of you, and then copied it onto canvas; filling in your faces when I finally reunited with each one of you and got back my memories." I explained, feeling like a broken record but not minding in the slightest. I beamed at the smile that spread across Nik's face, as he raised one of my hands to his lips.

"And which one is your favourite piece?" Nik asked, gesturing to my artwork decorating the brick walls of my apartment, curiously.

"I've got two actually." I admitted, breaking away from him and wondering over to the painting I had copied from my sketchbook of the memory of myself, Nik and Rebekah sitting around in the meadow from long ago; laughing and looking to all intents and purposes innocent and carefree. Nik followed. "Remember that?" I asked him, and Nik studied it with curiosity as Rebekah set aside her magazine and got up to stand beside her brother to look at the painting also. Then a brilliant smile spread across her face.

"I remember that day. It was just before we were changed into vampires." Rebekah marveled, before looking at me with a quizzical expression on her face. "Why did you decide to paint this?" She asked.

"To remind myself of the simpler times we all shared before all of this happened." I replied, feeling melancholy. "Whenever I'm feeling particularly lonely or upset, I see this painting, remembering when we used to genuinely laugh, joke, complain and actually be human. And then I'd remember that I wasn't truly alone, and that I'd always have two of my favourite people in my thoughts." I confessed. Both Nik and Rebekah looked surprised and touched.

"What's the second painting, love?" Nik reminded me. I reached up and carefully pulled down the painting of six-year old Elijah, two-year old Nik and baby me, and handed it to my boyfriend and Rebekah who peered down at it.

"This painting I created not long after Elijah came back into my life, after Rosemarie and Trevor kidnapped Elena, Henrik – before he became corporeal – and me to bring us to you." I said. "Painting it, helped me remember bits and pieces of my earlier life, back when it was partly Elijah's responsibility as the elder sibling to look out for us, and how close we were." I said to Nik, who didn't say a word, but looked like he had sort of withdrawn into himself. Seeing this, I decided to change the topic.

I knew that Nik loved the fact that I was an artist like he was. But I remembered too late that showing him a painting of a time when he and Elijah had had a close relationship, one that lasted up until his big brother helped Mikael tie him to a cross as part of the Hybrid ritual, would hurt him. Rebekah gave me a hard, disappointed look and shook her head at me for my lack of tact. It was obvious to the both of us by Nik's body language that he wished that he and Elijah could have that sort of relationship again. But until then, they were divided.

And I felt like a bitch for reminding him.

I replaced the portrait back onto the wall before turning to look at Nik with guilt on my face. "I'm sorry, Nik. Forgive me." I pleaded, avoiding direct eye contact with him. I felt him raise my head with his index finger hooked underneath my chin, and I was forced to look him in his beautiful, but deeply troubled blue-green eyes.

"There's nothing to forgive." He reassured me, smiling a little, and earning a surprised look from Rebekah which he ignored. I sighed with relief, then grew nervous when he smirked mischievously.

"What?" I asked. Nik started walking towards the shelf where I kept all my DVDs, books and games; still not saying a word. "Niklaus Mikaelson, you tell me what you are up to, right now!" I demanded, suspiciously. Then let out a surprised 'eh?' when he pulled out _Twister_ from amongst my collection of games. Rebekah blinked at it in confusion while Henrik cheered and vaulted over the couch to join us.

"Fancy a game? You did promise, you know." He reminded me of the day I sent him a multimedia text message of when Stefan was playing a literally bloody game of _Twister_ with a group of sorority girls from the nearby Duke University. I grinned at him.

"You're on." I said, grabbing the box from him and taking out the multicolored spot mat and unfurling it onto the ground, before placing the cardboard spinning arrow beside it. Nik and Henrik toed off their boots, as Rebekah watched us all; still completely confused.

"What is the purpose of this game?" She asked. I walked over to my sister and pulled her over to where the mat was.

"The board with the arrow gives us our directions." I explained. "There are four colors, obviously. So whatever the arrow points towards, you have to touch with either your hand or foot." I said. "For example…" I flicked the arrow and it spun rapidly before landing on 'right hand blue'. "All of us have to place our right hands on one of the blue spots." I explained. Rebekah nodded, understanding so far.

"You want to play?" Henrik asked his sister, excitedly. She nodded before hesitantly taking off her heels and setting them off to one side. It only took a few spins of the arrow before Rebekah caught on, and pretty soon she was having just as much fun as Nik, Henrik and I were. Until one spin that Henrik made, which landed on 'left foot green': We all made our move; and I ended up in a position that closely resembled how one would 'crab walk'.

We were all laughing at the awkward positions we were all in … until I noticed just exactly how close Nik and I were in proximity to each other. The laughter between us died out slowly as we stared into each other's eyes, and I looked back at the seductive, tender gaze Nik was giving me. He was leaning over me, both of us in a rather intimate position, and I could feel the warmth of his body against mine. I felt a red hot bolt of desire in the pit of my stomach that caused me to immediately turn bright red, and I lost my balance falling onto my back. Which disturbed Nik, Henrik and Rebekah, causing them to fall like a tower of cards. I disentangled myself from them and quickly got to my feet.

"Uh, good game." I stammered. Henrik sat up, and looked at me curiously.

"You okay?" He asked, still laughing a little. I smoothed back my hair behind my ear.

"Yeah, absolutely." I lied, trying and failing not to look at Nik who at first, looked just as confused as Henrik did. But it didn't take long for the pennies to clatter when he finally understood my current state of fluster. Then he smirked seductively, winking for effect. I rolled my eyes at the flirtatious gesture, and the fact that he was stirring the pot, and headed for the kitchen to get a drink of water. Just then, Nik's phone started trilling loudly; annoying him before he realised who the caller was.

"Hello Tony. Did you succeed?" He asked, all business-like. He got up and wondered into another room.

"I saw that." I jumped when Rebekah snuck up behind me, with a shit-eating grin on her face. I decided to play dumb.

"Saw what?" I asked, innocently.

"How you reacted during the game." Rebekah explained, and I scowled defensively and turned away, continuing to sip at my water. "Hey." Rebekah turned me around to face her, and I saw the pleased, but slightly confused look on her face. "What is wrong?" She demanded, a no nonsense look on her face. I paused, trying to figure out the best way to explain myself without feeling like a fool or possibly acting like one in the eyes of my far more experienced sister.

"Well, um, I'm still a…" I trailed off, feeling embarrassed. But it seemed like Rebekah understood what I was trying to tell her, and she immediately hugged me.

"Oh, sweetheart. You do realise that Nik won't care that you are a virgin still, right?" She pointed out, sounding sympathetic, and I looked at her with astonishment.

"He doesn't?" I mumbled, with wide eyes. Rebekah laughed, hugging me again.

"Oh, God no, darling. If anything, knowing this will only inflate his ego and please him to no end that he will be your first and only." She said. "He loves you, Grace. The very last thing that Nik would want to do is hurt you or reject you, if he's spent his entire lifetime searching and hoping. But, you will know when the time is right, and when that time comes; you will know how much he cherishes you." Rebekah promised me.

"Thank you, Bekah. You don't know how much that means to me." I told her, hugging her tightly.

* * *

It turned out that 'Tony' had been given the assignment to keep an eye on Elena, and report back to Nik on what she did. Next thing I knew, all four of us were headed for the Mystic Grill. My best guess would be so that Nik could intimidate Elena, out of revenge against her for 'daggering' Rebekah, and to get back at Stefan at the same time. Rebekah and I went ahead first to grab a table for us all, and so I could catch up with Damon after our conversation with each other this morning.

The very first thing I noticed the second we stepped into the restaurant were Elena and Bonnie sitting at a booth, talking, and not too far away from them was Damon, perched at the bar with Alaric who was doing some marking. I relished in how pale Elena's face became the second she saw Rebekah, who glared at her. I could tell she was just itching to rush over at her and rip the doppelgänger's head off her shoulders for stabbing her in the back.

Thankfully, Rebekah curbed the impulse.

"Rebekah?" Both she and I looked up at Matt Donovan who had tentatively approached the booth we had nabbed, looking guilty and remorseful. "I'm sorry, I ran off last night. I didn't mean to ditch you like I did." He apologized, probably expecting Rebekah to be angry with him.

Rebekah instead smiled, "I know you didn't. I have no hard feelings towards you." Matt visibly relaxed.

"I'm glad. Maybe we can do it again sometime?" He asked, looking hopeful.

"It's a date." Rebekah agreed, smiling warmly at him. Matt nodded, before excusing himself to get back to his job.

"Aww!" I teased, giggling. Rebekah gave me a half-hearted scowl.

"Shut up, Grace." She scolded me. "Don't you have something to do?" I glanced over at Damon, who was looking at us with a raised eyebrow. I smiled and waved at him, before sliding out of the booth.

"I'll be back in a minute." I promised, as Rebekah haughtily waved her hand at me in dismissal and started scanning through the menu. I rolled my eyes and sauntered over to where Damon and Alaric were talking with each other. Damon had different alcohol bottles in front of him, while it appeared that Alaric was only half-listening to what he had to say. I caught the tail-end of their conversation as I approached:

"Oh, I give you a choice. Bloody Mary or Screwdriver. Brunch in a bottle." I rolled my eyes. "Come on Ric, I can't drink all this by myself. I mean I can but then somebody's getting naked." Damon waggled his eyebrows at me suggestively, as I flushed red and scowled at him. "Oh man, I can't believe you're making me drink alone." Damon bemoaned. Alaric rolled his eyes as he continued grading essays.

"I'm busy. " Alaric responded, absently. "Hey, Grace."

I smiled, "Hey!"

Damon draped an arm around my shoulders.

"It's the eve of Klaus-ageddon." Damon pointed out, and I was about to scowl at him before I realised he was keeping up appearances in front of Elena and Bonnie, who were probably expecting feedback from him about Nik. "You're doing homework?" He indicated towards the essay Alaric was just about finished putting a failing grade on. Alaric let out an annoyed sigh.

"This may come as a shock, but I am not here to hang out with you. I'm here to see Jeremy." He glanced up at the wall clock above the bar. "Who is an hour late for his shift." He revealed. Damon didn't look surprised.

"Kids today … where are their values?" He remarked, clicking his tongue sarcastically. Alaric slides one of the essays he had been marking across the counter towards Damon and me, and I picked it up to read who the essay belonged to: Jeremy Gilbert.

My eyebrow rose in surprise at the big fat 'F' Alaric had written in red.

"That's his mid-term paper. Copied straight off the internet. Didn't even try to hide it." Alaric sounded extremely disappointed, and I didn't blame him. I know that I only met the kid once, but Jeremy didn't seem like the type who would plagiarize his midterm on purpose. What the hell was going on here?

"Ooh, somebody's getting grounded." Damon sounded amused, but one glance at his face; suggested to me that even he was concerned about Jeremy's wellbeing. Just then the same female bartender that had been serving Damon and Alaric before I arrived walked up.

"Did you say that you were waiting for Jeremy? As in Jeremy Gilbert?" She asked, curiously. The three of us exchanged glances between us.

"Yeah?" Alaric responded, frowning a little. The bartender looked uncomfortable.

"He was fired last week." She reported to him, before moving away to attend to another customer. Alaric sighed with frustration, as Damon glanced at him awkwardly.

"Oops?" He stated. But I was confused about something.

"Wait, shouldn't Jenna be dealing with this? Why did _you_ need to know?" I asked Alaric, who looked pained and a bit upset.

"Oh, yeah. You didn't know." Damon looked sheepish, and I scowled at him. Alaric laid a hand on Damon's arm, eyeing him off warningly.

"After Klaus freed himself from his curse, Jenna didn't want anything to do with us. Mostly, because we didn't bother to tell her about the supernatural, and the fact that Elena was going to be sacrificed, and that _she_ had almost been sacrificed. So she skipped town, haven't seen her since." Alaric explained, sounding dejected. I bit my bottom lip. "Since then, I sort of took it upon myself to take care of Elena and Jeremy. I've been sleeping at their place." He added.

"Oh. Well, I'm sorry to hear that. My sympathies to you." I responded.

Alaric shrugged, "It's all in the past. Can't do anything about it." He told me, and turned in the direction of where Elena was sitting with Bonnie, and noticed that both girls were looking right at us. Bonnie was glaring at me and Damon, and Elena was ignoring me in favor of focusing upon Alaric and Damon, while shooting Damon suspicious looks as well. I glanced over at Rebekah, who was looking at me with a mixture of concern and impatience.

"I better get back to Rebekah. Talk to you later, Ric." I said. Alaric nodded absently before packing away his schoolbooks, and making his way towards the door after explaining the situation to Elena; whose suspicious face instantly turned angry. She immediately got onto her phone; presumably to yell at Jeremy. Like yelling at the kid was going to make a difference. I turned to Damon, who had his back to Elena and co, and smiled sadly at him. "Come over when you can?" I asked. Damon grunted in agreement, before taking another swig from his drink and then getting up from his stool and sauntered over to the dartboard.

* * *

Rebekah looked unimpressed and highly bored as I slid back into the booth across from her.

"Doppelbitch looks pretty upset. What did the history teacher have to say to her?" Rebekah observed, curiously. I eyed her with surprise.

"You're asking me? I thought you had advanced hearing and could hear across rooms?" I said, and Rebekah grinned.

"I can, but I'd prefer to hear it from you. It's more fun that way." She confessed. I snorted in amusement.

"Apparently her brother, Jeremy, was fired from here last week. Elena is obviously not happy about this." I relayed, indicating to a now pacing Elena who was hovering around the dartboard, presumably to bitch to Damon about her problems.

Poor bastard.

" _That's_ the big drama?" Rebekah sounded unimpressed and rather annoyed, as I shrugged.

"With Elena, anything not going her way is a big drama." I told her, as we observed Elena losing her shit over the phone. A few minutes later, Henrik came in and started scanning the place for us. I raised a hand to signal to him and he grinned and hurried across the room to our booth; passing by Elena as he went and throwing her weird glances.

"What's wrong with her?" He asked, sliding into the booth beside Rebekah and turning to watch Elena getting increasingly frustrated, before eventually hanging up her phone and turning her attention towards Damon.

"Nothing special. She's just pissed that Jeremy got fired from his job here and has apparently been goofing off a lot." I explained to him, dully.

Henrik looked blank.

"That seems a tad melodramatic." He observed. Both Rebekah and I snorted.

"You don't know the half of it." I said. "Where's Nik? Is he still coming?" I asked, curiously. Henrik nodded.

"He'll be here soon. Last I saw of him, he was talking with one of his hybrids." He replied, disinterestedly.

I nodded, "That 'Tony' guy?"

"I guess." Henrik shrugged, then turned towards Rebekah who was studying Damon and Elena intently with a serious expression on her face. "Can you tell us what they're saying?" He asked, curiously.

"It's not really important. Mostly she's just whining." Rebekah looked unimpressed. "I swear, Tatia is quickly becoming my preferred doppelgänger out of the three of them." She observed.

"Really? I can't tell the difference." I disagreed. Then really gave it some more thought. "Okay, I take it back. Katerina had more self-preservation than Elena does, but Tatia did not exactly flaunt herself scandalously to get her own way like both Katerina and Elena." I thought back, wrinkling my nose at the memory.

"Because her mother would've had her guts for garters if she did. I doubt that she or Tatia would've wanted a repeat performance of what happened the last time she was that trashy. Her reputation was already tarnished, if you can recall?" Rebekah pointed out, flatly.

"Vividly. Little bitch had the nerve to flirt with Nik, even when it became obvious that we were courting. Thank god it's not the case now." I said, sourly.

"That's all in the past now, Grace. Let's focus on the here and now, alright?" Rebekah suggested.

"Can you translate the conversation for us, sister?" Henrik asked, still curious. Rebekah sighed, heavily.

"If I must. Give me a moment." She said, focusing intently on Damon and Elena.

* * *

 _ **~:Conversation between Damon and Elena:~**_

"Unbelievable!" Elena yelled, angrily. Damon lined up his next shot.

"You are feisty when you are mad." He observed, before launching the dart at the board.

"It's not that I'm mad. I'm just-I'm worried." She stated, biting her bottom lip fretfully. Damon turned and looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Why? He lost his job at the Grill. He'll survive, Elena." He reassured her, not seeing what the problem was (and quite frankly, neither could Henrik, Rebekah and I).

"He's spiraling." Elena insisted, stubbornly. "Ever since Bonnie broke up with him, he is moody. He's not really talking to anyone." She said.

Damon shrugged, "Typical teenager."

"Who sees ghosts and has lost everyone that he cares about." Elena pointed out, and I frowned. So, Jeremy is a medium now; interesting. Perhaps I should chat with him, medium to medium? Might potentially be able to convince him that Nik isn't the bad guy that Elena is making him out to be. Damon gave Elena an almost smile.

"Not everyone. He still has you." He told her, as he shoots another dart. He curses as he misses his mark, then heads over to the dartboard and retrieves the darts. Elena frowned at him curiously.

"You okay?" She asked.

"What makes you think I'm not okay?" Damon asked, a little defensively. Elena folded her arms across her chest, looking unimpressed.

"Well, you're day drunk. It's not exactly your most attractive look." She pointed out, and I blinked at her words. Now that Elena had pointed that out, I did notice that Damon was slurring his words a little. What was eating him?

Damon smirked, "Hmm- what is my most attractive look?" He moves closer towards Elena, who immediately takes a step back away from him.

"I'm not saying you have any attractive looks. I'm saying this is my least favourite one…" Elena explained, but Damon instantly cut her off.

"Noted. See if I can make any improvements." He said, and I chuckled at him little; realizing that he was taking the piss with Elena.

* * *

 _ **~:Back with Rebekah, Grace and Henrik:~**_

Halfway through listening to Rebekah relaying Damon and Elena's conversation to us, Henrik kicked me in the shins and I grunted in pain and glowered at him.

"What was that for?" I growled. Henrik pointed towards the main entrance in reply, and I glanced up saw Nik come into view with who I assumed to be 'Tony' following him obediently. Rebekah sighed.

"It's about bloody time." She bitched, and we watched as Nik quietly approached both Elena and Damon. Only Damon seemed to be unconcerned by his unexpected presence.

"Don't mind me." Nik said, casually. Elena immediately stiffened the second she sees him.

"Klaus." She greets him, looking cautious. Damon on the other hand smiled politely at him, throwing Nik off a bit and giving him a slightly suspicious look.

"Hey, Klaus. Pleasant afternoon?" He enquired, earning a scandalized look from Elena, who hadn't been expecting this kind of reaction from Damon in regards to Nik.

"You're not going to start something here are you?" Elena questioned him, wary. Nik continued smiling at her with a pleasant, unassuming smile.

"I don't know what you are talking about. I just came down to my local pub to grab a drink with my girlfriend, my brother and sister, and a mate." He responded, as 'Tony' walked by Elena, causing the girl to pale instantly. She seemed to recognize him, and I groaned in realization that Nik had obviously sent his hybrid to intimidate Elena. "Get a round in, would you Tony?" He instructed. Tony nodded, giving Elena an equally unassuming smile before heading for the bar. Nik walked calmly towards our booth with a smirking Damon following close behind. It was obvious that he was enjoying the shocked look on Elena's face. Elena followed them reluctantly, and stopped dead in her tracks when she spotted Rebekah sitting in the booth, glaring hatefully at her.

"But how…?" Elena stammered, looking confused and fearful. I offered her a deceptively kind smile.

"How is Rebekah sitting here and not daggered where you left her?" I asked, chatty-like. "Glad you asked. You see, you forgot one very important thing last night when you literally stabbed my sister in the back." I noticed Nik bristle a little. "Me. Lucky that Henrik and I were in the right place at the right time." I told Elena, who scowled at me. "Suggest you watch your back for a while, Elena. Rebekah isn't too happy with you right now." I stated, brightly. Elena opened her mouth to retort when Damon jumped in to change the subject; eying me a little sternly for stirring the pot.

I shrugged in response.

"To be honest, I'm surprised that you stuck around town long enough for happy hour. Would've thought that you'd have taken Grace and skipped town already." Damon admitted.

"There's no rush for that just yet." Nik replied. "Are you that eager to get rid of me so soon, mate?" He questioned Damon, who shrugged.

"Nothing like that. Just stating that if I were in your position, I would have hauled ass outta town the second the danger was gone." Damon stated, honestly.

"Truth is, I've grown to rather like your little town." Rebekah, Elena and I looked at Nik, like he had grown a second head. But he ignored us. Mystic Falls may looked seemingly perfect and a nice town to live in, but it attracted all sorts of supernatural dangers. "Think I might fancy a home here. Oh, I imagine you're wondering how this is to affect you." He looked pointedly at Elena, who glared back. "The answer is: not in the slightest. As long as I get what I want and everyone behaves themselves you can go on living your little lives however you choose. You have my word." Nik said, reassuringly.

Elena didn't look convinced.

"What more could you possibly want?" She demanded. Nik narrowed his gaze on Elena, who drew back a little.

"Well for starters, you can tell me where I might find Stefan." He asked, bluntly.

"Stefan skipped town the second he saved your ass." Damon reported, looking a bit worried. Nik looked disappointed; a very bad sign, something that Rebekah told us when she described how a vampire's emotions were heightened when they were first changed. She told Elena and me that Nik's temper was heightened, as was his lack of tolerance for those who disappointed him.

"Well, you see that is a shame." He admitted, taking a dart from Damon and throwing it; getting a bulls-eye. "Your brother stole from me. I need him found so I can take back what's mine."

"That sounds like a 'Klaus and Stefan' problem." Elena stated, dismissively. Both Rebekah and I flinched at her insolent tone, as Nik suddenly turns and moves for Elena. Her brown doe eyes widened as she threw an alarmed look at Damon; obviously expecting that he'd come to her rescue. When he didn't, she looked shocked. Nik smirked.

"Ha. Well, this is me broadening the scope, sweetheart." Nik told her as he wonders over and slides into the booth beside me and kisses my cheek.

* * *

After a couple of rounds at the Grill, Nik and Damon decided to take this discussion of how to deal with Stefan's thievery back to the Boarding House. Elena had left the Grill ages ago, presumably to go lick her wounds or to go and bitch to Alaric and come up with another 'brilliant' plan to somehow get rid of Nik. Rebekah and Henrik opted out of the discussion, and I was about to follow their example. But one look from Nik, told me that he wasn't going to let me out of his sight, just yet. So it looked like I was going along with them as well.

Oh, joy…

At the Boarding House, Damon pours himself a drink before turning around to see Nik casually observing all the artifacts that the Salvatore Brothers had collected over the years; which gave the mansion its distinctive museum-like atmosphere.

"Drink?" Damon held up a glass of scotch at me, and I nodded. I had the feeling that both of my boys were about to start a pissing contest; as neither of them were particularly happy that they had to share me, or the fact that Stefan was putting a spanner into the works and making everybody's lives miserable.

And I was going to need a lot more drink to help me deal with this bullshit. Damon pours the three of us a drink each, and hands Nik and me a glass each.

"L'chaim." I thanked him, absently taking a sip as I stared into the crackling flames of the massive fireplace.

"Bless you?" Damon looked at me strangely, while Nik chuckled. "What's so funny?" Damon demanded of him, looking annoyed.

"Grace was speaking in Hebrew." Nik explained, amused. "It means 'to life'."

Damon nodded. "Oh."

"Cheers, mate!" Nik raised his glass at the both of us, as Damon reciprocated the gesture.

"Down the hatch." Both of them sipped at their drink, before attempting to make pleasant conversation. I guessed it was for my benefit; of which I was grateful.

"You know, we've actually got a lot in common, you and I." Nik observed, casually.

Damon nodded.

"So Grace told me." He said, gesturing towards me from where I was perched casually on the armrest of one of the Salvatore's red couches. Nik looked at me quizzically, and I smiled and shrugged. "Maybe we can bond over our mutual loathing of my brother. So he really stole your brothers?" Damon looked amused.

Nik scowled, "Unfortunately." He confirmed. "I had them daggered, boxed-up, and awaiting the day when I saw fit to wake them. And he went in and pinched the bloody lot." Nik swallowed the rest of his drink, wincing only slightly at the burn he probably got.

"Of course he did. Such a buzzkill, my baby bro." Damon stated.

"Would you please help us find him?" I asked him, coolly. Damon glanced at me and then at Nik, before sighing.

"Well, I'd love to find him." Damon admitted. "Trouble is, I sure as hell don't work for you." He stated to Nik, stubbornly.

"Damon…" I groaned, warily. I set aside my glass and started massaging my temple, feeling the onset of a headache beginning. Nik, noticing this, wondered over and wrapped an arm around my shoulders comfortingly; allowing me to lean against him.

"You know, your drink stinks of vervain – so I can't compel you." Nik mused, just barely holding onto his patience. It had been getting thinner and thinner with every passing hour that the remainder of his family were missing from his possession. "There would be no point in killing you, because you're actually the one with the most help of getting me what I need. And because Grace actually enjoys your company – how escapes me completely."

"Hey?!" Damon looked a little offended by that comment.

"I was going to follow through on a demonstration to make it clear that I was serious when I told you to find Stefan, as apparently you people only respond best to displays of violence." Nik confessed, and I scowled at him.

"What did you do, Nik?" I asked, sternly. He ignored me.

"So we're – (he gestures between himself and me) - going to ask you one more time: would you help us find Stefan? Or do I follow through anyway?" Nik threatened. I momentarily forgot about this 'demonstration' that Nik had cooked up, long enough to look at my best friend beseechingly to cooperate. Damon scowled at me, probably for putting him in this position, before sighing.

"Fine." He acquiesced. Looking strangely triumphant, Nik immediately pulls out his phone and calls someone.

"Hey there! So, that thing I told you to do … why don't you go ahead and forget what I said?" He instructed. "Good man." He chirped before hanging up.

* * *

 **A/N: Finished another chapter. Hope you enjoyed this one, and please review.  
The next chapter will be out soon. TTFN xx.**


	49. Hell Hath No Fury

**A/N: Welcome back! I hope you are looking forward to reading this new chapter.**

 **Please review, and as always no flames will be accepted.**

 **I don't own The Vampire Diaries. All characters (except for Grace) belong to author L.J. Smith.**

 **Enjoy Xx.**

* * *

 **HELL HATH NO FURY**

" _People quake with fear because I have the power to make them afraid."  
_ **~Klaus Mikaelson.**

* * *

The subject of what Nik had set up as a 'demonstration' to get Damon to cooperate never came up again. But I couldn't help but feel disappointed that he had had a plan like this set up in the first place. It still seemed like Nik had a lot to learn and get over in order for our relationship to process any further.

"Is there something the matter, sweetheart? You've been very quiet for a few days now." Nik observed, with concern. I opened my eyes and registered the beautiful, clear blue sky; dappled with wispy clouds slowly going by in the wind. We were lying in a grassy meadow, not too far away from the falls on yet another one of our dates. The sunshine was making me feel warm and sleepy. "Grace?" Nik squeezed my hand, trying to get my attention and sounding slightly impatient.

I sighed, "What was the 'demonstration' you mentioned earlier, Nik?"

Nik groaned when he realised what I had just asked him. He let go of my hand and sat up, scowling down at me. "Does it really matter, love? It got us what we wanted, didn't it?" He sounded annoyed with me, and I felt my heckles rising before I breathed in and out slowly and counted to ten.

"That's not the point, Nik. You can't just threaten people to get your own way all the time." I told him, sternly. "The fact that you haven't come out with it already tells me that it's something that you believed I wouldn't like." I pointed out.

"I've been around the block a few times, darling. I think I would know by now how things are done." Nik retorted, with slight irritation.

"Kudos to you for that." I agreed. "But you do realise that Damon was just joking around. He had every intention of helping to find Stefan." I pointed out. Nik was briefly silenced.

"Ah." He said, sounding a little sheepish. I sat up and looked him in the eyes, pointedly.

"You don't have to threaten people to get what you want, Nik. Yeah, okay; sometimes it's necessary because some people cannot be bargained with." He looked away, stubbornly. I cupped his cheek with my hand, feeling the roughness of his slightly stubbly face in the palm of my hand and gently turned his head back as I smiled at him, fondly. "In other words, choose your audience. Some people deserve it, and some people don't." I said. Nik didn't look entirely convinced, as he reached up and pulled my hand away from his face. He started to absently play with my fingers. "Look, it's just my opinion. Take it or leave it, sweetie. But as the saying goes: 'you catch more flies with honey, than with vinegar.'" I quoted. Nik opened his mouth to retort, when his phone suddenly rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and studied it for a second before sighing.

"I'll keep that suggestion under advisement. But I can't make any promises. Old habits die hard, after all." Nik relented, offering me a weak smile as he got to his feet.

I nodded, "Good enough. You better take that call, it might be important." Nik chuckled and leant down to kiss me on the cheek.

"I'll see you back at the apartment, darling." Nik promised as he walked away and called back the unknown caller. I watched him go until he disappeared from sight then sighed contentedly and flopped back down on the grass. I decided to continue cloud watching, like I had been minutes ago with Nik before the uncomfortable conversation occurred. That was the last thing that I remembered before drifting off to sleep in the warm sunshine.

* * *

I woke up to the sound of something shrill ringing in my ears. I frowned and sat up trying to figure out what the annoying sound was … then scrambled quickly for my bag to dig around for my phone.

"Yes, hello?" I answered, a little sharper than I intended. I winced, praying that I hadn't offended whoever the caller turned out to be.

 _"Is this a bad time?"_ The voice sounded amused and slightly concerned, and I blinked registering who the voice belonged to.

"Damon? No, no, of course not. I just fell asleep." I replied sheepishly, getting to my feet and straightening out my slightly wrinkled clothes.

 _"Okay? Where exactly are you right now?"_ Damon sounded hasty; like he was trying to reveal something without getting caught in the process. I frowned curiously, glancing around at the sun drenched meadow that gleamed like a sea of emeralds.

"A meadow not too far away from the falls, why?" I replied, getting to my feet and already anticipating that he wanted me to meet him somewhere. My assumption turned out to be right on the money.

 _"How soon can you get to the Old Witch House?"_ He asked.

"Old Witch House?" I said, momentarily confused as I looped my purse over my shoulder.

 _"Yeah, the place filled with the ghosts of dead witches who love to torture me by turning the protection in my daylight ring on and off. That place."_ Damon elaborated, impatiently.

"Not difficult to forget that dilapidated death trap." I responded, earning a chuckle from Damon as I pulled away my phone to check the time. "I can leave right now. What's the emergency?" I cut to the chase.

 _"I think I've got a hunch of where Stefan could be hiding the coffins, but I'm not completely confident."_ Damon explained, sounding almost relieved that I was able to drop everything and come down. Not that I was doing much since I had just recently finished my correspondence course and had bugger all to do.

"Really? That's great! I'll be there as soon as I can!" I exclaimed. I didn't even care that I was about to be invading the territory of a whole coven of dead pissed off witches that I unfortunately could see due to my medium abilities.

 _"Great! Hurry!"_ Damon urged, sounding a little distracted.

I practically sprinted for my car and dived right into it, thanking everything that was holy that Nik hadn't decided to take my car wherever he was going when he had gotten the latest in a series of phone calls he had been receiving. I drove up to the clearing where the trail leading to the Old Witch House lay, and wasted no time getting out and hurrying up the trail to where the house was. As the house came into view, I noticed Damon and Elena walking towards it, and I narrowly avoided being seen by Elena by ducking behind a nearby tree. However, I was spotted by Damon whose eyes widened, and he immediately went to distract Elena to avoid her spotting me also.

"I thought Bonnie said this place lost all its mojo." Damon queried, and I was thankful that the old abandoned house was empty enough to create an echo that meant anybody could hear what someone was saying from another room in the house. I cautiously approached the house, and waited until Damon and Elena went into another room before I paused in the doorway, just eavesdropping.

"The dead witches were angry at her for bringing Jeremy back to life. I guess now they have something they want her to know." Elena responded to Damon's query using an almost distracted voice. I heard Damon snort with distain.

"I hate witches. So fickle … Passive-aggressive…" He muttered, and I winced; questioning why Damon wasn't using his brains at a time like this, considering that he was walking through a house full of vengeful witches that could turn off the protection in his daylight ring as easily as changing a lightbulb.

"Stefan?" Elena called out, idiotically.

"Come on, Stef. Olly olly oxen free!" Damon sang out, then hissed in pain. I figured that he must've stepped into a patch of sunlight and had gotten singed by the UV rays. "Aaah. Ow. Ugh!" He yelled, then came into view near the doorway I was eavesdropping in that had a shadowy corner. "Really!? Still!?" He snarled, angrily.

"What?" I heard Elena ask, sounding mildly concerned. Damon sighed, exasperatedly.

"Witchy spirits aren't a big fan." And I blinked when a whole group of the witches suddenly appeared before my eyes, all glaring at Damon. "And they use their witchy juju to screw with my daylight ring!" He growled.

"Then wait outside." Elena said, impatiently. The sound of her footsteps faded away, and Damon looked in her direction with alarm.

"Elena!" He protested.

"I'm not leaving until I know if he's here." Elena's voice echoed through the house. Damon groaned in frustration and turned and ran straight towards me, nearly bowling me over in his haste to get out of the house. I glowered at him.

"Hi there!" Damon greeted me, and I lightly slapped him on the arm.

"Elena? Really?" I whisper-shouted at him, so that Elena (or Stefan) weren't alerted that I was there. It was bad enough that I wasn't exactly popular with most of the witches in this godforsaken house; I didn't need to let Stefan know that I was on to him about the whereabouts of Nik's coffins. Damon looked slightly shamefaced, but also unrepentant.

"Sorry, geez. Calling you was a last minute thing. Besides, you and Klaus wanted me to help you find Stef; well here he is." Damon gestured towards the house, and I pursed my lips; knowing that he was right.

"Fine. I apologize for hitting you. It was uncalled for." I conceded. Damon shrugged.

"Didn't even feel it." He said, before shoving me inside. "You better catch up, but be careful not to be seen." He warned me. I nodded, and proceeded slowly deeper into the house; hoping and praying that I didn't accidentally step on any squeaky floorboards in the process. It was a little difficult actually knowing which direction Elena had headed off to, as there was quite a few potential places Stefan could have hidden the four coffins.

"Stefan?" I heard Elena call out from not too far away from where I was presently standing. I followed her voice towards the basement, and grinned from ear to ear in triumph.

"Go away!" I froze, thinking I was busted because of how close Stefan's voice turned out to be. But when I didn't suddenly get an up close and personal view of Stefan himself, I naturally assumed he was in the basement where Elena was. "You shouldn't be here, Elena." Stefan warned his ex. I accessed speed dial and called Damon's number. The answering click told me that Damon was listening in, and smart enough not to answer and blow the whole plan sky high.

"Stefan, I need your help. Bonnie said that you would be here." Elena explained.

"Well, Bonnie sucks at keeping secrets." Stefan sniped back, and I couldn't help but agree with that particular statement.

"Listen, you need to give Klaus his family back." Elena insisted, and I nearly dropped my phone out of shock. What did she have to gain from this? There had to be some catch that Stefan had to meet for Elena to be asking him for this request.

"Oh, really? Is that what I need to do?" Stefan said.

"Klaus and Rebekah are out for my blood, Stefan. Because I daggered Rebekah and Grace ruined everything by pulling the dagger out again." Elena explained. I bristled. "Don't you get it? Stefan, Klaus isn't gonna stop until he gets what he wants!"

"Elena, stop talking. I'm not giving Klaus anything." Stefan stated, dismissively.

"Are you listening to me? He's gonna kill me!" Elena insisted.

"Not really my problem." Stefan dismissed her, and I winced when I heard flesh slapping flesh. I couldn't believe it. Elena had slapped Stefan. Something I never thought would've happened between these two.

"You can go to hell!" Elena declared, and I heard footsteps heading in my direction.

 _Shit…_ My eyes widened as I immediately ducked into the next room to avoid being caught by Elena. The very last thing I needed was her to alert Stefan to my presence here. Thankfully, Elena raced past, not noticing that I was literally in the next room, listening in.

"You shouldn't be here." A voice speaks out to me, causing me to jump and spin round to face the person. It was one of the dead witches. However, it must've been one of the nicer ones because of the concerned expression on her face. I scowled at her, feeling defensive.

"Where's the rule that says otherwise?" I challenged her. Suddenly, Damon's voice comes over my phone and both the witch and I look down at it.

"That didn't go over well." He was saying to an obviously angry and distraught Elena outside the house.

"Don't even start, Damon!" Elena yelled at him. Some scuffling came over the line, and I frowned. Risking being caught, I peeked around the doorframe and saw Elena attempting to leave but Damon had grabbed her arm preventing her from going. He had a sympathetic expression on his face.

"Let me talk to him." He offered. Elena looked at him like he was crazy.

"You can't get in. The witches won't let you!" She insisted. Damon hesitated, but then looked determined as he dug around his jacket pocket and produced his car keys; which he gave to Elena, much our surprise.

"Here. Take my car keys and head on home. I'll deal with my brother." Damon stated. He presses the keys into Elena's hand, then rushes into the house; headed in my direction while running from shadowy spot to spot, trying not to be burned. "Come on!" He tells me, seizing my wrist and pulling me along with him towards the basement in between dodging the sunlight patches. We both find Stefan sitting alone in a chair. His green eyes narrowed immediately when the both of us come into view.

"Wow! That was impressive. But the coffins aren't here, so … you can go away now." He tells us both. Damon steps towards his brother, hissing still from the burns he had inflicted on himself coming down here.

"We don't care about the coffins. We need to talk." Damon told his brother. I pulled my wrist away from Damon and scowled at both brothers.

"Speak for yourself, Damon." I spat, before turning my glare on Stefan who didn't look at all intimidated, but smirked at me. "No more games. Where are my brothers?" I demanded.

Stefan's smirk became nasty, "No comment." But the smirk dropped when he faced his unamused brother, as I groaned with frustration. "Let's talk then." He says to Damon.

The dark-haired Salvatore bristled, "Nothing's ever easy with you, is it?" Then he attacks Stefan, grabbing him by the lapels and throwing him out of the house. My eyes widened in alarm.

"Damon!" I cried out in shock, and ran to catch up with them; but nearly collided with the same witch from before who had spoken to me. "What are you …?" The witch waved a hand, and I was hit by a subtle shift in the wind and I heard four solid thuds. I turned and saw the missing coffins Nik was searching for. "But, why are you helping me?" I faced them both, feeling very confused with this random act of kindness.

"Most of us have noticed a subtle change in Klaus, and it all leads back to when both you and the youngest Mikaelson came back into his life." The witch explained.

"Henrik? And me? Wha-what did we do?" I was confused. Another witch appeared beside the first one, she had a sad smile on her face.

"Both of your deaths started the Original Hybrid's spiral down into darkness. With your separate returns, we foresaw his potential redemption." She explained. "However, when this will happen, we cannot tell."

I frowned, "What does revealing the location of the coffins have to do with that?"

"Consider this, our white flag, and your reward for helping to right a wrong." The second witch said.

"We will protect your brothers for as long as we can." The first witch promised. I smiled at them both, gratefully.

"Thanks, I guess. At least I've got something to tell Nik when I see him." I acknowledged as the witches disappeared from sight; making the coffins invisible in the process. I hurried back upstairs and out the front door, just in time to see Damon and Stefan both shouting at each other. Stefan had a tree branch protruding from his stomach.

"Why did you screw it up!?" Damon was shouting at Stefan, angrily.

"I did it to protect us all!" Stefan shouted back, throwing Damon off of him and removing the branch from his gut.

"Protect us? From Klaus?" Damon looked dubious. I came forward so I could hear this properly, but Damon put out an arm to prevent me from coming any closer. For once, I didn't scowl at him for his overprotectiveness.

"Whatever for?" I demanded, as Stefan's slightly pained green eyes slid towards me.

"Klaus is unpredictable. If anybody got in his way when it came to Mikael, he would've killed us all. I know this." Stefan insisted. I let out a frustrated sigh.

"You might know him now. But I knew him then, and he can be reasoned with if you give him the right words and the evidence to back it up." I told him, with exaggerated patience. "You crossed the line this time, Stefan, and involved family. And when it comes to his family, Nik doesn't suffer fools lightly. I hope you are prepared for what will come for you." I warned him, feeling very unsympathetic. I glanced at Damon, taking his hand. "Come on, let's go." I said, leading him down the trail to where I had left my car. However, Damon resisted, pulling away his hand before turning to head back into the house. I reluctantly followed, while Stefan was standing just outside the entrance watching us.

"Do you know what I can't figure out? Is your switch on, is your switch off?" Damon asked his brother, curiously. Stefan glared.

"You have somewhere you need to be, Damon?" He hinted, earning a humorless bark of laughter from Damon.

"Deflection. That's not gonna work on me! I invented that." Stefan just rolled his eyes and stepped back into the dilapidated house.

"We're done. Can't you just go away?" He requested, then glanced over at me. " _Both_ of you?"

"Why did you steal the coffins?" I demanded, coldly.

"Because Klaus's family is one weakness I can use against him." Stefan humored me, and I hated him for that. It wasn't as though what I was asking for was a hardship. But it did give me an insight into how resentful Stefan was feeling towards Nik.

"Use against him to do what?" Damon asked, suspiciously. "You're not gonna kill him, and you know how I know? 'Cause there was only one way to kill him, and Grace used it to kill Mikael." He said, somewhat smug.

"You're wrong Damon. Klaus doesn't get to live forever. There's another way. There has to be." Stefan insisted, stubbornly. I folded my arms across my chest.

"Good luck trying to find it. But know that we will stop you." I warned him. Stefan took a step towards me, obviously trying to be intimidating. But I stood my ground, despite Damon standing between us to protect me from his brother.

"Challenge accepted." He vowed. Stefan disappears back into the house, and I smirked triumphantly while Damon's back was turned watching his brother to make sure he didn't attack us from behind. Damon sighed with frustration as he turned and this time grabbed _my_ hand, leading down the trail.

* * *

"The coffins are in the house." I revealed to Damon once we were in my car and halfway down the road away from the Witch House. He turned and looked at me in astonishment.

"How do you know that?" He demanded, looking relieved that for once we had managed to find something to give Nik this quickly, and not risk his wrath. I rolled my eyes at the glee reflected on his face.

"A couple of the witches showed it to me, as well as giving me an explanation to go with it." I said, still feeling slightly perplexed at how generous and willing they were to help me and go against Stefan and his fruitless revenge.

"What's the catch?" Damon asked, suspiciously.

"No catch, surprisingly enough." I explained, as I changed lanes and merged into thickening traffic. "According to them, the return of Henrik and myself back into Nik's life is apparently changing him for the better." Damon looked at me skeptically.

"Changing him? How?" He asked.

"It seems that the death of his baby brother and his beloved fiancée, messed him up even worse than I initially believed." I theorized. "Of course, I am going by what Rebekah, Elijah and Nik told me. I obviously wasn't around after I died a thousand years back to witness this spiraling downfall Nik had." I said. Damon snorted, looking and sounding skeptical.

"I'll believe that when I see it." He stated, dryly. I frowned at his negativity.

"Must you be a downer?" I asked him. Damon just looked at me.

"You can't just expect me to miraculously act all buddy-buddy with the guy, just because he going to be making this positive turnaround in his attitude, now that he's got you and his baby bro back. Things like that just don't happen overnight, Grace. It's not a crappy fairytale." Damon pointed out.

"I know that. And I don't want it to be one either." I agreed. "But I have seen little flashes of Nik gradually toning down the rage and the ruthlessness." Damon looked like he wanted to say something else to me, but decided not to at the last minute and remained silent, just staring out the window or fiddling with the car radio to find a good song to listen to. "You want me to drop you back to the Boarding House?" I asked him.

"Nope. We got the information Klaus wanted me to find for him. I want to let him know while the knowledge is still fresh." Damon replied, as I pulled up to the Apartment block and cut off the engine.

I shrugged, "Suit yourself. I just hope that Nik's in a good mood and doesn't attempt to go out and maim Stefan when he learns the location."

Damon and I got out of the car and headed straight for the vestibule. It seemed like Nik was expecting us, or at least overheard our conversation when we first pulled up, because he had opened my apartment door before I had even gotten the chance to get my keys out of my pocket.

"Hello, love." Nik greeted me warmly, pulling me into a hug. "Salvatore." He curtly greeted Damon who nodded, but didn't verbally respond back. I rolled my eyes, but let it go; knowing that their current ceasefire could very well dissolve at any time. I just hoped it lasted for a long time. "Did you have a nice afternoon?" Nik enquired, walking back over to the armchair he had presumably been sitting in, reading a book, as I closed the front door and slid the security chain in place. Damon made himself comfortable on the couch next to Henrik who was in the middle of a video game, and attempted to subtly stare at Rebekah – who was giving herself a home manipedi treatment and ignoring the rest of us – unsuccessfully.

"Semi. But Damon and I do have some good news for you." I responded, grinning at the interested smile that spread across my boyfriend's face the second the words fell from my lips.

"You've located the coffins?" He guessed, accurately.

"Got it in one." Damon confirmed, still focused curiously on Henrik's game. Nik looked mildly impressed.

"I see. And where pray tell is the location?" Nik demanded, all business.

"At the Old Witch House." Damon piped up once again, before I had the chance to speak. The smile dropped from Nik's face the second he learned that witches were involved in all of this, and I knew that he correctly anticipated that it would be difficult for him to get the coffins back at this time. He scowled.

"Young, old, dead, or alive. Witches are a pain in the arse." He muttered underneath his breath in irritation, pinching the bridge of his nose. I chuckled softly, earning a half-hearted glare from my boyfriend for my troubles.

"While I tend to agree with you about that, dearest, not all witches are like that." I stressed to him, as I perched on the armrest of the chair he was slouching in, looking down at him with fond amusement. "It was actually two of the dead witches that revealed the location of the coffins to me." I said.

"But the likelihood of them forking them over, Grace, is about a million to one. Witches still don't trust or like us, despite the fact that they 'helped' you. Plain and simple." Damon stated, and I raised my head and narrowed my gaze at him in annoyance.

"Thank you, Captain Downer." I drawled, then let out a startled gasp when Nik pulled me down into his lap and held me close.

"Nevertheless, the both of you came through with the task I set out. That's all I asked for." Nik thanked me with a pleasant smile.

"So what happens now?" Rebekah asked, sounding bored as she blew lightly on her freshly painted toenail, which she had varnished a lilac color. A devilish smirk spread across Nik's face that made all of us nervous.

"I think it's time we paid my doppelgänger a visit, don't you?" He suggested, rhetorically. Nik's phone then suddenly and unexpectedly rings. We all stare at him in astonishment for several seconds before he casually tugs his phone free from his jeans pocket and glances at caller ID. He chuckles in amusement. "Speak of the devil…" He quipped brightly as he tapped me on the bum, indicating that he needed me to get up. I nodded, after giving him an annoyed look for the bum pat and flipped my legs over the armrest, standing up from his lap. "Elena. A pleasure as always." Nik observed falsely in a honeyed tone, as he walked over to the main window that overlooked the town's square. That caused his sister and me to roll our eyes, while Henrik sniggered at his older brother's antics.

Damon on the other hand looked guarded and inclined his head to listen in on the conversation. The pleasant smile on Nik's face broadened and I quickly glanced in Damon's direction and watched as he let out an exasperated groan. "I suppose I could spare a moment of my time to see you, love. But it better be worth my time." Nik warned before hanging up on Elena and sliding his phone back into the back pocket of his jeans.

"What's going on?" Henrik asked, curiously.

Nik shrugged, "It seems like our luck is paying off."

"Please. You could not have planned that any better." I declared.

"What did she want?" Rebekah butted in, bluntly. Damon knocked back a tumbler of bourbon he had helped himself to during Elena and Nik's conversation; much to my consternation.

"She wants to make a deal with your brother." He drawled, filling in the blanks. I exchanged dubious glances with Rebekah.

"Can't wait to hear this." I replied, promptly. Nik glanced back at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Who says you're coming along?" He asked, and I frowned at him.

"Am I not?" I asked, surprised. The smile my boyfriend gave me was slightly condescending and I glowered at him.

"You've done enough already, sweetheart." He told me, cupping cheek with one of his hands. I brushed it off.

"I intend on seeing this through. Because with Elena, Stefan and their entourage; you never know what they might come up with … if they are desperate enough." I retorted. Nik's smile dropped instantly, obviously catching on to what I was hinting.

"They would be dead before they could even lift a finger." Nik dismissed my theory. "But if you insist on coming along, by all means."

I smiled sweetly. "You are too kind." I walked up to him and placed a wet kiss on his slightly unshaven face, before swaggering over to where I had dumped my purse and scooped it up as I headed for the door. I was followed quickly by Rebekah who was smirking, enjoying the annoyance Nik was exuding. I could've sworn I could hear him muttering 'women' underneath his breath as he and an equally bemused Damon and Henrik followed us.

* * *

I rode shotgun beside Nik in my own car as he personally drove us to the Gilbert residence with Rebekah, Henrik and Damon sitting in the backseat; all looking thoroughly confused by Nik's behavior at the moment. I had half expected him to have summoned one of his hybrids to chauffeur us around, but wisely stopped myself from saying this out loud. I suspected that his current saucy mood was probably due to learning from both Damon and myself that his brothers were being held hostage in a house inhabited by both a highly volatile Ripper with a serious vendetta against him, and some Bennett witches that would sooner magically set fire to all four coffins, than let Nik, Rebekah and me reprocess them. By the time we got to the Gilbert's, there was one thing that became glaringly obvious to both Damon and myself.

"Uh, where's my car?" Damon piped up, sounding a bit irritated.

"I guess Elena didn't go straight home like you told her to." I said.

"Is this relevant?" Nik demanded, also sounding irritated.

"Yeah, a bit. Elena was at the Old Witch House when Damon and I attempted to interrogate or literally beat some answers out of Stefan about the whereabouts of the coffins." I replied, moving to open the car door. "Damon suggested that she take his car and go home to leave it to him to sort this bullshit out. Clearly, she didn't heed his advice, and judging by the panicked look on his face; he's worried about the condition of his car." I said, getting out of the car and making a deliberate stride towards the Gilbert's front door.

"Where are you going?" Damon asked, getting out of the car and grabbing my arm. I calmly pulled it free from his grasp just as Nik used his vamp-speed to neatly intercept Damon as he wrapped his hand around the younger vampire's wrist, and judging by the slight wince Damon gave; Nik was none too gentle.

"If you want to keep that hand, I'd suggest you remove it." He ordered, sternly. I sighed heavily and moved around them to walk up the Gilbert's black slated front porch.

"Would you two cut it out? I'm just asking Jeremy or Alaric if they've seen Elena. Your rivalry is becoming tiresome and I'm getting sick of it." I said.

"No, by all means, Grace. Let them go. If they want to persist in behaving like a couple of arses, don't interfere. It's actually quite amusing." Rebekah piped up from the car with a catty smirk touching her lovely face. All three of us looked back at her, with only Nik and Damon scowling at her unamused.

"Keep it up, Rebekah. You know how much your sass thrills me." Nik retorted, sarcastically. Rebekah continued smirking at him, but her eyes widened very slightly; obviously catching on to the underlying daggering threat Nik was insinuating. I wrapped my knuckles on the wood stained front door, pausing when I heard somebody's heavy footsteps coming closer to greet us. The door opened and I was greeted by Jeremy who was frowning at me suspiciously but with a hint of curiosity.

"Grace?" He asked, cautiously. I offered Elena's brother a warm smile to put him at ease.

"Jeremy, hey! How's it goin'?" I greeted him, brightly. Jeremy gave a surprised look and relaxed a little.

"I'm okay, I guess."

I nodded, "Listen, do you happen to know where your sister is at the moment?" I asked him.

"Last I knew she was headed to the Grill with … Bonnie." Jeremy seemed to hesitate mentioning Bonnie, and I mentally kicked myself for forgetting what Elena had said about Jeremy and Bonnie splitting up. And about how hurt he had been and distracted and neglectful he was acting recently. I was about to open my mouth to ask him where Elena might be lurking currently, when Damon; presumably impatient, barged right into the conversation.

"Hey, baby Gilbert." This earned him a hateful scowl from Jeremy. "Where's your sister at?" He asked, a little too forcefully for my liking.

"Damon!" I growled at him, as Jeremy bit back.

"You again. What business is it of yours?" He demanded. Damon shrugged nonchalantly, but his blue eyes were beginning to harden in frustration.

"Long story. But it would much appreciated if you could stop beating round the bush and just tell us already. Her boyfriend is getting impatient." Damon thumbed casually in my direction.

Jeremy frowned, " _Her_ boyfriend?"

"That would be me." Nik saunters casually up the front porch and comes to a stop beside me, as he wraps a possessive arm around my shoulder and narrows his eyes at Damon. "And I'd thank you not to be so rude in the future, mate." Damon pointedly ignores him, focusing on Jeremy, whose eyes widened in shock.

"Klaus." He glares at me accusingly, and I mentally swore realizing how quickly south this whole conversation was going. This was supposed to be a calm, friendly conversation, not the beginnings of a raging fight ignited by a few ill-timed choice words from two hot-headed supernatural entities. "He's your boyfriend?!" Jeremy growls at me. Nik offers the youngest Gilbert a tight smile.

"Yes. I believe we've just established that. Now, please tell us where your sister is." Nik requested. Jeremy's hand visibly tightened on the doorframe. It was obvious he hated being ordered around.

"Even if I did know where Elena was, I don't know why I should tell you. Nobody tells me anything around here." Jeremy procrastinated. Nik looked like he was about ready to tear out Jeremy's throat and use his arteries like a silly straw, but I stopped him; feeling stunned and angry over what Jeremy had just said.

"Hold on a minute. You know nothing about the supernatural?" I clarified, and Jeremy directed his attention towards me; his anger mellowing a little when he saw how genuinely horrified I was learning this about him. He shook his head.

"Not _nothing_. I know a little, but obviously not enough if I had no idea that you were dating the vampire that killed my sister several months ago!" Jeremy corrected as he glared heatedly at Nik who glared back.

"Hybrid." Nik corrected in frustration.

"Whatever you still killed my sister." Jeremy retorted.

"That's not really important right now." I redirected the attention towards me. "May we come inside, Jeremy? It seems we need to fill you in on a lot of things." I asked, politely. Damon just pushed passed without permission and disappeared inside the house. Both Nik and I growled or hissed at him in displeasure.

Jeremy hesitated for several minutes, before nodding and stepping aside to let us in.

"Thank you." I beamed at him, pleased that Jeremy was at least willing to hear us out.

"Much obliged, mate." Nik agreed as we walked through the hallway and into the living room. A wary Jeremy made to close the door when Rebekah and Henrik appeared and gently knocked on the wood.

"May we come in also?" Rebekah requested, politely. Jeremy blinked; obviously not expecting a beautiful girl and a guy roughly his age to be standing there asking entry.

"Uh, yeah sure. Who are you two?" He asked, now looking confused.

"Rebekah Mikaelson, and this is my younger brother Henrik." Rebekah responded almost dismissively as she made her way into the living room, leaving Jeremy and Henrik in the hallway.

"Hey." Henrik greeted Jeremy with a smile. It appeared that Jeremy had been in the middle of a video game before we had showed up on the doorstep. But what was interesting was that there was _two_ game controllers instead of one. Jeremy had a friend over.

"Hey Jeremy, is somebody else here?" I asked, not wanting to divulge anything about the supernatural if it was likely to be overheard by somebody who had no business knowing about it, or had a big mouth. Jeremy walked into the room and turned off the game, packing it up.

"Yeah, I was just hanging out with Tyler. Dunno where he's gone though." Jeremy replied. Nik smiled pleasantly.

"Probably avoiding me. I shouldn't worry about it." He said, dismissively.

"Back door's wide open." Damon reported, walking in from the kitchen. Jeremy frowned in confusion, and I decided to change the topic.

"So, exactly how much of the supernatural do you know, Jeremy?" I asked him, getting straight to the point.

"Just what I read in Johnathan Gilbert's journal from 1863, back when Ric wanted me to do some extra credit for history." Jeremy replied promptly, slouching back down on the couch. "Mystic Falls back then was the hot spot for vampires, werewolves and witches. And that Bonnie's a witch, Caroline, Damon and Stefan are vampires, and Tyler is a werewolf-"

"Hybrid." Nik cut him off, as the Mikaelson siblings and I exchanged glances with each other, while Damon slouched against the wall nearby the window; looking bored.

"What's with the looks?" Jeremy demanded, ignoring the correction Nik had made.

"It's just what you said. It's not entirely true." Henrik piped up, looking a little uncomfortable.

"What do you mean?" Jeremy asked. "Was everything I read a lie?"

"Not a lie. Just inaccurate." Nik reassured him, looking slightly peeved. "Mystic Falls was a hot spot for the supernatural, but back a thousand years before this humdrum town was actually called 'Mystic Falls'."

Jeremy's eyes widened in shock.

"Woah. Is that how old you are?" Nik, Rebekah and Henrik nodded. "So basically what you're saying is that it sort of picked up from where it left off back in 1863?" Jeremy asked.

"Basically." Damon confirmed.

Jeremy frowned, "Why would Elena not tell me this?"

"Probably because she wants to protect you against the supernatural." I replied, angry that Jeremy was only just learning this now. "But what she continues to ignore, is that you are in more danger if you are ignorant of what will kill you." I stated, bitterly.

"I'm not an idiot. But it would be nice to be filled in on the current danger." Jeremy was also pissed off at his sister. But then started glaring at Nik once again. "And you still killed my sister, and probably loads of other people over the years." He accused.

"Of course. I'm not going to sugarcoat it." Nik agreed, bluntly.

"You're not even sorry?!" Jeremy snarled. Nik was getting annoyed with him, so Rebekah stepped in to attempt to smooth things over and defend her actions and her family's.

"Of course we were, at first. But over the centuries it became a little pointless to apologise, and it literally became bloody depressing." Rebekah explained, matter-of-fact.

"It _became_ a matter of survival." Nik insisted, sternly.

"Is that why you killed Elena? Survival?" Jeremy sniped. I decided to step in this time.

"No. It was so he could break his curse." I spoke up, quietly. Jeremy turned his glare onto me.

"Curse?" He questioned.

"The _Hybrid_ Curse." I elaborated, calmly.

"Remember during the 60's Decade Dance when Bonnie faked her death and you took her to the Old Witch House to recover and prepare?" Damon impatiently attempted to jog Jeremy's memory. Nik's head snapped in Damon's direction as Jeremy looked suddenly thoughtful.

"Yeah. Then she knocked me out on the night of the full moon and took off. Is that why she was so determined? It was because of your curse?" Jeremy looked at Nik in bewilderment.

"Yeah, it was her job to help take down Nik when the curse was broken, and he was going through his transformation into a werewolf. That was when he was at his most vulnerable." I explained, the memory leaving a foul taste in my mouth.

"With Elena's death." Jeremy realised, looked horrified.

I winced, "Yeah, sorry."

Nik looked surprised by this piece of information that he had been ignorant about before the events of breaking the Hybrid curse took place.

"You know that actually explains so much why Ms. Bennett had made such a miraculous resurrection that night." He mused. Jeremy still looked pissed.

"Still don't know why my sister's death was needed to break his so-called curse. In fact everything you just told me is a little hard to believe." Jeremy accused. I suddenly got the lightbulb-over-the-head moment, but hesitated. The plan I had in mind, might not work.

"I can show you." I offered.

"How?" Rebekah asked, looking skeptical. I ignored her for the time being.

"You're a medium, right?" I asked Jeremy, who looked surprised that I seemed to know that. He nodded, while Nik looked at me calculatingly. "Then you're capable of having flashbacks, visions and premonitions from ghosts and others linked with the supernatural." I explained.

Both Nik and Rebekah looked at me in protest. But Henrik, bless him, defended my actions.

"Do you want Jeremy to believe you or even trust you?" He pointed out. "It's obvious that his sister doesn't trust him, or he'd already know about this by now." He said, firmly. I turned towards them, giving them a beseeching face.

"It's not just your memories I'd be showing him, guys. It's mine too. Or least the memories that I can recall, since I haven't reunited with Kol or Finn just yet." I reminded them. "Remember, we're doing this for a reason. Don't you want them back, as well as Elijah?" I questioned them.

"But Jeremy has already explained that he doesn't know where Elena is." Damon pointed out. I rolled my eyes and gave him a hard look, before getting to my feet and corralling my boyfriend, his brother and sister, and Damon away from Jeremy's ears.

"Humour me. Besides, I doubt that Jeremy is likely to trust his sister again if he believes what he sees." I retorted. "Who knows? He could align with you, Nik." I said. Nik gave me doubting look and exchanged a glance with Rebekah, who sighed heavily and shrugged.

"Has Grace let you down before?" Henrik continued. It took several minutes for Nik and Rebekah to come around and we turned and headed back over to where a confused Jeremy was waiting for me to prove that what we had been telling him was factual.

"You ready?" I asked, taking a seat beside him.

"What do I have to do?" Jeremy asked, cautiously. I reached out a hand towards him, palm down. He eyed it with confusion.

"Just take my hand." I said, succinctly. The second Jeremy took my hand, we were both hit with that same sinking feeling you get in your stomach when you descend in a lift. I was sure it affected Jeremy as well, because he flinched and gripped my hand tightly.

"Grace!?" I barely heard both Nik and Damon yell out in alarm. Nor registered the hands that tried to pull me away from the teenager.

* * *

 **~:(Multiple) Flashback/Memory:~**

 _The next time my eyes opened, I found myself standing in the woods surrounded by trees as far as the eye could see … and no hint of a civilization within range._

 _"Where are we?" I heard Jeremy speak out, and I turned in his direction. "What did you do to me?" He demanded, almost panicked._

" _I'm not doing anything. This is the work of our medium abilities. It can be very erratic." I reassured him, calmly. Jeremy was blinking in the bright sunlight like a newborn, before he finally focused on me and made a face._

" _What the hell are you wearing?" He asked, trying and failing to hide his amusement. I frowned in confusion and glanced down at what I was wearing, and realised to my annoyance that I was once again, dressed as classic 'Graínne': a long-sleeved, heavy-duty grey and brown dress with an olive green smock, leather wrist vambraces, heavy-duty and slightly scuffed traveling boots and my normally dark brown hair that previously brushed my shoulders; was now long and down to my waist in a thick plait. Some wildflowers had been woven intermittently into the plait._

 _"Oh, for God's sake. I really don't miss wearing this." I complained, bitterly. "I prefer what I was wearing before."_

 _Jeremy snorted, "Yeah, I never could've guessed." He grinned, teasing. I just gave him a look._

" _Yeah, alright. We've established that I'm less than enthusiastic about my old Viking attire. Let's just move on and focus on our real purpose here." I suggested, gruffly._

" _You were all Vikings?" Jeremy blurted out, shocked._

" _Born and raised." I confirmed, walking over to Jeremy and hooking an arm around his shoulders. "Welcome to 10th century Virginia, Jeremy." I said, gesturing dramatically to the wilderness all around us. "This was what life was like a thousand years ago, when the only supernatural creature that roamed America at the time, were the werewolves." I explained, wincing when I realised just how much of a university lecturer I sounded at that moment._

" _You serious?" Jeremy looked appalled. "Where is everybody?" He asked. I paused for a split second and scanned all around._

" _If I remember correctly, in this direction." I said, taking off in that direction with Jeremy right on my heels. I continued giving Elena's younger brother a running commentary on what my former life was like. "Ever been camping before?" I asked him. Jeremy looked at me like I was nuts._

" _Mum and Dad used to take Elena and me camping all the time. Elena used to hate it. Why?" He said, smiling almost nostalgically at the memory as he helped me over a large fallen log. I didn't bother to object, because dresses back in the 10th century were heavy and cumbersome; mostly built to last and made to get down and dirty in ... because we had to, to survive in this dangerous and yet beautiful wilderness. Women constantly required assistance to move about in them._

 _I smiled at him, politely._

" _Just forewarning you. Because the way we used to live, was nothing like the camping in the woods that you're probably used to back in the 20th or 21st century. Everything was very hands on, basic and very rustic. One constantly needed to work hard each and every day in order to survive." I explained, failing to hide the smug smile that spread across my face when Jeremy shuddered._

" _Who are they?" He suddenly asked, and I turned to see what he was talking about and instantly froze, while Jeremy frowned curiously at the two teenagers we were looking at like a couple of deer-caught-in-headlights. More memories started unlocking as I continued watching both boys having an earnest conversation on the log they were sitting upon. I smiled, immediately recognizing the two older boys that used to take care of me, Nik, Rebekah and the rest of us; while the grown-ups were busy maintaining our homesteads and doing general adult things._

" _The older boy standing with his leg mounted on the log, that's Finn. He must be at least fifteen." I explained, indicating to a boy dressed in a loose fitting dark mahogany top, with a belt strung around his waist, and some tight-fitting bottle green leggings with brown traveling boots. His dark brown hair was shoulder-length and loose, blowing in the light breeze. He looked a little similar to what Henrik looked like, before he adapted to the 21st century. "The other boy is Elijah when he was twelve." Jeremy's eyes widened in surprise. Elijah was dressed in a copper-orange and black drawstring tunic top, tight dark brown leggings and traveling boots. Unlike Finn, his shaggy dark brown hair looked damp through with sweat. Both he and Finn must've just recently finished a sparring session, because Elijah was holding a sword in his hands._

" _That's Elijah? Woah, that's a change from the suits he normally wears." Jeremy marveled. "This is unreal." A group of children in the age range of eight to three-years old ran into view. Jeremy laughed as he watched as the children and Elijah attempt to playfully wrestle an unwilling Finn to the ground. "Who are the kids?" He blurted out, as I finally recognized them._

 _I couldn't help but observe how innocent we all really wore. I was particularly surprised by how overprotective Nik was of both Rebekah and me, and wanted to kick myself when I realised just how it had carried on, up until he and his beloved little sister had been turned into the killers their parents made them be. Except, in reality; Nik had shown signs of taking his protective nature way too far at times._

 _I sighed, "That's me (during my first life) and the Mikaelson Siblings: back when we were children." I introduced, earning a wide-eyed look of shock and disbelief from Jeremy. "Yeah, before the Mikaelson's were cursed to roam the earth as vampires and the Original Hybrid." I confirmed. I pointed to the little blonde girl with wide periwinkle blue eyes, wearing a simple but very pretty white dress. "That's Rebekah. She's about three – just mastering the art of talking."_

 _A little boy with dark brown hair that reached his shoulders and wearing a grey undershirt, an oversized green tunic top, light brown leggings and boots; pile-jumped on Finn causing the teenager to grunt a little in pain. Jeremy sniggered, and I knew that he and Kol would be thick as thieves; if given the proper introduction. "That's Kol, he's my twin in everything but blood. We were born the same day." I explained. "We're both five, and he's older by about ten minutes."_

" _So that little girl with the long, messy dark brown hair in a braid, and wearing that light blue dress is you?" Jeremy guessed, watching her run after 'mini-Rebekah' who had stumbled and fallen, scraping her knee and bursting into tears._

" **You are okay, Bekah. It only hurts for a second."** _I hear myself consoling Rebekah who sniffs and nods, before letting 'mini-me' help her to her feet and brush her down, before giving her a hug and leading her back to her brothers._

 _I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that's me."_

 _Jeremy glanced over at the last boy; who had short, but slightly shaggy dirty blonde hair and expressive blue-green eyes. He was wearing a green-grey tunic top, in a similar style to Finn's shirt, with a chocolate brown vest, dark leggings and boots. It appeared that he was digging around in the dirt, twigs and leaves with 'mini-Kol' for something I couldn't see from this vantage point._

" _So that skinny blonde kid is Klaus?" Jeremy smirked, as I turned to look at him, questioning what the smirk was for._

" _Don't really see who else it could be." I said. We strolled over to take a seat on the log, to observe the bittersweet memory. I knew that it was bittersweet because I immediately remembered that in a few minutes, Mikael was going to show up and ruin the light-hearted atmosphere. And all of his anger would be directed towards Nik, who I recalled hadn't finished his chores from before we had started playing. Jeremy continued observing him._

" _What's eating you?" He asked, not taking his eyes off 'mini-Niklaus'. I offered him a tight smile._

" _You'll find out in a moment." I promised, grimly. Just then 'mini-me' let out a disgusted shriek and I snapped my head back in her direction, and watched as she started batting at her hair; removing dirt and what looked like worms. She ran off towards Elijah who glanced at her in surprise and confusion when she wrapped her arms around his waist. He sighed tiredly when 'mini-Niklaus' came running after 'mini-me' cackling with mischievous laughter. His infamous dimple was on display._

" **Niklaus, what did you do now?"** _Elijah's deep voice, even at twelve-years old scolded 'mini-Niklaus'. Elijah crouched down to look 'mini-me' in the face and wiped away her tears._ **"Do not pay him any attention, dear one. He is still yet to mature, but he does not intend you harm."** _We all watched as 'mini-Kol' ran over to 'mini-Niklaus' and they hi-fived each other as 'mini-Rebekah' ran over to 'mini-me' and Elijah and gave me a comforting hug while scowling at her brothers._ **"Do not cry."** _'Mini-Rebekah' urged, sweetly. 'Mini-me' smiled a little, but we all instantly flinched when Mikael's deep aristocratic voice came angrily booming in._

" **NIKLAUS!"**

 _Jeremy's eyes widened in horror as he watched the children and teenagers shiver in fear. Finn and Elijah attempted to comfort us, while 'mini-Niklaus' stood bravely and defiantly by himself, but still exhibited some fear. The memory instantly went fuzzy, like an old-fashioned television on the fritz before Jeremy had the chance to see what happened next. I just wished that I was able to forget the memory of Nik being verbally and physically abused by Mikael while the rest of us watched helplessly under the protection and comfort of Elijah, while Finn tried to intervene._

* * *

 _Jeremy looked horrified._

" _Did that guy always sound like that?" He asked, and paled when I nodded grimly._

" _That guy was Mikael." I said as Jeremy's eyes widened when he recognized the name._

" _You mean the guy that Elena, Damon and Alaric were always talking about?" He asked. I looked at him strangely._

" _Thought you said that you knew almost nothing because people left you out of it?" I asked, suspiciously. Jeremy scowled._

" _Didn't stop me from overhearing their conversation. All I knew was this 'Mikael' guy was bad news for Klaus, and that they were bringing him to town to help get rid of Klaus." Jeremy elaborated. "Was he really as bad as they claimed?" He asked, curiously._

 _I nodded, upset. "Mikael was their father and head of their family." I explained. "In the 10th century, his word was law; which meant that all of us had to toe the line or suffer the consequences of disobeying him." I explained. "It was particularly hard for women during this time, because we were deemed as inferior and that our only job was to remain a virgin until we got married, have children and become the dutiful wife to obey her husband." I added, bitterly._

" _So, you and Rebekah were pretty much screwed?" Jeremy asked, sounding shocked._

" _Pretty much. Except in this family, Rebekah actually got treated better than Nik, but only just. He used to cop it constantly, and none of us knew why Mikael hated him so much. It sometimes got so bad that Esther; his mother, had to risk Mikael's wrath and intervene." I said, sadly._

" _Shit. He sounds like a bigger dick than Uncle John used to be." Jeremy observed. I thought back to the guy we all discovered was actually Elena's biological father, and I remembered how much I despised his arrogant, cocky attitude. At times he made Damon look like a saint, even though he never killed any humans._

" _The biggest." I agreed; still pleased that both Nik and I were the ones who finally killed Mikael._

* * *

 _Another memory was beginning to take form, and Jeremy and I found ourselves as apparitions just standing in the middle of the village, with the residents going about their business as usual._

" _Where are we now?" Jeremy asked, looking fascinated by everything going on around him._

" _You could say that we're standing in Mystic Falls, or at least the site of what will eventually become Mystic Falls." I replied. "The Mikaelson's and I grew up here since our families immigrated to America from Norway to avoid a deadly plague." Jeremy looked like a kid trapped in a candy store._

" _This is way better than any history class Ric has ever taught us. Why didn't he know about this?" He asked. I shrugged, a tad confused about that myself ever since Rebekah pointed it out when she first came to the high school to help Stefan keep an eye on Elena and me._

" _Beats me." I said. Just then Tatia Petrova walked around the corner of a nearby group of thatched houses, instantly catching Jeremy's attention._

" _Elena?" He muttered, looking stunned._

 _I snorted, "No. That is her ancestor, Tatia Petrova; the first doppelgänger in the line of the Petrova Family." I stated with disgust._

" _That is so freaky how much she looks like Katherine and my sister." Jeremy observed, looking freaked. We followed her wherever she was headed, and I bristled instantly when I noticed Tatia making a deliberate beeline for a now grown-up Elijah and Nik, who were having a lively conversation with my former life. Jeremy frowned when he noticed 'Graínne' and looked at me curiously._

" _You sure you're not a doppelgänger also, Grace?" He asked sardonically, as we watched Tatia barge into the trio's conversation and turned on the charm with the Mikaelson brothers trying to hog the attention. Elijah seemed instantly charmed (much to my disgust), while Nik smiled politely at Tatia but ultimately looked uncomfortable. 'Graínne' on the other hand was shooting Tatia a look of utter loathing, which Nik noticed and hastily made excuses to leave; taking my former life with him._

* * *

 _Jeremy let out a low whistle._

" _That looked awkward." He observed, as the memory faded like the first one before._

" _Not at all. Tatia just lacked manners and had no filter or common sense. At this stage of our lives, Niklaus and I were courting, and Tatia had a reputation." I lectured Jeremy who frowned curiously, but wisely decided to change the subject._

" _How did they become vampires? I know how it works back in our time, because Anna explained how it's done. But I don't think that's how the Mikaelsons' became vampires, right?" Jeremy questioned._

 _I grinned. Another memory faded into view; which this time I recognized as the day after Henrik was killed by werewolves. (Which thankfully we just breezed quickly through, since this would be the third time I was revealing this to someone) before it shifted to where the both of us were standing in a house that I recognized as the Mikaelsons' sitting room._

 _I frowned._

" _I have no memory of this." I stated, glancing about their sitting room, earning a frown from Jeremy who was still pale from seeing Henrik – the same kid he had just met back in reality – lying limp and bloodied in his brother's arms as he was carried back into the village. I had to explain to a shaken and confused Jeremy that the Henrik he just met, was in fact a corporeal ghost. Something that youngest Gilbert struggled to understand, in addition to the knowledge that he could now see ghosts._

" _What do you mean?" He asked, nervously._

" _What I mean is, if this memory is what I'm thinking it is, then I only_ **heard** _it from Rebekah personally when she was forced to explain it to Elena. I never_ **saw** _what actually happened. So this is impossible." I explained. We jumped – forgetting for a moment that we couldn't be seen – when the entire family (minus Henrik and myself. I recall being blissfully unaware of what was about to happen) came into the room, dressed in their sleepwear. Both Mikael and Esther looked suspiciously calm, which rang alarm bells. A large golden goblet filled with a suspicious red liquid was being carried in by Esther._

" _What's happening?" Jeremy demanded, looking alarmed. My grip tightened on Jeremy's hand._

" _I believe we are about to witness the creation of the Originals." I replied, nervously._

* * *

 **A/N: To be continued next chapter. Jeremy's education into the supernatural shouldn't take too much longer, and I hope that my loyal readers have an idea of what I am doing. If not, leave a review and I'll explain. Thanks for sticking around for this long. Stay tuned for the next chapter. TTFN xx**


	50. Stepping Through The Twilight Zone

**A/N: My apologies for the late chapter update. My laptop's hard drive decided it was time to die, and I had to replace it; losing ALL of my data because I stupidly neglected to back up. So I had to start from scratch. Thanks for your patience.**

 **Fair warning. There is a rather violent scene described in this chapter. I shall give you fair warning if you would like to skip ahead. Otherwise, read at your own risk!**

 **Please review, and as always no flames will be accepted.**

 **I don't own The Vampire Diaries. All characters (except for Grace) belong to author L.J. Smith.**

 **Enjoy Xx.**

* * *

 ** **THE TWILIGHT ZONE****

" _Not all those who wonder, are lost."_ ** _  
_** ** **~J.R.R Tolkien.****

* * *

 ** **~: (Multiple) Flashback/Memory :~****

 _Jeremy and I watched nervously as the unfamiliar memory unfolded before us. We were both going into this one blind, because my former life had not paid witness to this a thousand years ago when Esther and Mikael first created this plan between them, leaving_ _all_ _of_ _their children ignorant._

 _I strongly suspected that I was probably focusing on either Nik or Rebekah's memory of this fateful night, unconsciously. I also wouldn't doubt it for a moment, that if I had've been there when the first vampires in the world were created; that I'd probably would've been one of them right now … or worse:_ _my_ _blood would've been used for their transformation, just to really stick it to the siblings who truly cared about me: namely Elijah, Rebekah, Kol and especially Nik._

 _I shuddered at the very thought._

 _Jeremy nudged me insistently while I was stuck thinking about this, and I was brought forcibly back to the present. He was frowning curiously at the red liquid the golden goblet contained._

 _"What do you suppose is that?" He wondered._

 _"Wine, laced with blood." I replied promptly. Jeremy made a horrified face, turning a slightly sickly shade of green at the same time._

 _"Thought you said you had no memory of this?" He stated, frowning at me. I grimaced._

 _"I don't. Like I said before; I'm just going by what I was told by Rebekah when Elena started interrogating the both of us." I explained, helplessly. Jeremy stopped looking at the Mikaelsons for a split second to look at me with surprise and bewilderment._

 _"Elena interrogated you and Rebekah? Wha... How is that her business?! Why?" He demanded._

 _"Because Damon and Alaric are big mouths, and showed Elena the caves where the Mikaelsons and I once camped out in during the full moon, to avoid the werewolves. They showed her the cave walls, on which the family carved their names, and years later; locals drew a mural-like story that depicted Nik killing his own mother – justifiably, of course – out of revenge." I explained._

 _"Revenge? For what?" Jeremy asked. "Turning him into a vampire?"_

 _I hesitated, earning a suspicious frown from Jeremy, but figured this was the point of no return and decided to press on; since I had made it this far with the explanation, and it would be really stupid if I reneged on the deal that I had struck up with Jeremy about telling him the whole truth about the supernatural, that Elena … and to a point, Damon and the rest had neglected to tell him._

 _"That … and other things. I'll explain to you later. I've got a feeling that this will probably be revealed to us before this premonition/memory is over." I told him, as we both watched Mikael sharpening his sword with a whetstone; using long deliberate strokes._

 _Jeremy paled, "Yeah, 'cause_ that's _not intimidating at all." He said dryly, as he observed Mikael testing the sharpness of his sword, by scraping it with the edge of his thumb. The sword is immediately set aside as Mikael addresses his confused and very wary children, who were sitting or standing around; waiting patiently for their father to explain himself to them. Elijah, ever the leader, bravely stood up and addressed Mikael._

 ** _"Father? Why have you woken us up at this hour? Is something the matter?"_** _Both Jeremy and I frowned disapprovingly when Mikael merely ignored the question, and gestured for Esther to come forward with the Goblet in her hands._

 ** _"Your mother and I have come up with a solution to our present crisis; due to the needless death of your brother..."_** _Here Mikael aimed a vicious glare in Nik's direction, which caused my love to glare at the dirt floor of their hut with guilt and resentment. I cracked a small smile when I noticed Rebekah, who was sitting between both Nik and Elijah on the same wooden bench, attempted to comfort her brother by taking his hand and rubbing it tenderly with her thumb. Nik squeezed back gratefully._ _ **"...we will be participating in a ritual for protection against those beasts. We will not lose another member of this family!"** __Mikael bellowed, causing everybody to jump or cower in fear._

 _"This guy is looney tunes." Jeremy muttered, with disgust. "Be grateful you never had to deal with this prick up close and personal, Jer." I muttered back._

 ** _"A spell?"_** _Kol raised a (blurred; since he was still unknown to me at present) eyebrow._ _ **"Are you sure that's wise, Father?"** __He bravely asked, earning a hard glare from Mikael in response._

 _ **"Are you questioning my judgement, boy?"** __Mikael growled at Kol whose eyes widened almost immediately, causing Elijah to stand up to calm Mikael down._

 ** _"Be reasonable, Father. It's only natural for us to be cautious. It's self-preservation."_** _Elijah attempted to soothe the savage beast. Mikael backed down a little, but still scowled at them all. Jeremy's disgust deepened._

 _"Geez, what's this guy's problem? It's just a question." He bitched, and I placed a calming hand on his shoulder._

 _"It's just how it was done back in the Middle Ages. Mikael was the head of the household, and his word was law. You didn't dare defy the head, if you did not want to suffer punishment." I scowled at Mikael with intense dislike. "Although, Mikael often took things way too far. But it depended which child was receiving the punishment; I had the unfortunate pleasure of witnessing him punishing Nik once when we were both very young children; about six and eight-years old respectively." I said, sadly._

 _"What did Klaus do?" Jeremy's voice became suddenly very small, it looked like he was thinking of every possible punishment he could think of._

 _"Nothing that warranted being switched until he was black, blue and bloodied." I explained, darkly._

 _Jeremy looked confused, "What's 'switched'?"_

 _"A form of corporal punishment. In this case, a child would be beaten with an object like a tree branch or a whip, belt, whatever the punisher could get their hands on." I explained, much to Jeremy's horror. "Sometimes, the parent or guardian would often make the child retrieve the 'switch' they were to be disciplined with, just to ram home that they were to be punished."_

 _"That's sick." Jeremy exclaimed, horrified._

 _"That's life. Up until it was abolished in the 20_ _th_ _century." I insisted, nonchalantly. "Although, there are only very few countries who still practice corporal punishment even now."_

 _"What the hell did he do to get 'switched'?"_

 _"Nik and I were playing in the dirt and just enjoying being children. At one point, I was particularly cheeky and Nik retaliated by chasing me though the woods we were playing in, and he tackled me to the ground and proceeded to tickle me until I almost threw up." I recalled, smiling at the memory._

 _"What's wrong with that?" Jeremy asked, confused._

 _"Officially, nothing. Except that our positions were slightly compromising and the fact that I was female, might've been a factor. We – females – were considered inferior back then, and had to be protected like we were porcelain dolls." I scoffed, dejectedly. "Had it been anybody else who came across us, Nik probably would've gotten a stern warning and a lecture about how I was a female and thus should be treated as such. But alas..."_

 _"Mikael found you." Jeremy connected the dots, tonelessly. "I think I've got the picture." He said, glancing at Mikael with hard eyes._

 _We both watched as Mikael gestured rudely for the Goblet Esther was holding patiently in her hands, unaware of the dark glare she aimed at him as she obediently walked over and placed the cup in his hands. Wordlessly, the Mikaelson head of house; placed the rim of the goblet to his lips and drank deep. Wincing only slightly - perhaps at the taste, I suspected – before he slowly opened his eyes and passed the Goblet over to an unwilling Finn who looked at the blood-laced wine, hesitantly._

 ** _"Drink some of the wine, then pass it along to your brothers and sister."_** _Mikael orders him. When Finn doesn't immediately obey him, Mikael whirls on his eldest child and snarls._ ** _"Do it, now!"_**

 _Seeing that he had no choice; Finn raises the goblet to his lips and mimics his father, wrinkling his nose at the taste before withdrawing and passing it along to Kol, who frowns, but follows his brother's example. He makes a face at the flavour._

 ** _"Ugh. Mother, I think the wine you used for this ritual is corked. It tastes ghastly."_** _Kol observes, as he passes the goblet to Elijah who aims a warning look at his brother too late._

 ** _"Shut up, boy!"_** _Mikael snapped. Kol scowls and looks away, as Elijah stoically drinks and passes it to Rebekah without any comment; but questioning his parents' motives as Rebekah takes a tiny mouthful of the wine._ _ **"More!"** __Mikael orders her sternly. Rebekah grimaces but obeys him._

 _When it is Nik's turn however, both Jeremy and I noticed something strange. Nik takes the goblet from his sister, and obviously not desiring to inflame his father's ire even further, quickly gulps down what is left of the wine. Except after swallowing the foul-tasting liquid; Nik's eyes widen in horrified realisation and stares at Mikael._

'Oh, God no...' _I thought, aghast. Jeremy seemed to suspect something was amiss as well._

 _"Why does Klaus look so horrified?" He demanded, looking scared._

 _"I'm not positive; but I think he's somehow figured out what was mixed in that wine he just drank." I answered. Jeremy looked surprised. "I think he just unconsciously used his powerful untriggered werewolf senses." I added._

 _"Untriggered? You mean Klaus isn't a werewolf right now?" Jeremy asked._

 _"Not right now, no. He's like Tyler used to be before the masquerade ball. You remember, where Damon and Stefan attempted to take down Katherine before we all realised that she had somehow gotten a witch to link herself to Elena?" I tried to jog his memory._

 _Jeremy suddenly looked sympathetic, "Yeah. Tyler really didn't want to trigger his werewolf gene." He stated. "So untriggered werewolves still have supernatural abilities, huh?"_

 _"Seems like it." I decided. Suddenly, Mikael gets to his feet, grabbing our attention, and making Nik and the others nervous._

 _ **"Father? What happens now?"** __Elijah enquired, trying and failing to disguise his nerves._

 _"What's he doing now?" Jeremy echoed Elijah's question. I didn't answer, or rather didn't have to as Mikael suddenly reached for his newly sharpened sword, which triggered something that Rebekah had rather grimly told Elena and me during our interrogation:_

"That night, my father offered us some wine laced with blood. Your ancestor's blood actually. And then he drove his sword through our hearts..." _My eyes widened when I realised what was about to happen next._

 _"Jeremy, close your eyes!" I immediately spoke up, urgently. Jeremy looked at me with surprise._

 _"Why?" He asked. But before I could tell him again, Rebekah screamed; drawing both our attention. Jeremy's eyes widened in horror as Mikael had driven his sword through Elijah's heart._

 _"Holy shit!" He swore, his brown eyes wide._

'That's why.' _I thought, panicking._

* * *

 ** **(A/N: VIOLENCE AHEAD. Skip ahead if you'd rather not read.)****

* * *

 _All hell broke loose, as Mikael released Elijah from the sword; not giving his slain son a second glance as he turned towards his next victim: a horrified Finn, whom he promptly skewered. Immediately, both Kol and Nik corralled an inconsolable Rebekah into a corner, trying to protect her from their father._

 ** _"Stay behind us, Bekah. Father's obviously become unstable."_** _Nik instructed his sister, as Mikael pulled his sword free from Finn and turned his attention towards the three of them, pinning them with a ruthless warrior's stare._

 ** _"You just stay away from us!"_** _Kol yells at Mikael, who smirks maliciously and suddenly vamp-speeds towards him. He gasped when the cold steel suddenly cuts into his chest. Rebekah and Nik yell out in horror and dismay._

 _"Wait? Mikael turned into a vampire first? How is he controlling his bloodlust?" I exclaimed, incredulously._

 _Jeremy threw me a scandalised look. "You're seriously asking that question right now!?" He yells, gesturing at the bloody scene before us. Kol clutches at his chest and his knees buckle before he falls face first to the ground._

 _ **"KOL!"** __Rebekah shrieks, trying to reach for her brother. But Nik instantly stops her._

 _ **"Run for it, Bekah!"** __Nik urges as he wraps his hand around her wrist and they make a beeline for the door. However, Mikael manages to intercept them both, and backhands Nik out of the way before grabbing a sobbing and pleading Rebekah._ ** _"No! Leave her alone!"_** _Nik pleads, trying to stop Mikael from impaling his beloved sister. But Mikael ignores him and stabs Rebekah who barely makes a sound as she drops to the hard, straw strewn floor. Nik's tear-streaked eyes widen in horror, before he collapses beside Rebekah's fallen body._ ** _"Rebekah! No!"_** _He sobs. Mikael comes up behind him, sneering down at him with disgust. A look of unrestrained fury passes over my beloved's face._ ** _"YOU BASTARD!"_** _Nik roars and turns to confront Mikael, who merely stabs Nik; all the way up to the hilt._

 _Instinctively, Nik grabs Mikael's tunic top and looks at him with betrayal. Blood spills out the corner of his mouth, as Mikael pushes Nik off his sword and grabs a rag to slowly and deliberately wipe the blood from the burnished metal._

 _ **"Just as I suspected, Niklaus. Pathetic and weak."** __He sneered, and to both of our outrage; continues to stare at Nik as he slowly and painfully draws his last breath, triggering his transition._

* * *

 ** **(A/N: End of Violent scene)****

* * *

 _"I'm gonna have nightmares for weeks." A pale Jeremy decided. Then it was like somebody had hit fast forward on the remote control as the memory suddenly shifted to what was apparently either several minutes or a few hours later. As we both watched, slowly, one-by-one; each Mikaelson sibling woke up and sat up, looking both scared and confused as they glanced around the room._

 _Mikael had disappeared._

 _"Where'd the hell did that complete psycho go?" Jeremy wondered, shakily._

 _"I don't know, Jeremy." I replied, feeling numb. I was honestly, relieved that I had never known that this carnage had occurred. Nobody should've gone through, what they went through. It was too horrible for words._

 _There was a large, red grisly reminder of what had occurred soaked into the nightshirts and nightgowns of each Mikaelson sibling. Nik was the first to speak; but he only had eyes for Rebekah who looked disoriented._ ** _"Bekah..."_** _He murmured, crawling over to her side and helping her to sit up, ignoring his own pain. Rebekah glanced down at her nightgown and saw the bloodstain right where her heart resided._

 _ **"Blood!"** __Her eyes widened in horror._ ** _"What happened?"_** _She demanded, fearfully. Nik gently seized a hold of her face, drawing her focus to his own fatigued, frightened face._

 ** _"Everything's going to be fine. I promise."_** _Nik promised her, his voice sounding false to all our ears. He held Rebekah close as both Mikael and Esther reappeared in the room, with the former leading in a dazed looking local girl from the village._

 _My eyes widened grimly. I feared that if they got any bigger, my eyeballs would fall right out of my head. I turned towards Jeremy and clapped a hand on his shoulder._

 _"Okay, Jer. Pop quiz." I began, trying to relieve an otherwise horrible situation. "When a human undergoes transition, what are the two options available to them?" I asked, praying that at least one of our vampire friends on hand had told Jeremy the procedure. Jeremy immediately tensed up, obviously knowing the answer but reluctant to say it._

 _"Uh, Anna told me this..." He said, distractedly. My eyebrow rose, questioning who 'Anna' was, but also feeling relieved. "When we transition we can either do nothing and die within 24 hours. Or, we..." He trailed off, and I smiled approvingly when Jeremy realised why the dazed village girl was being led into the room. "Oh, you gotta be kidding me..." Amazingly, the normally quiet Finn was the first to speak._

 ** _"Father, what is this?"_** _He demanded, urgently. Mikael did not respond to Finn's question._

 _ **"Each of you must feed."** __He announced, earning looks of confusion from his children._

 ** _"Feed?"_** _Elijah frowned. Mikael used the same sword he had killed his children with to slit the wrist of the village girl, and in seconds; five heads swivelled in her direction, confused but hungry eyes fixated upon the fresh, hot blood that trickled down her wrist in a steady red rivulet. Kol, Rebekah and Nik widened their eyes in horror, while both Finn and Elijah looked grim and like they were in serious pain._

 ** _"Drink!"_** _Mikael led the girl over to a whimpering Rebekah who eyed the bleeding wrist with trepidation. She shook her head, and tried to back away. But Mikael was relentless._

 ** _"Leave her alone!"_** _Nik growled, but he was still weakened and unable to budge the obviously much stronger Mikael who shoved him aside and grabbed the back of Rebekah's head, pulling her closer to the poor girl's wrist._

 ** _"I SAID DRINK!"_** _Mikael roared, and pressed a resisting Rebekah down. The second Rebekah's lips wrapped around the wound, and she began to suck; I knew that as of that moment, the first vampires had been born._

* * *

 _The 'fast forward' motion occurred again, and both Jeremy and I groaned in frustration._

 _"Stop the ride, I wanna get off!" Jeremy quipped, sardonically as another memory started to resurface. I grimaced, and looked at him apologetically._

 _"I'm sorry, Jeremy. This whole thing was a really bad idea." I stated, regretfully._

 _"No it wasn't." I glanced at the teenager in astonishment. "Sure, what's going on is annoying as hell. But at least I'm learning something." He insisted. "Plus, I have to admit. I kinda feel sorry for Klaus, Elijah and Rebekah. Their dad was a dick." I couldn't help but blink at him in astonishment._

 _"You are a very strange kid." I admitted, giving him a crooked smile._

 _"I've heard worse." He laughs. Our surroundings suddenly dimmed dramatically, and it immediately put both of us on alert for potential danger. "Do you know where we are, Grace?" He asked, sounding slightly hopeful that we weren't traipsing through unknown territory again._

 _"I regret to inform you, mate, that I haven't the foggiest idea what this memory could be." I said, frustrated. "This must be one of those memories that the Mikaelsons excluded me from for my own safety."_

 _It turned out that Jeremy and I were standing exposed in the middle of the woods in the dead of night. I just hoped that 'dead' was not the key word this time round._

 _"Figures." Jeremy bitched, then jumped when the bushes beside him immediately started rustling. "What the hell is that?"_ That _turned out to be a frightened villager running for his life, as fast as his feet could carry him. Forgetting that neither of us could be seen, or heard; Jeremy and I instinctively cringed when the man fazed through us like we weren't even there and continued on. Intrigued, Jeremy cracked a small grin. "Let's follow him!" He suggested and took off._

 _"Jeremy, wait for me! This dress is heavy!" I shouted at him, picking up my skirts and running after the surprisingly fast teen. We followed the stranger deeper into the woods. Sweat was practically dripping off his body and soaking into his tunic, and making his long, unruly hair stick to his forehead._

 _"What do you suppose he's running from?" Jeremy asked me curiously when the guy finally stopped running, probably believing that he was safe._

 _That could be a potentially fatal mistake._

 _"Whatever it is, it can't be good. I just wonder whose memory we're observing." I replied, and gasped in fright when the answer appeared from behind us in a blink of an eye: Niklaus. "Make that_ who _is this guy running from." I amended Jeremy's earlier question, making him turn and widen his eyes when he saw Nik. My love eyed the man, his 'prey' I belatedly realised to my horror and sorrow, with a calculating gaze. But there was an obvious pain in Nik's blue-green eyes that I did not like, as well as anger and frustration. He took a single step forward, deliberately crushing a twig beneath his boot; which alerted the man to his presence._

 _ **"Please, don't hurt me..."** __The man pleaded tearfully. Without warning, Nik immediately pounced upon the poor man; tearing into his jugular and spraying blood all down the front of his tunic top, smearing and dripping down his chin, around his mouth and in his long dirty blonde hair. The man's blood stained his hands._

 _"Oh, Nik..." I moaned in anguish, causing Jeremy to come over trying to comfort me. Within seconds, it was over and Nik carelessly dumped the corpse to the leaf-strewn floor and drew in a couple of deep breaths to regain some control over his blood lust. Suddenly, the clouds parted overhead and my eyes widened when brilliant white light flooded over us … including Nik. "Shit!" I blurted out._

 _"What is it?" Jeremy was immediately alert._

 _"I know whose memory this is, and what is about to happen." I told him, immediately. Jeremy frowned at me, waiting for me to explain. But just before I could explain, there was very loud cracking noise … coming from Nik's direction. He screamed out in agony. "This is the night Nik discovered that he was a werewolf." Nik's bones continued breaking and shifting position; just like they did when he had finally broken the Hybrid Curse. Only instead of looking elated, Nik looked utterly terrified and confused about what was happening to him._

 _Jeremy gulped, "He's shifting, isn't he?"_

 _"Yes."_

 ** _"Niklaus!"_** _Jeremy and I turned towards Elijah's urgent voice off in the distance. Nik screams again and drops to his knees, panting heavily and recoiling horribly from the pain. Jeremy cringed with sympathy. Suddenly, both Elijah and Mikael run into view, but freeze when they see Nik's condition. He looks up at them, pleadingly._

 ** _"What is happening to me!?"_** _Nik shouted at his brother and Mikael, desperately. Elijah made to rush over to aid his brother, but Mikael stops him, a look of horror and disbelief passing over his face._

 ** _"Don't!"_** _An alarmed Mikael orders Elijah, who glowers at his father in outrage._ ** _"Don't! Get back!"_** _Before all of our eyes, Nik immediately curls in on himself in an effort to alleviate some of his pain. He looks up at Mikael, beseechingly. At this point, Mikael has realised what is happening, and is looking enraged._

 ** _"Father! It hurts!"_** _Nik whimpered. Jeremy, Elijah and I looked over at Mikael, and none of us were surprised to see a cold mask covering his face. Nik's bones continued breaking and shifting like kindling and he lets out a passionate, agonised scream that quickly shifted into an inhuman growl, and he started shivering like a leaf as he continued panting through the pain._

 ** _"He's a beast! An abomination!"_** _Mikael snarled, livid. Nik slowly looks up, causing both Jeremy and I to back up in alarm; his normally blue-green eyes had shifted into a brilliant golden shade._

 _The Original Hybrid had been unleashed._

* * *

 _That seemed to be the trigger for the memories to start fast forwarding again, as the image of Nik's pissed off 'hybrid-mode' face faded from view, much to Jeremy's relief._

 _"Remind me never to piss off Klaus, if that's what happens if he's crossed." He instructed me, before shuddering violently._

 _"Likewise." I silently agreed; although I sincerely doubted that I'd ever make Nik that angry. It would take something drastic and unforgivable for him to show me that face._

 _"Do you know what happened after that?" Jeremy asked. I grimaced, uncomfortably._

 _"Yeah. Unfortunately, I do." I replied. Finally, the next – and hopefully final – memory stopped, and this time I definitely recognised it. Jeremy groaned in annoyance._

 _"The woods? Really, again?"_

 _"Yes, again." I confirmed. "We're not far from the caves we used to shelter in to avoid the werewolves."_

 _"So this is your memory?" Jeremy guessed, and I nodded solemnly._

 _"Yes. This is the night that changed both Nik's and my lives, forever." I said, attempting to climb over a fallen log. Jeremy easily scaled it, and offered me a hand over. I smiled gratefully at him. "Unfortunately, it doesn't have a happy ending." I concluded, ominously._

 _Jeremy made a face, "Have_ any _of these memories ever ended on a good note?"_

 _"Touche." I conceded. Jeremy followed me as I wondered through the trees, trying to pinpoint where my memory began._

 _"Judging by the reaction Mikael had in that last memory, he didn't take Klaus being a werewolf very well." Jeremy stated._

 _"According to Elijah's account of what happened, that's an understatement." I told him. "It turned out that Nik was not Mikael's son."_

 _"Esther two-timed Mikael?" Jeremy blinked, obviously not expecting to learn that._

 _I nodded, "This had serious repercussions that unfortunately I got caught up in." I told him, sadly._

 _"What do you mean?" He asked, sober-faced._ _I sighed heavily, resigned to watch myself being slaughtered like an animal, in person._

 _"Mikael did not appreciate finding out that Nik was not one of his own, and he was furious at not only him but also Esther for breaking their vows." I explained. "That night; Mikael, Esther, Elijah and Nik were very late coming into the caves. Since Henrik's death, everybody had become very vigilant about their safety; so it was very concerning that something bad might've happened to them. So I ventured out of the caves to find them."_

 ** _"Niklaus?"_** _My past life stumbled into view, dressed in a blood red dress, brown belt and leather vambraces. My waist-length wavy dark brown hair had been let down and allowed to blow freely in the night air. Jeremy looked between both me and 'Gráinne' with shock._

 _"Woah, sure you're not a doppelgänger?" He muttered, dryly._

 _ **"Elijah? Esther?"** '_ _Gráinne' shouted out into the night air as she made her way further through the woods, searching for them. Jeremy and I followed her through the trees._ ** _"Mikael?"_** _The expected bright light flashed in the distance from where we were standing._

 _"What's that?" Jeremy frowned, as he watched my past life cautiously heading towards it.  
_

 _"Why don't you go and find out?" I suggested, earning a suspicious look from him before he reluctantly follows_ _'_ _Gráinne'. I follow unhurriedly after the pair of them, not particularly keen on witnessing what was about to happen in the clearing._ _'_ _Gráinne', Jeremy and I make to the clearing; which revealed a large campfire with Esther kneeling before it chanting in what sounded like Latin underneath her breath while she was chucking handfuls of herbs and other miscellaneous ingredients into the crackling flames. There was a tense, fixated expression on her slightly careworn face._

 _"What the hell is going on here?" Jeremy demanded nervously as he looked at me for an explanation. I lean against a nearby tree and gestured over at what I still considered the worst thing I had ever witnessed in my mortal life._

 _"Take a look." I encouraged him, and Jeremy followed my pointing finger and gasps. Nik was in the process of being chained up to a wooden cross by Mikael, who was having issues because he was violently bucking and struggling against him._

 _"What is he doing to Klaus?" Jeremy exclaimed._

 _"They are preparing him for the Hybrid Curse." I explained tonelessly._

 _"The curse that required Elena to die?" Jeremy suddenly looked fierce._

 _"Yes." I said, succinctly._

 ** _"Elijah!"_** _Jeremy flinched when Mikael's harsh voice cut into the conversation, and he, like a horrified 'Gráinne', zeroed in on him and a very reluctant Elijah who looked like he wanted to be anywhere but where he was._ ** _"Elijah, hold him down!"_** _Mikael barked at his older son._

 _"You see, Jeremy..." I started to explain, grabbing his attention as we watched Mikael vamp-sped over to Nik and watched him use his super-strength to hold him down; earning a glare from his victim. I eyed Mikael with so much hatred and disgust. "Mikael's biggest weakness, is his pride; and when he transitioned into a vampire alongside his children, it was magnified. He was so humiliated and angry about the betrayal, that he forced Esther to curse Nik and suppress his werewolf heritage."_

 ** _"Brother please!"_** _I avoided looking at the memory, and chose to stare Jeremy in the face, to observe how he was taking my memory on his own._ ** _"Don't let them do this to me!"_** _Nik pleaded with Elijah. Jeremy looked at me with shock._

 _"Wait. Elijah helped his parents curse Klaus?"_

 _"Unfortunately."_

 _Mikael turned his head and glared at Elijah,_ ** _"Do it now, boy! Now!"_** _He roared, and Jeremy's mouth fell open when Elijah finally obeyed his father._

 _"He did it. He actually betrayed Klaus right to his face." Jeremy muttered in disbelief, obviously unsure if he should be impressed or look at Elijah with pity as he watched him help Mikael shackle Nik to the cross._

 _I nodded, grimly. "And according to Elijah himself, it wouldn't be the last time he betrayed his little brother." This time I glanced over at both brothers, watching as Nik attempted a last ditch effort to appeal to Elijah to help him._

 ** _"Help me...!"_** _Nik begged, almost aggressively. His werewolf momentarily rearing its head._

 _"Which is why Nik doesn't trust easily, or suffer fools lightly." I told him, stepping away from the tree and walking over to the cross Nik was shackled up against. I bypassed Jeremy and stood in front of a weakened Nik and looked him right in his blue-green eyes, despite the fact that I was just an illusion and he could not see me. "He also has no mercy for those who disappoint him."_

 _"So he wasn't always a total psycho?" Jeremy guessed._

 _I shook my head, "No. He wasn't." But then turned and levelled Jeremy with a hard stare. "But even though he can be in our time; can you really blame him? Considering how his life had turned out?" I questioned. Jeremy opened his mouth to retort but I pushed on before he could speak, knowing what was about to happen next. "Mind you, I didn't exactly help matters."_

 ** _"NO! STOP!"_** _Jeremy jumped when my horrified voice pierces the night air. He looks at me with confusion, before realising that it wasn't me that had spoken. He turned his head towards 'Gráinne' who had rushed into the clearing, grabbing everybody's attention._

 ** _"Gráinne, get out of here! GO!"_** _I heard Nik's familiar words, and winced._

 _"What's happening?" Jeremy demanded, suddenly looking afraid. I didn't answer. "Grace!?" Esther stood up from the campfire, looking sober-faced._

 ** _"It is done."_** _She announced, causing Nik's face to fall in anguish. Jeremy's eyes widened in horror when Mikael turned his murderous eyes upon 'Gráinne' and unsheathed his sword._

 ** _"RUN, GRÁINNE!"_** _We heard Nik shouting urgently, as Elijah body slams his father, and attempts to keep him at bay._

 ** _"What are you waiting for, Gráinne, run! I cannot hold him off for long!"_** _Elijah urges, and 'Gráinne' took off through the trees followed closely by Jeremy and myself._

 _"Damnit, Grace! Tell me what the fuck is going on? Why is everyone going apeshit?!" Jeremy yells at me, as I ran alongside him through the woods; following a petrified 'Gráinne' trying to evade a vengeful Mikael._

 _I sighed, tiredly. "This is my final few moments upon this Earth, in this life." Jeremy looked at me with horror. "That's what I meant before when I said that I didn't exactly help matters."_

 _"You mean, you're about to die?" Jeremy mutters in a small voice, indicating towards 'Gráinne'. Then his eyes widened in realisation. "Is that why Mikael unsheathed his sword? He's going to murder you?"_

 _"I learned a long time ago, Jeremy, that everything happens for a reason. If I had not died this night, my death would not have been a motivation for Nik." I explained._

 _"Motivation for what?" Jeremy sounded appalled. But his attention was caught when a tall, blonde blur suddenly zooms past us and pulled 'Gráinne' down into some nearby bushes. Jeremy swore loudly._

 _"Relax, Jer." I reassured him. He looked at me like I was nuts, but when Nik suddenly emerged from the bush and looked about cautiously, looking a bit stressed; before pulling a scared 'Gráinne' out. Jeremy relaxed a little. "Don't get your hopes up. Nik's chivalrous actions are about to fail." I warned him, hating myself for bursting Jeremy's bubble. On cue, Nik is immediately blindsided by Elijah who pins him to a tree while 'Gráinne' is sent sprawling to the ground, causing her to gasp for breath. I winced as I remembered the nauseous, dazed feelings I experienced as a result._

 _"Oh, goddamnit!" Jeremy curses underneath his breath, making me crack the tiniest smile when I realised that he was actually rooting for Nik to get 'Gráinne' out of there safely. It was just too bad that his hopes would be in vain._

 ** _"NO!"_** _Nik yells, as Mikael comes into view._ ** _"Father, please!"_**

 ** _"Be silent, you stupid boy!"_**

 _Jeremy glowers at Mikael and clenches his fists, "What is this guy's deal!?"_

 _"I told you. This is his pride talking, Jeremy." I told him, sadly. "Mikael saw my death, as the only way to get back at Nik and to teach him a lesson." Jeremy flinches when he sees 'Gráinne' pulled forcibly to her feet and slammed none too gently against a tree._

 _"But it wasn't_ your _fault. Why is he taking this out on you?" Jeremy was understandably confused and anxious._

 _"A question I continue asking myself even now, kid." I admitted._

 ** _"Look at me, you stupid girl!"_** _Mikael snarls, and I automatically flinch, and closed my eyes when I remembered the cruel words Mikael hissed into my ear:_ _ **"Let this be a lesson to you, girl. Never trust a Mikaelson."** _

_"NO!" Jeremy screamed in unison with Nik when Mikael stabs 'Gráinne'._

 _"It's okay, Jeremy. I'm right here." I touched his shoulder, trying to draw his attention away from the grisly scene. I was startled to see that he was crying as he watched Nik break away from a horrified Elijah and gather up 'Gráinne' into his arms._

 _"Why did this happen?" He demanded. "This isn't right. Klaus might be a psycho, but even he doesn't deserve this type of treatment." Jeremy protested, angrily._

 ** _"I love you, Gráinne, so much."_** _Jeremy turned back to Nik, looking shocked at seeing the hybrid he associated as the one who murdered his sister, looking genuinely vulnerable and grief-stricken as he held his dying love in his arms._ ** _"I want you to know, that no matter how long it takes or how long I search; I will find you, and I will never let you go."_** _I smiled sadly, remembering the shocked but pleased look on Nik's face when I told him that I remembered those exact words. Nik leans down and kisses 'Gráinne'._ ** _"I love you, always and forever."_** _He promises as she dies in his arms. Jeremy looks upset before he remembers that I was standing beside him, alive and well._

* * *

 _"Like I said before Jeremy, everything happens for a reason. As a direct result of my death at the hands of his stepfather; Nik slowly started losing his trust with most of his family, especially Elijah and Esther; whom turned her back on him not long after I was buried, according to Rebekah." I told him._

 _"I don't blame him." Jeremy agreed._

 _"In essence, my death was his motivation to circumvent Mikael's actions and to both free himself from his curse and to find me in anyway he could."_

 _"So that's what you meant by 'motivation' before." Jeremy realised. "And a thousand years later he succeeded with all three of his goals … and along the way became a ruthless, evil, psychopathic asshole." He said, scathingly._

 _"But at least you now know why. The Mikaelsons have not had a great beginning and especially not an easy life; even before they became history's first ever vampires. And while they have done many horrible things all though history, most of it was so they could survive against Mikael who had been hunting them down ever since." I attempted to appeal to him. But Jeremy still didn't look entirely convinced, much to my worry and frustration._

 _"So, you're basically telling me to look the other way about the fact that these guys have murdered people to get their own way or probably for fun?" He looked at me accusingly. "Don't tell me that that hasn't affected you in any way."_

 _I frowned at him. "I've never approved of them killing anybody. They're not saints, and I'm not trying to make them out to be." I said. "I'm trying to get you to see both side of the same coin, before you start pointing fingers."_

 _"But Elena-"_

 _"Jeremy, I'm going to attempt to give you some advice about your sister. Feel free to take it on board, or take it with a grain of salt. But that's my advice to you in terms of what your sister may tell you in the months to come: take anything she says with a grain of salt." I stated, firmly._

 _"Excuse me? Why should I listen to anything you've got say? She's my sister, I barely know you. For all I know, Klaus has compelled you into saying all of this to me." Jeremy argued._

 _"Hardly. I've shown you all of these memories of my own free will. Neither Nik nor Rebekah have any idea what is going on right now. In fact, my biggest guess would be that they, Damon and Henrik are probably having kittens as we speak." I held up my wrist, revealing the plaited plum leather bracelet dangling from it._

 _"What's that?" Jeremy narrowed his eyes suspiciously._

 _"My vervain bracelet." I responded. "Elena gave to me back when we were friends. Of course, it was also before Nik came to town and caused Elena to become a paranoid, selfish martyr who manipulates people to get her own way." I said, also rather scathingly as I tugged my oversized sleeve down, causing Jeremy to unconsciously touch his own wrist and freeze when he realised that it was somehow missing._

 _"Missing something?" I asked, raising an eyebrow._

 _"_ My _vervain bracelet. Where'd it go?" He questioned, and my eyes widened when I realised exactly what Nik's persuasion technique was, back when he was attempting to get Damon on side. I pursed my lips and made a mental note to lightly slap him when Jeremy and I were finally free from this premonition run._

 _"Nik probably compelled somebody or got one of his hybrids to persuade you to take it off." I supplied, apologetically. Jeremy looked confused, until suddenly something occurred to him and he frowned looking betrayed._

 _"Tyler." He stated._

 _"A possible candidate." I agreed, sighing when Jeremy aimed a glare at me._

 _"And yet you're still with Klaus, even after he did that to me?" He stated, accusingly. I frowned back at him, getting annoyed and a little worried._

 _"Oi! You're still here and in one piece. I also hesitate to let you know that the second I found out what Nik had done, I persuaded him to take it back. So, instead of getting angry with me, you should be thanking me for saving your life." I told him. Jeremy looked surprised._

 _"You did that, for me?" I was angry that he seemed shocked by that._

 _"Why should you die over something that your sister and Stefan fucked up over?" I pointed out to him._

 _"What did they do?" Jeremy looked nervous._

 _"Stefan stole Nik's four coffins, three of which contain his brothers. Although, we're not so sure about the fourth coffin. Nik's keeping that secret pretty close to his chest. And Elena made things worse, by attempting to get Stefan to give them back. But that only made him dig his toes in further." I sighed, making one last ditch effort to get Jeremy to understand that Mikaelsons were not the enemy they had been made out to be. "Look, Jeremy. Nik might be notorious for being an evil, conniving, manipulative, ruthless psycho. But he does have a kind side and he's not unreasonable."_

 _Jeremy looked sceptical. "Could've fooled me."_

 _"He can be persuaded if you give him the right arguments, and don't stab him in the back afterwards." I continued, ignoring the snide remark. "That's a sure fire way of getting yourself killed, especially if it was provoked."_

 _"What do you want from me exactly?" Jeremy exclaimed, slowly getting defensive._

 _"To give him a chance. Give him, and his family a chance. You don't piss 'em off, or attack them. Hell, don't give them any reason to harm you; then they will leave you alone. They might even help you if you needed it." I told him, pleadingly. "I've already given this lecture to Damon, and he's – slowly – coming around."_

 _Jeremy hesitated, "I really don't know, Grace."_

 _I placed a hand on his shoulder, and smiled kindly at him._

 _"Just think about it." I suggested. Then I paused, frowning a little. Something just didn't seem or feel right. I noticed Jeremy frowning also, so I was relieved that I wasn't being paranoid._

 _"What's happening? Why am I dizzy all of a sudden?" He asked me, sounding a bit scared. I staggered a little, putting a hand to my head._

 _'I-I don't … know." I mumbled. Jeremy and I continued struggling as the world around us both, started to fade away. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the teen suddenly collapse. I attempted to go over to him, but sank to my knees; not faring much better than he was. Nevertheless, I attempted to give him aid. After all, I was responsible for his safety. "Jeremy..." I crawled towards him and managed to wrap my hand around his wrist before everything went black._

* * *

 ** **~: Reality :~****

The first thing that I was aware of when I regained consciousness were shouting voices. But it took a moment for them to clear up so I could understand, and when it did; I recognised the angry shouting as Nik who was interrogating an annoyed and concerned Jeremy. A lukewarm hand was carding through my hair.

 _Rebekah? Or Damon?_

"You've got ten seconds to explain to me why my girlfriend is taking so long to wake up!" Nik was seething, rather unfairly, to the teenager.

"I don't know." Jeremy said, truthfully. I knew that I needed to get up and come to his rescue. Problem was, something wasn't cooperating with me to make this happen.

"9..." _Real mature, Nik._

"What did you do to her?" Damon demanded off in the distance to my right. He was also having a go at the poor kid, which meant that Rebekah was the one attempting to wake me up. And I was waking up … just excruciatingly slow, much to my chagrin.

"Nothing. I don't know how to explain what happened." Jeremy insisted, calmly but with a slight edge to his voice. "One minute, I took her hands like she asked me to while we were sitting on the couch, and the next; both of us ended up standing randomly in the woods."

"The woods?" Rebekah piped up, causing me to jump because of the volume.

"Grace?" Henrik had obviously seen me move and calls out to me from my left side and I groaned, raising a hand to my head. I opened my eyes, almost immediately snapping them shut when the bright lights hit them.

"Yeah, I can hear you, Henrik. Probably the reason for this throbbing headache." I grumbled, and attempted to sit up on the Gilbert's slightly lumpy couch.

The second I attempted to sit up, Nik was at my side in the blink of an eye, and then both he and Rebekah gently pulled me up and he sat beside me on the couch as I hunched over with my head between my knees and cradling my head.

"You too, huh?" Jeremy sympathised. I glanced up through squinted eyes to see Jeremy gingerly shielding his eyes from the bright light, just like I was. I nodded, glumly.

"Yeah, one of the more unpleasant side-effects from a prolonged premonition." I explained, and grimaced when I moved strangely causing my head to throb. "Sorry about that." I apologised as Nik, realising that I was sensitive to light right now, raised one of his hands to shield my face from the light coming in from the Gilbert's large living room window. I groaned uncomfortably and leaned against him. "Thanks, Nik..." I mumbled, hiding my face into his shirt.

"Don't sweat it." Jeremy waved away the apology. "I'll be back in a sec." The retreating footsteps headed for the general direction of the kitchen, as the 'wolves' immediately descended upon me; waiting for an explanation about what both Jeremy and I had seen.

"So, don't hold us in suspense." Damon quipped, dryly. I cracked an eye open and looked at his unimpressed face.

"Can you vague that up a little?" I requested, as Nik cradled me closer and aimed a warning glare at Damon, which was promptly ignored.

Rebekah sighed from her perch on the backrest of the couch behind Nik and I. "What your friend is probably trying to ask is: what did you show doppelbitch's brother?" She asked, sounding rather concerned.

"I gave him some insight into how we used to be, before Mikael and Esther ruined our lives." I replied quietly, reaching for a big glass of water that Jeremy had returned with from the kitchen. I smiled at him, gratefully. "Thank you." But before I could take sip, a hand was placed over the rim. I glanced up at the owner – Nik – with confusion before my eyes widened when he bit into his thumb and squeezed a couple of drops of his blood into the water, changing the clear liquid into a slightly rosy tinge.

I tried not to think about how uncomfortably familiar that addition was.

"That should help with the pain." He explained. I raised an eyebrow at the random move.

"Why did you pollute my water with your blood?" I asked, a little crossly.

"Take a sip and find out, darling." Nik encouraged. Shrugging, I followed his advice, knowing that he wouldn't do something like that without a legit reason. Almost immediately, the thudding headache began to gradually ease up. I glanced up at him with surprise.

"Neat!" I remarked, earning a warm smile from my boyfriend. "You should write a book about that. _'101 Uses for Vampire Blood.'_ You'd make a mint." I joked, still sipping away contentedly at the sweetened water. Nik gave a small chuckle.

"Somehow I don't think that it would be a page turner, sweetheart." He joked back, but the smile didn't really reach his eyes.

"When you say 'some insight into how we used to be', could you elaborate?" Rebekah asked. I opened my mouth to respond, when Jeremy unexpectedly fielded the question.

"Grace showed me memories of your past." He clarified. All three Mikaelsons looked alarmed.

"What memories?" Rebekah asked using a tiny frightened voice.

"I'll explain soon. Right now, I just need to re-cooperate a little." I requested, settling back against the couch still drinking from the water. Nik looked like he wanted to protest, but unexpectedly received Jeremy's hand in front of his face. He frowned cautiously and curiously at him.

"I just want to say: I'm sorry that you've had a rough life, man. Nobody deserves what has happened to you." Then he looked up at Rebekah with the same sad expression on his face. "None of you." Jeremy stated.

Nik reluctantly took Jeremy's hand and pumped it up and down a few times, accepting the obvious truce. "Thank you." He responded, a little taken aback.

"You're still a dick..." Jeremy added, with a small smirk that was returned by Nik, who realised Jeremy was just kidding around. "But at least I have a better understanding of why you, Rebekah and Elijah are the way you are." He said, solemnly.

"Is that so?" Nik stated, amused.

Jeremy shrugged, "It's a lot more than Elena was gonna tell me, that's for sure."

"What the hell did Grace show you to make you become so buddy-buddy with Klaus?" Damon demanded, incredulously. Jeremy indicated to me.

"Ask Grace, I've relived enough of their memories to give me nightmares for weeks." Jeremy said, slumping down on the couch beside me and shutting his eyes.

Despite hearing this, I could see that all three Mikaelsons had hope reflecting in their eyes. I smiled, shutting my eyes and letting Nik's hand rub soothingly on my arm, calming my frazzled thoughts.

* * *

 ** **A/N: Let's stop here. Next chapter will be out soon! :)****

 ** **TTFN xx****


	51. Taking Care Of Business

**A/N: Welcome back, loyal readers! I hope you enjoy this next chapter instalment.**

 **Like always, please review. No flaming will be accepted.**

 **I don't own The Vampire Diaries. All characters (except for Grace) belong to author L.J. Smith.**

 **Thanks, and enjoy xx**

* * *

 **TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS  
**

" _Whatever you do, don't get stuck on the one thing that ruins your day.  
Smile and be grateful. Life is too short to waste on negativity."_ **  
~Unknown.**

* * *

 **~: Gilbert Residence :~**

I was standing in the Gilbert's kitchen, fetching myself another glass of water. I really needed one, after giving a full and detailed explanation about the 'long' trip down memory lane Jeremy and I had embarked on.

Needless to say, no one had been happy with the memories we mentioned seeing. Nik kicked things off with:

"I don't recall giving permission for strangers to view our more private memories, love." He admonished me.

I sighed in frustration, "Well, it's not like we could control what memories we could see, Nik." I had defensively explained to my boyfriend. He and Rebekah looked at me with frank disapproval. They were even less thrilled when they learned Jeremy and I had unwittingly witnessed their rebirth as vampires.

"How could you have let him see that?!" Rebekah had exclaimed out of horror, falling back on her maternal instincts.

That of course, got Jeremy's back up.

" _He_ is sitting right here, you know." He piped up. "Plus, it's really not that big of a deal." Jeremy insisted, trying to come to my defence and protect me from their anger. But it was obvious enough that you could tell he was lying, and that it was kind of a big deal.

"Besides, it's not as though we were free to head for the exit. We were sorta trapped." I admitted, sheepishly.

This eventually lead me to excuse myself, and make a bid for freedom to the kitchen. I turned from the sink and took a sip from the glass; still listening to the raised voices coming from the living room belonging to both Nik and Damon, and on occasion, Rebekah.

Rolling my eyes, I lean against the counter glancing about the Gilbert's immaculate kitchen with interest before I spotted something out of place out the corner of my eye. It was sitting on the floor near the back door, and it looked like whoever had dropped it there, had been in a hurry. Setting aside my glass, I wondered over to the object and picked it up.

It was a bracelet.

"What you got there?" I glanced up to see Jeremy and Henrik walking into the kitchen. I frowned, questioning what was going on and realised that the raised voices were still continuing away in the living room, but increasing in volume. Jeremy must've interpreted my frown, because he suddenly said: "Damon's being a dick as usual, and causing too much drama." I nodded, understanding, and rolled my eyes. "We figured that they wouldn't miss it if we wondered out of the room." He explained, gestured between Henrik and himself with his thumb.

"So what's that?" Henrik asked, smoothly changing the topic and indicating towards the bracelet still lying in my hand. Jeremy's eyes widened.

"That's my vervain bracelet. Tyler must've dropped it when he took off when you and Klaus showed up." He said, and I reached over and dropped the leather band bracelet into his hand. Jeremy curled his hand around the bracelet, looking betrayed and momentarily glanced back at the living room.

I immediately stepped into his path.

"Don't, Jeremy. You've already struck up a truce with Nik, don't ruin a good thing. Just let it go." I urged him.

"He still used me in his plans."

"And in his own way, he's already apologised for that. Be the bigger man and let it go." I insisted, firmly.

"I can't just let it go." Jeremy argued, but then suddenly a look of clarity appeared on his face that put me on alert and made me frown. "But I know one way to help me deal."

He immediately ran from the kitchen, and both Henrik and I followed. I was worried that Jeremy was about to do something stupid.

"Jeremy, what are you doing?" I demanded. He seemed to ignore me as he made a beeline for a large wooden trunk that I hadn't noticed before and immediately pushed the heavy lid open.

"Woah..." Henrik blurted out, his eyes widening at the amount of deadly weapons concealed inside. Jeremy sifted through the weapons available before pulling out a large, complicated looking crossbow. "What are you going to do with that?"

Jeremy straightened up, checking that the bolt was in place before firmly closing the trunk. He had a look of determination on his face as he headed back through the kitchen and walked to the back door.

"Where the hell are you going?" I demanded, again stepping into his path.

"Getting some answers." Jeremy replied, simply.

"Before or after you shish kabob Tyler?" I asked, as I put two and two together and grimaced at the answer I got. Jeremy ignored me and moved passed and out the backdoor. Henrik and I glanced at each other before quickly following him.

"Jeremy, stop! Tyler's too strong!" I yelled, running after him through the woods behind the property. But it seemed that there was no stopping this stubborn kid. "Shit..." I cursed, raking a hand through my hair.

Henrik darted forward.

"I'll go after him." He decided, as I looked at him like he was nuts.

"What? No! I protested, already hearing Rebekah screaming into my ear about the fact that I had let her [dead] baby brother traipse after an angry teen, carrying a dangerous weapon, who so happened to be Nik's very first hybrid ever created.

"Grace, I'm already dead and he can't hurt me." Henrik pointed out. "I'll call you when I find them and keep you informed." He promised, pulling out his phone and showing me.

He smiles at me reassuringly before taking off at a run to catch up with Jeremy. I yelled out in frustration and kicked a nearby log, wincing when pain ricocheted up my leg.

"Damnit!" I growled, and started limping back to the house. Nik, Rebekah and Damon appeared at the back door, having obviously realising that Jeremy, Henrik and I weren't in the house.

"Grace, where'd the hell did you go off to?" Rebekah demanded, before they realised that I was limping and in a rather foul mood.

"Are you alright? Why are you limping?" Damon came over to me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders to support my weight.

"I took out my frustrations on a fallen log. Needless to say, the log won." I replied flippantly, as I took Damon's hand and allowed him to lead me up the garden path over to a iron-wrought bench in the Gilbert's backyard.

Nik sighed, coming over to ease off my shoe and sock to examine my foot for me. "May I ask why you decided to kick a log?" I winced as he pulled off my sock and gently twisted my foot around in a circle and flexed my toes.

"Jeremy raced off to confront Tyler." I explained, eyeing Nik carefully and narrowing my eyes a little when he visibly stiffened for a split second before relaxing, confirming my suspicions.

"What's his reason now?" Damon wanted to know, sighing with exaggerated patience. Both Mikaelsons looked at us with confusion.

"Jeremy and Tyler have this animosity towards each other." I explained, before answering Damon's question. "Jeremy discovered that Tyler had managed to get him to take off his vervain bracelet."

"What for?" Rebekah asked, confused.

"So Klaus could compel Jeremy." Damon replied, looking both irritated and begrudgingly impressed at Nik's plan; which he figured was what my boyfriend was going on about back at the Boarding House when Nik was trying to persuade him to help him find the four coffins. "Good job." He commented, sarcastically.

"Really, Nik?" Rebekah scolded him. I quickly and immediately jumped in to stop the sniping.

"Okay, that's enough. We've established that Nik made a mistake, but nothing serious happened so let's just let it go." I hissed a little when Nik managed to aggravate something in my foot.

"It's not broken. Just a bad sprain." Nik reported, straightening up from his crouch in front of me, and looking irritated about being reminded of something he had called off at the last minute. "Just put some ice on it, and it'll be fine, love." He instructed, gruffly.

"Thanks, Nik." I grumbled, feeling annoyed with myself. I attempted to get to my feet so I could hop towards the house, and let out a startled little yell when Nik wordlessly swept me up into his arms, like I was a damsel-in-distress. " _Nik..."_ I let out a strangled groan out of embarrassment, as I instinctively wrapped my arms around his neck.

"Oh, just shut up and deal with it, Grace." Rebekah bit out, as she and a smirking Damon followed us back into the Gilbert's house and Nik gently deposited me onto the couch, stuffing a couple of pillows underneath my foot. "By the way, where's Henrik?" She asked me, looking about for her wayward baby brother.

I sighed. "Part of the reason why I sprained my ankle; he took off after Jeremy and I attempted to stop him."

"He did what? How could you let him go?" Rebekah fretted, looking at me accusingly. I responded with an equally annoyed glare.

"Did you miss the part, Bekah, where I said I attempted to stop him; and got _this_ as a trophy?" I retorted, pointing towards my foot which Damon had placed an ice-pack on. Rebekah backed off, but still looked upset. Nik was sitting on the coffee table in front of me, staring off into space with a calculating frown on his face.

"Well, this has been a colossal waste of time." Damon bitched, as he headed for the front door. "I'll call you later, Grace."

My phone chose that moment to start ringing, and I shifted a little to tug it free from my pocket. All eyes glanced at the screen, and read the name 'Henrik' written there in block letters.

"You were saying?" I responded dryly, before hitting the accept button. None of us said a word, as we heard the sound of footfalls crushing dried leaves and twigs underfoot. Then suddenly, a familiar voice spoke up:

 _"Don't do it, Jeremy."_ It was Tyler. Nik was about to reach out and take the phone from me, when I pulled it out of reach and shook my head.

 _"Why not? You stabbed my back, I stab yours."_ Jeremy retorted, angrily.

" _I didn't stab you in the back!"_ Tyler protests almost immediately, but neither Jeremy nor any of us believed him.

 _"Is that why you wanted to hang out? To get me off the vervain?"_ Jeremy stubbornly persisted.

Tyler let out a defeated sigh, " _Klaus asked me to. I never thought he would try to kill you."_

" _Kill me? Klaus didn't try to kill me. He called whatever it was off at the last minute."_ Jeremy stated. " _Besides, it's Klaus, Tyler! What did you think was gonna happen?"_

" _He doesn't care about you!"_ Tyler insisted, and I noticed Nik wince a little. Rebekah looked surprised by her brother's negative reaction. The sound of something flying through the air at break-neck speed was heard; indicating that Jeremy had shot the bolt at Tyler. " _What the_ hell _?!"_

" _If Klaus didn't care, then why the hell would he give Grace permission to reveal his and Rebekah's memories, not to mention her own to me?"_ Jeremy challenged Tyler, who went into stunned silence. " _Unlike you, Elena and everybody else; Klaus, the guy who when he wants something, causes people to sometimes disappear, is willing to tell me the whole truth about the supernatural? And according to Grace, Klaus rarely trusts anybody!"_ Nik and Rebekah look at me, surprised that I remembered this little factoid. Tyler seems to snap out of his shock.

 _"Jer! You should get home. Stay inside. Klaus isn't gonna stop until he gets all those coffins back. You can't trust him!"_ Tyler insists, frantic.

Jeremy snorts, " _Yeah, that's probably true. But I'd more likely believe and trust anything he'd have to say, over anything you and my sister are likely to tell me in the future."_ He responds, before the following footfalls indicated that Jeremy was now walking away from a protesting and very concerned sounding Tyler.

 _"Did you get that?"_ Henrik's voice came over the line.

"Loud and clear, mate. Come straight back!" I instructed, before hitting the end button.

"Well, well, well. That's a very interesting development." Nik observes, still looking surprised that I had told Jeremy about his trust issues, but also the fact that the Gilbert boy had stuck up for him. "Hope you haven't made a foolish mistake in trusting him, Grace, with our life stories." Nik warns me.

"I'm not sure if I should be commending him for being brave or pitying him for being extremely foolhardy." Rebekah frowns, before getting up from where she had perched on the armrest above my head and started to pace.

I shrugged, "As the saying goes: 'nothing ventured, nothing gained'."

"So what happens now?" Damon spoke up, breaking the silence. Rebekah scowled at him, and I couldn't help but agree with her.

"Thought that this was a 'colossal waste of time'?" She stated, scathingly. Damon rolled his eyes.

"Changed my mind. Free country and all." He retorted, with a mocking sort of smile. Rebekah didn't like that and moved to retaliate, but was stopped when Nik reached out and grabbed her wrist; aiming a warning glare at his sister in the process.

"We wait for Jeremy and Henrik to come back, and I bitch Jeremy out for taking off half-cocked." I responded, briskly. Both Damon and Nik looked at me with disapproval.

"Not your greatest planning there, Grace." Damon stated, dryly.

"Well, I'm sorry then. Please, tell me some of your great ideas then." I snapped back, losing a bit of my patience with my pessimistic best friend.

"Hate to agree with Salvatore-" Nik stated, surprising everybody in the room. "-But I do have other things that I need to accomplish today, if we are to get the coffins back from Stefan. Talking with Ms. Gilbert, being at the top of the list-"

"Then your best bet would be sit tight, Nik." I interrupted. He turned and scowled at me, impatiently.

"Oh, really? Why pray tell?" Nik demanded. I gestured about the place, while also trying to make myself comfortable on the lumpy couch with my elevated and iced foot.

"This is Elena's house. Odds are, that she will return. Then you'll get your chance to interrogate her for the information you require, Nik." I pointed out, and he looked like he was getting very annoyed with me. "I'm not trying to be a pain in your arse, Nik. But my instincts are telling me that staying put is the best option right now, if you want to get what you require from Elena." I explained, trying to be reasonable.

"Well, whatever you decide; count me out of it. I'm going to head back to the apartment." Rebekah decided, heading for the front door. "Take care of our girl, Nik." She called back, before vamp-speeding away. Nik paused, contemplating exactly what I had suggested … before letting out a heavy sigh.

"You're sure that we should stay here, Grace?" Nik questioned me.

"Yes, she's sure. She's only said it twice." Damon piped up, also getting annoyed.

"When I want your input, I'll happily ignore it with a song in my heart." Nik retorted hotly and sarcastically back at Damon without taking his eyes off me. Instead of being intimidated, Damon merely smirked.

"Hmmm, now where have I heard that before?" Damon pretended to give this some thought. "Oh, right. My baby bro. He always did have such a 'holier-than-thou' attitude." Damon babbled on.

"As opposed to enjoying one's own grating voice?" Nik retorted, dangerously. Which should've signalled to most people to back off while their heads were still attached to their shoulders. Damon was not one of these people. "Tell me, Salvatore. Do you actually have anything relevant to input, or are you just here to waste everyone's time?"

"You tell me, you're the one who recruited me to partake in 'mission: impossible'." Damon replied back with cheek, and a 'pleasant' smile on his face. But his blue eyes flashed with a challenge: one that Nik was all too willing to accept.

"Oh, believe me; I'm already regretting that poor decision." Nik stated with a nasty smirk on his face.

And that was where I reached my limit for stupidity and recklessness.

"Okay, enough!" Both of them snapped their heads in my direction. I struggled unsuccessfully (but with a large amount of determination) to get to my feet. "I'm not gonna stay in this room and listen to you two bicker and make attempts to insert your dominance." I declared, as I finally get to my feet and start hobbling through the double doors blocking the entrance towards the main hallway.

"And just where do you think you're going?" Nik asked, looking concerned.

"To the bathroom." I responded, not stopping. "When I get back, I don't want you two to still be squabbling like children. It's extremely depressing." I stated. I didn't need to look back to know that both Nik and Damon was blinking at my back with bewildered and probably sulky expressions on their handsome faces.

* * *

Several minutes later, I emerged from the bathroom and limped back into the living room; relieved that I had had some minutes to myself that didn't involve the childish bickering from the two main men in my life.

There was an unusual silence in the house that concerned me; as I still half-expected to hear either irritated muttering from Damon, or Nik pacing impatiently. Something that I noticed that he tended to do when there was something that needed his attention and he was being kept from it.

"Nik? Damon?" I managed to grab the back of the couch as I glanced about the room, thinking that they might've moved out of sight of the main hallway and relocated to the Gilbert's dining area. But alas, my searching was in vain; both of them had disappeared. "Where'd the bloody hell did you both go?" I spoke out loud, feeling annoyed that I seemed to have been abandoned without an explanation.

That's when I noticed a notepad lying on the coffee table with a hastily written note scribbled on it. I limped around the couch and flopped gracelessly onto it, before reaching for the pad of paper which had Nik's neat, but spikey old-fashioned handwriting scrawled across the faded blue lines:

 _'Salvatore and I decided it would be safer if you stayed behind and waited for Elena, while we both took care of a couple of personal errands-"_

"Figures..." I grumbled, before reading on:

 _'Won't be long. Should be back before she arrives, but just in case Ms. Gilbert does return before we do … call me.  
I won't be too far away._

 _Keep your foot elevated, and don't do anything stupid or reckless._

 _I love you.  
_ _N. x'_

I tossed the notepad back on the coffee table and fell backwards onto the lumpy couch with an irritated groan. Since I was technically stuck in this bloody house because of my injury, I decided to make the most of it and just wait until one or other of them returned.

And if Elena came back before they did, I could always come up with a white lie about why I was randomly there, lying on the couch without anybody in the house with me. I reached over for my purse and plucked my book free, turning to the bookmarked page and making myself comfortable. However, I must've fallen asleep on the couch, as I immediately snapped my eyes open when a loud noise suddenly roused me from a dreamless sleep.

It turned out to be a crabby sounding Elena, who had only just returned from wherever she had been, and had let the front door open and smack into the wall with a loud bang. I was surprised that the force of the door opening the way it did, did not shatter the panes of glass in the front door.

Cautiously, I peered over the backrest of the couch and saw Elena closing the door behind her and stomping her way over to the staircase. Only she immediately paused when she saw my head appear over the backrest and glanced at me with confusion, then irritation.

"What are you doing in my house?" She demanded rudely and suspiciously, stomping into the living room and glaring at me as she folded her arms across her chest in a protective shield. I struggled to sit up to address her properly.

"Re-cooperating." I responded, simply. Elena frowned deeper and came over to the couch to see why I was struggling.

"What happened to your foot?" She asked, curiously.

"I went out for a walk, and somehow managed to have a klutz attack and sprained my ankle." I improvised a believable white-lie. "Jeremy found me, and graciously offered me some assistance. He brought me inside and gave me some ice for my foot." I continued my tale.

Elena glanced about, still suspicious but concerned as well. "Where is Jeremy?"

"Haven't the foggiest, actually." Elena's eyes narrowed. "He must've forgotten I was here, and ducked out of the house when I fell asleep here." I stated. It was obvious that Elena was wanting to pick a fight for whatever reason, but because my story didn't sound ridiculous, Elena decided to let me be.

"Whatever. Let yourself out when your foot feels better." Elena requests, heading back out towards the staircase. However, she only made it a few flights up before the front door opened again and Alaric walked in, looking tired and unwell. "Ric, hey! Where have you been all day?" She was immediately pleasant, and I rolled my eyes at Elena's bi-polar mood.

Alaric smiled weakly at her, "Oh, I've been around." He closed the door behind him and walked in my direction, stopping when he noticed me on the couch. He raised a curious eyebrow. "Hey Grace. What brings you here?" He asked, pulling his satchel over his head and setting it aside. I frowned when he winced as he did so.

"Recovering. I sprained my foot, and Jeremy was kind enough to help me." I responded, going with the story I had just fabricated to Elena only moments ago.

"Oh, wow. Are you alright?" Alaric hissed sympathetically.

"I should be asking you that question." I retorted, concerned.

Alaric brushed aside my question, "I'm fine; just tired." He turned towards Elena and smiled a little at her. "How's Jeremy?" He asked her, as Elena came back down the stairs. She had a concerned look on her face as well, now that I had pointed out Alaric's less than stellar condition. But she disguised it with a fake smile.

"Hating me. Hating life. Hating the fact that we can't even have a family dinner without somebody dying before dessert." She responded to his question. Alaric screwed up his face, and stumbled a little; alarming both Elena and myself. I eased myself off the couch, ignoring the pain in my foot. Something funky was going on here. "Are you okay?" Elena repeated my question from before. I limped over as Alaric suddenly coughs violently into his hand, spraying it with blood. "Oh, my God!" She exclaims as I swore and darted forward.

"Something's wrong! The ring!" Alaric managed to croak out before collapsing on the floor. I caught him before he could impact on the hard wooden floor, and Alaric began moaning in pain. Elena and I crouched down beside him, with Elena on the brink of freaking out.

"Ric, hey..." Elena called out to him, but he barely responded.

"Elena, look at me." I ordered with a firm voice. She looked up at me, for once without any venom reflected in her eyes and looked genuinely vulnerable. "Call 911. I've got this!"

She nodded, rushing from the room for the cordless in the kitchen. Alaric tugs insistently on my sleeve and I glanced down at him.

"I died earlier today." Alaric croaked. My eyes widened in horror.

"What?"

"I only just woke up, thanks to my ring." He explained, as I forced him to lie on his back with his knees bent. "But this hasn't happened before. I think there's something wrong with it." He stated the obvious.

"What the fuck happened to you, Alaric? How did you die?" I demanded, as I crawled over to the couch and snatched off a blanket and immediately covered Alaric with it to keep him warm.

"I think one of Klaus' hybrids ran me down with a car." I snapped my head at him, looking at him aghast. "I didn't get a good look at him, but I'm pretty sure it was one his hybrids." Alaric confirmed, coughing up more blood.

I shushed him, "Try not to talk, mate. We'll take care of you, just hold on." I reassured him.

About twenty minutes later, there was a sudden and urgent knock on the front door. Elena answered it before I could get up to do so myself. Two paramedics barrelled in, carrying their med-kits.

"What happened?" The first paramedic asked, taking in the sight of me crouching protectively over a slowly paling Alaric, trying to calm him down by stroking his hair. Elena hesitated, unsure what was going on.

"He got hit by a car-" I relayed to both men, as Elena's eyes widened at what I said.

"What!?" She screeched.

We ignored her, "Alaric managed to stumble back inside, before he collapsed and started coughing up blood." I improvised, before moving both Elena and myself out of the paramedics way as they went to work assessing Alaric's condition.

"Get his vitals." The second paramedic instructed his colleague, who immediately grabbed Alaric's wrist. A couple of minutes passed before the first paramedic looked gravely at him.

"Pulse pretty weak." He announced. "Looks like internal bleeding. We gotta get him outta here."

The second paramedic nodded, "Let's move!" Both paramedics began prepping Alaric for departure. The first paramedic headed for the front door, presumably to get a stretcher bed, but was unexpectedly stopped by Tony – Nik's hybrid – who appears without warning in the doorway.

"Let's not and say we did." Tony suggested, with a crafty smirk on his face. Both paramedics looked at him in confusion, before Tony compels them. "Why don't you two meet us at the hospital?"

"What?" Elena blurted out, shocked, as the paramedics automatically start packing up the med-kits and leave. "No, no, no, wait. No wait!" She yells after the compelled paramedics. "You have to help him! What are you doing?"

I narrow my eyes at Tony. "What the hell are you doing here, Tony?" I demanded, surprising the hybrid who blinks at me in astonishment before recovering when he recognises me.

"Oh, hey Grace. Don't mind me, just following Klaus' orders." He responded casually, drawing Elena's attention.

"This is Klaus' doing?" She yelled, before glowering at me. I avoid looking in her direction, knowing how bad this looked. Tony focuses his attention on Elena.

"You can still save his life, Elena." He tells her before ripping into his wrist with his fangs. "Here, take my blood." He raises and offers his bleeding wrist to Elena. I immediately push it back down.

"What do you mean you were following Nik's orders, Tony?" I asked, urgently. "What did he tell you to do?"

"He ordered me to run down one of the doppelgänger's friends to help prove a point." Tony responded, shrugging.

Elena was incensed, "What point?"

"On how easy it is to get to one of your friends, if you don't keep your end of the deal and find Klaus' coffins."

I groaned in exasperation and massaged my temples. "Jesus, Nik..." Alaric suddenly grabs at my wrist, grabbing my attention.

"Grace, help me..." He slurs, as Tony takes another bite out of his wrist.

"I can't get in. You're gonna have to invite me." He stated, matter-of-fact.

Elena bares her teeth at him, angrily. "No! Why are you doing this?"

"Klaus asked for his family. You didn't deliver."

"Or he forgot to call this off..." I muttered underneath my breath, grabbing Tony's attention.

"What's that?"

I glowered at him at Alaric starts coughing again, "Never you mind!"

"Ric!" Elena yells out in fear. "Oh, my God! I'm right here." She rushes over to him and kneels next to him. Tony looks unmoved by what is happening in front of him, as I feel helpless and cursing my boyfriend for putting me in this position.

"He's gonna die. Might want to invite me in, Elena." Tony taunts her.

I was about to grab my phone and dial Nik's number to bark at him to get his sorry arse down to the Gilbert's house toot-sweet to fix up his mess, when Tony is suddenly hit in the back with an arrow and falls to the ground. Both Elena and I rush to the door and we immediately see Jeremy with the crossbow, standing a few yards away, with a concerned and nervous Henrik standing beside him.

"Jeremy!" Elena calls out to her brother with relief. However her face falls when he deliberately ignores her, focusing upon me.

"He's not dead yet." He stated; although I wasn't sure if he was referring to Alaric or Tony. Jeremy enters the house and passes by Elena, as I turned to Henrik.

"Where the hell have you both been?" I demanded, urgently. Henrik hesitated as he came over and crouched down beside Alaric, looking worried.

"After he confronted Tyler, he went for a walk. It appears that his anger towards his sister is more extensive than we first believed." He said, as Jeremy reappears carrying a meat cleaver and goes out of the house again.

"What are you doing?" Elena asks Jeremy, worriedly. Without a word, Jeremy swiftly and cleanly decapitates Tony; spraying both himself and the porch with blood. Elena screams in horror, while both Henrik and I stare at what Jeremy did with shock. The sixteen-year-old looks up at me.

"Now he's dead." He confirms the kill, before getting to his feet. There is a stunned silence.

"Feeling better then?" Another bemused voice chimes in, and we all turn to face Nik, who had returned from whatever errand he had to attend to.

Jeremy stares at him, blankly. "Now we're even for the compulsion." He declares to Nik, who nods in confirmation.

"Noted." Nik glances at the four of us for an explanation, apparently unconcerned that one of his hybrids had been taken out. "May I have an explanation, please?"

"Apparently, you ordered Tony to run down one of Elena's friends with his car to prove a point to her." I supplied, unimpressed; but somewhat mollified when Nik winced in realisation, especially when I stepped aside to reveal a fallen Alaric who was still coughing up blood. "Alaric paid the price."

"I knew that there was something that I had forgotten to do." Nik admitted, sheepishly.

 _'No kidding...'_ I thought, with irritation. Jeremy dropped the cleaver and goes back into the house, while Elena continues standing where she was in shock.

"We've gotta get Alaric to the hospital now." He stated, urgently. I nodded, and turned towards my boyfriend.

"Care to do the honours?" I asked, as Nik begrudgingly nodded in agreement and moved towards the door. Elena immediately recovered from her shock and smirked defiantly at Nik.

"You can't come in. You haven't been invited in." She stated, triumphantly. I rolled my eyes as Nik merely gives her a look, before easily passing through the threshold and scooping Alaric – blanket and all – into his arms and heading back out of the door. Henrik quickly follows his brother, opening and closing the car doors upon request.

"You invited him in!?" Elena shrieks at Jeremy, outraged.

"Shut up, Elena." Jeremy snaps back, taking aback Elena who looks hurt. "As of right now, you've lost the right to even talk to me." He states, before turning towards me as I winced from the pain in my foot which was growing roots. "What happened to you?"

"I sprained my foot, no thanks to you." I grumbled back at him, as I gathered up my things. Jeremy frowned in surprise.

"Me? What did I do?"

I limped over to the door with difficulty, until Jeremy came over and looped my arm over his shoulder, allowing me to lean against him for support.

"I'll tell you more in the car on the way to the hospital." I told him, as he helped me down the porch steps towards my car, leaving behind a shocked Elena on the porch.

* * *

 **~: Mystic Falls Hospital :~**

It was difficult sitting in the waiting room with Nik and Henrik flanking me either side, watching Elena attempting to get back in Jeremy's good books and failing dismally. Eventually, Elena gave up trying to curry favour with her brother and got up in search of some coffee, throwing both Nik and I dirty looks as she went.

"I think now's as good a time as any to go have a little chat with Ms. Gilbert, don't you?" Nik whispered into my ear. I nodded absently, still focused upon Jeremy; who was sitting slouched in his chair and scowling at the wall, while picking dried blood out from underneath his fingernails. Nik leans down and pecks my forehead affectionately with his lips, before disappearing after Elena down the corridor.

I sighed, drawing Henrik's attention.

"You okay?" He asked me, worriedly. I glanced at my little brother for a moment, before shrugging.

"At this rate, I'm just taking things in my stride." I responded, before indicating towards Jeremy. "It's him that I'm worried about mostly. He's just a kid; he shouldn't be dealing with all of this." I muttered, as I got up and walked over to where Jeremy was sitting, only dimly conscious that Henrik was following me. I sat down a seat away from the brooding teenager, trying not to overcrowd him, and Henrik followed my example and sat beside me.

Several uncomfortable minutes passed, before I finally decided to speak to him. "How you holding up?" I asked him, cautiously.

Jeremy scoffed, "I'll live. Mostly worried about Alaric, though." He admitted.

"Don't blame you." I agreed, before frowning. "Can't believe Nik did this though. What the hell was he thinking?"

"About his family." Jeremy said, surprising both Henrik and me with his response. "Nothing wrong with that. Sure, he went the wrong way about it; but I think all he wants is to keep them safe, and I kinda respect him for that." He admitted.

"That's a good way of putting it." I praised him.

"And I guess, in a way; that's what Elena is trying to do with me. But I don't think I can trust her anymore if she is willing to keep me in the dark about the supernatural." He stated. "Don't know if I can trust anybody anymore, to be honest."

"What about me?" I piped up, feeling a little hurt.

"What about you?" Jeremy looked at me, questioningly.

"Have I given you any cause not to trust me?" I pointed out. "You've said it yourself, you barely know me. So I really don't have any reason to keep things from you." I said. "And if I have to keep something from you, mate, I'll at least attempt to give you a reason you can understand and accept, instead of leaving you in the lurch."

Jeremy made a face, "That's not really inspiring. But you did tell me the whole truth about all the weird stuff that happens in this town, and despite the fact that your boyfriend just happens to be the dick who killed my sister to free himself."

"All valid points." Henrik agreed, smiling a little and looking pleased that he hadn't shut me out like he did Elena.

Jeremy sighs. "Yeah, okay. I guess you're one person I can trust; but if you're expecting me to trust Klaus and the rest of his crazy family, don't hold your breath." He warned me, sternly.

"Hey!?" Henrik faked offence, knowing that Jeremy was smart about not completely trusting his siblings, but was attempting to gain at least a smile from his friend. Jeremy glanced at Henrik, then grinned a little; causing Henrik to mentally punch the air in triumph for his efforts.

"Okay, you're the exception, Henrik." He conceded, but frowned a little. "But it's gonna take a bit for me to not want to kill Klaus for killing Elena, changing Aunt Jenna into a vampire and attempting to kill both me and Alaric." He stated, stubbornly.

I laughed a little. "Fair enough."

I gingerly got to my feet, with Henrik's help, supporting my weight on my newly bandaged foot. Not even a second after Nik had finished his first compulsion, did he compel a nearby triage nurse to strap my foot so it was easier for me to get around without assistance. I offered a hand to Jeremy, who eyed it with a raised eyebrow.

"C'mon, let's get you cleaned up. I think you're making a lot of people in here uncomfortable." I pointed out.

Jeremy nodded, and took the offered hand. I casually wrapped an arm around his shoulders as he, Henrik and I turned and wondered down the corridor towards some nearby restrooms.

"So, do you think Alaric's gonna be okay?" He asked me, sounding a bit vulnerable. I winced, unsure how to properly answer the question. It was certainly weird that the ring Alaric was wearing apparently wasn't working.

"I really don't know, Jer. You gave me the basics about how that ring works, so I can't imagine what could be making it misfire all of a sudden." I replied, truthfully. He smiled, before pushing open the men's room. "Hold up!" He paused and looked at me, curiously. "May I have your phone for a tick?" Jeremy looked confused, but reached into his pocket and handed over his smartphone.

"Why?" He asked, a little apprehensively.

I smiled reassuringly at him, "I'll show you in a minute. Go get cleaned up."

Jeremy frowned, but moved to obey my instructions and disappeared into the men's room, followed by Henrik just as Damon walked around the corner and came over to me when he spotted me.

"Apparently a lot of excitement went down while I was away." He surmised, before looking at me strangely. "What are you doing in front of the men's room?" Damon asked.

"Waiting for Jeremy and Henrik. Jeremy's getting cleaned up." I replied, accessing the boy's contacts and adding my phone number to it.

"Wanna catch me up?" Damon asked, looking confused.

"As long as you tell me what you got up to after I disappeared to the bathroom back at the Gilbert's." I requested, sternly.

"Deal." Damon nodded.

I filled Damon in on what went down after he and Nik buggered off and abandoned me at the Gilbert's house temporarily. Everything from when Elena burst in and bitched me out for being in her house, to when Alaric arrived home and started vomiting up blood and collapsing and needed medical assistance that neither Elena or I could provide.

"Hold up. Why did Alaric start coughing up blood?" Damon interrupted, immediately looking alarmed and concerned that his best male friend was somehow critical. I let out a weary sigh.

"Apparently, Nik ordered one of his hybrid's – Tony – to run down one of Elena's friends to prove a point to her, that if she failed to get the goods about Stefan there would be serious consequences. Alaric happened to be the unlucky candidate and paid the price." I explained.

"So why didn't his ring kick in?" Damon asked.

"It did. But for some reason we're still trying to figure out, it didn't completely heal him. Thus why we are here cooling our heels in the hospital." I answered. Damon looked pissed, and immediately looked like he was going to retaliate against Nik. I placed a restraining hand on his rock-hard chest. "And before you go and be a vigilante and attempt to kick Nik's arse, you're too late; I already chewed him out." I said, probably bursting Damon's bubble.

"Why are you always defending him?!" Damon whisper-yelled at me, and I narrowed my eyes at him defensively.

"On this occasion, Damon, like I said; I took him to term about this. But if I do defend him, it's because I love him unconditionally ... even if he does tend to be a moron at times." I explained. Damon went to walk past again, but I stepped into his path.

"What now, Grace?" Damon growled.

"You forgot to reveal your side of the story about why you did a bunk and ditched me at the Gilbert's." I reminded him.

"Did a _what_?" Damon looked blank.

"Did a 'bunk'. It's a British slang term for 'leaving without permission', or telling a person where you've gone." I explained. "So spill."

Damon sighed, "I went back to the witch house, to see if the coffins were actually there." He admitted.

"You know they are there, Damon. I told you that before. I reminded him. Or are you going to ignore the words of your best friend and two dead witches?"

He snorted, "I'm more likely to believe what you say over some witches who'd rather see me burn and then dance around my charbroiled corpse." Damon confirmed.

"Nice image." I responded, making a face at the picture he had painted in my head.

"But I actually had reasons for checking up on Stefanie." Damon confessed, and I smirked at the name. "I wouldn't put it passed him to suddenly change the location of the coffins and pretend that they were still at the house, just to fuck with all of us."

My eyes widen in horror, "He hasn't, has he?"

"Nah, they're still at the house. Stef doesn't suspect that Klaus is on to him." Damon smiled at me reassuringly. I smiled weakly, but wanted to kick myself for not having the same amount of fears that Stefan could be so low.

Jeremy and Henrik chose that moment to step back out of the bathroom. The neutral expression on Jeremy's face immediately became alert when he saw our faces, while Damon's eyes widened at the amount of blood on Jeremy's shirt.

"Woah, what happened to you?" He sounded concerned.

"Decapitated one of Klaus' hybrids with a cleaver." Jeremy responded evenly.

"Nice." Damon sounded surprised and impressed by Jeremy's guts.

"What's going on here?" Jeremy demanded, then immediately looked alarmed. "Is it Alaric?"

I smiled at him, reassuringly. "No, there's still no news about him yet. Damon was just filling me in on something he discovered." I said.

"What's that?"

"The location of Klaus' coffins." I responded, easily. Jeremy looked surprised while Henrik looked nervous.

"You found 'em?" He asked, with relief.

"Ages ago." Damon replied, dismissively. He then walked by us both and down the corridor.

"Where you going?" I asked, a little warily. Damon rolled his eyes and smiled at me.

"Relax. I'm just gonna help speed up Alaric's healing process. You really gotta chill." Damon pointed out, disappearing around the corner. I headed back to the waiting room with Jeremy following closely. Henrik dawdled behind us.

"You coming?" I asked him.

Henrik hesitated, "Niklaus is taking a long time to come back from wherever he went off to. I'm gonna go and find him. I'll catch you later, okay?" He promised. I nodded, smiling and waving at him as he turned on his heel and headed down the corridor; in the same direction as Damon took.

* * *

Jeremy nudged me lightly in the ribs, grabbing my attention.

"Have you told Klaus about the coffins?" He asked.

I nodded, "The same day we first discovered them. Also the same day he threatened Damon with a 'negotiation tactic' that turned out to involve you." I added, sheepishly. Jeremy frowned, but didn't say anything as he took a seat. I glanced about, hoping that Elena wasn't coming back from getting coffee just yet and took a seat beside him. It would stuff up my plans to help Jeremy with his trust issues. "Here's your phone back." I placed the smartphone into his hand, he looked at me for an explanation. "I added my phone number to it; just in case."

He blinked at me in surprise, "Why?"

"Insurance." I confirmed, earning a confused look from the teen. "Call it a hunch, but I suspect that Elena won't take it lightly that Nik, Rebekah and I have been talking to you." I told him and a dark look passed over Jeremy's face.

"Yeah, no shit. She'll probably try and get Damon to compel me to forget again. It's happened once before." He said.

My eyes narrowed.

"Why am I not surprised?" I muttered. "Anyway, if that happens; I do have an option for you, if you're willing to listen."

"What is it?" Jeremy asked, warily.

"So long as you're wearing your vervain bracelet, you can pretend to go along with whatever your sister gets Damon to compel you with. Then you could give me a call and we'll figure something out." I said, earning a look of shock from the teen.

"You'd do that for me? Why?" He asked.

"I'm not trying to turn you against your sister, Jeremy. God knows I wish I still had family I could turn to if my situation suddenly turned to shit. But at the same time, Elena hasn't got the right to make your choices." I told him. "At least, you have another person you can go to or talk to if it comes down to it."

Jeremy frowned, "What's the catch?"

"No catch. But I'm almost 22-years-old, and I've been around the block a few times and witnessed situations like this before. And I've been a sixteen-year-old myself." I reminded him. "Just trust me on this."

A disturbed, but healthy looking Alaric suddenly walked around the corner and right towards us. Both Jeremy and I were immediately alert and got to our feet. "Alaric!"

"Ric!" Jeremy exclaimed.

"Are you alright?" I fussed over him like a worried mother and Alaric smiled at us, a little; touched by our concern.

"Hey guys! I'm fine honestly." He reassures us, trying to fend us off. I glanced about, looking for Damon.

"Where'd Damon go?" I asked, slightly concerned.

"Left to check on Elena." Alaric shrugged, as we gathered our belongings and started heading to the main entrance.

"She left to get coffee." I was a tad surprised, but then frowned when something occurred to me. "Mind you, that was a while a go..." I bit my bottom lip, sincerely hoping that my love wasn't doing anything stupid.

I fell into step beside Alaric, while Jeremy walked on his other side, still looking genuinely worried about the older man's health. It really did freak us all out when he suddenly started vomiting blood for no apparent reason.

"So the ring brought you back to life, but it didn't heal you. Does that mean it's broken?" Jeremy questioned.

Alaric shrugged, "I don't know. It's never happened like that before. I guess I have Damon's blood to thank for the fact that I'm still walking." He said, graciously.

"Oh, so he managed to save you then? That's great!" I beamed, happily. Then frowned slightly, wondering how he managed to pull that off without being sprung. "How did he get you to drink his blood without the hospital staff getting suspicious?" I asked, curiously.

"He walked in carrying a paper cup of what I assumed to be water. Then when the nurse left, he quickly slipped me the cup and the rest is history." Alaric explained.

"He said to say you owe him a drink." Jeremy piped up and I blinked at him with confusion.

"When did he say that?" I asked. Jeremy ignored me, as Alaric let out a snort.

"That's funny. I'd rather have head trauma." He joked, a little distastefully. Then he frowned at the irritated expression that Jeremy still had on his face. "Hey, Jeremy … you okay?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Jeremy responded, nonchalantly. "I shot a hybrid in the back and chopped his head off with a meat cleaver. Typical Sunday, huh?" He said, cavalier.

Alaric nodded, a little uncertainly and gave me a questioning glance.

"You can talk to me about this stuff. You know that, right?" He stated to him.

"Yeah, I know. Grace told me the same thing when she gave me her phone number before." Jeremy informed Alaric. "Besides, what could you tell me that I don't already know? This is the way things are. It sucks but … I just gotta get used to it." He stated, before walking off; leaving both Alaric and I watching him go with concern.

* * *

 **~: Gilbert Residence (Damon P.O.V in 3rd person) :~**

It suddenly occurred to him right after he had finished discreetly donating a cupful of his blood to Alaric, that none of them had seen Elena from right before he arrived on the scene. Or Klaus for that matter either. Damon just hoped that that hybrid dick hadn't pulled a fast one and ditched the hospital with Elena.

But just as quickly as he had gotten the thought, he dismissed it. As much as he didn't like or approve of it, Klaus was not likely to go anywhere without Grace, so he was pretty certain Klaus was just off doing business. But it didn't necessarily mean that Elena was not involved in that 'business'. And despite the fact that neither of them really cared for the girl, Damon was pretty sure that he'd be dealing with an irate best friend if he allowed Elena to be hurt.

With those thoughts in mind, the elder Salvatore brother immediately took off towards the first place Elena was likely to be: her house. And sure enough, Damon hit the jackpot when he closed in on the Gilbert Residence and immediately sensed that Elena was deep within the confines of the house; probably within the vicinity of their kitchen. His nose wrinkled with disgust when he saw the decapitated hybrid still lying on the Gilbert's black painted porch, and knew that he needed to get rid of the body post-haste.

Damon let out an impressed, if slightly disturbed low whistle at the brutality and the amount of blood there was. It seemed like baby Gilbert had really gone to town on this guy, and the amount of anger this kid exhibited was very clearly shown by the style of execution he had chosen.

 _What the hell did Grace show him?_ He couldn't help but wonder as he squatted down beside the corpse and effortlessly scooped it, and the head into his arms and quickly vamp-sped away to dispose of it.

A short time later, Damon returned and immediately noticed that most of the blood had been cleared away from the porch. It seemed that Elena had been waiting for somebody to get rid of the corpse so she could clear away the evidence that her - very obviously - pissed off brother had accumulated. He frowned with concern, and stepped into the house; making his way towards the kitchen. He found Elena at the kitchen sink washing out some bloodied rags.

"Did you get rid of him?" Elena asks, with her back to Damon.

"Yeah. Tony the headless Hybrid is down at the bottom of Steven's Quarry." Damon reported.

"What about Alaric?"

"Took care of him, too. He'll be fine." Damon leant up against the wall, and folded his arms across his chest as he eyed Elena cautiously. "How are you?"

Elena ignored the question, "I think I got most of the blood off the porch." She reported, with a shaky voice. Damon sighed and pushed off the wall, approaching the obviously upset girl. He wasn't heartless, he could tell that Elena was lost and looking for a solution to her problems. And Damon was willing to help, provided that it was reasonable.

"Elena. Look at me." She turns and looked at him, tears building underneath her eyes. "It's gonna be okay."

"I have to tell you something." Elena confessed, and Damon nodded; indicating that he was listening. "I think Klaus is on to us about the whereabouts of the coffins." She said, biting her bottom lip with worry.

 _And...?_ Damon thought to himself, but realised that he had to act his ass off to convince Elena that he knew virtually nothing about Klaus catching on about his four coffins being hidden in the old witch house out in the woods.

"Tell me you're kidding..." Damon demanded, his eyes 'widening in horror'. Elena didn't respond. That made him question what Klaus had actually said to her when he went after the girl back at the hospital. Whatever he said, had obviously unnerved her. "How the fuck did he find out the location?"

"I don't know." Elena confessed. Damon let out a frustrated groan and raked a hand through his curly mop of black hair, before slamming his fist down on the counter. That caused Elena to jump in surprise … and made Damon inwardly smirk, knowing he had successfully hoodwinked Elena into believing he knew fuck all.

But he still had a 'performance' to act out...

"Jesus, Elena! You gotta be more careful!" He chastised her. "One false move and your life won't be worth living. Barbie-Klaus is already out for your blood over the fact that you daggered her and assaulted Grace. Don't paint a target on your back!" Damon urged.

"No she won't kill me. Klaus won't let her because he needs me." Elena seemed confident, almost cocky about that. He frowned at her.

"He might look the other way if you keep targeting Grace, or keep getting in his way." Damon pointed out. "But are you seriously telling me that you trust him?"

"No, I don't trust him." Elena turned away from the sink and looked at him, almost offended. "But I trust him more than I trust Stefan." She looked up at Damon with large eyes that made his stomach flip over unpleasantly. "Do you think he's just gonna give up the coffins?"

Damon hesitated. His visit to Stefan was more insightful than he thought. "My brother is … sort of running his own show right now." He stated, looking flummoxed. Elena nodded in understanding.

"Yeah. My brother just chopped off someone's head!" She looked stressed out, and for once; Damon couldn't blame her. He'd been in her position many times (and sometimes had been the cause). "It's not right. It's not fair. He's sixteen-years old. He shouldn't have to live like this."

Damon sighed, partly out of sympathy and exasperation.

"Elena."

"There has to be another way. We have to fix it!" Elena insisted as she turned back to the sink to resume washing and wringing out the rags.

"We will!" Damon came over to her and grabs her face in his hands, startling the girl who had not expected this from him. "Hey Elena." She blinks at him in astonishment. "We will, okay?" He promised.

Elena smiled gratefully and curled up into a startled Damon's arms. He reluctantly wraps his arms around her as he attempts to bring her comfort.

* * *

 **~: Grace P.O.V :~**

I offered to give Alaric a ride back to his apartment. But he declined, choosing to go back to the Gilbert's to help clean up after Tony's messy death at the hands of Jeremy, whom had left a few hours earlier. After giving him a lift back to the Gilbert's, I turned my car around and headed back to the town's square for my apartment, aiming to fill in Rebekah on what went down when she decided to bow out at the last minute. My phone rang, and I groaned and pulled over to answer.

It was Damon.

"Hey, Damon." I answered, yawning.

 _"Hey babe, was that you just now when you dropped off Alaric?"_ He questioned me, and I pulled my phone away from my ear; glancing down at it with surprise.

"Yeah, it was. Why?" I asked, reaching for my purse and pulling a stick of gum and unwrapping it.

 _"Just thought that you would be coming inside. We've got things to discuss apparently about Jeremy."_ Damon stated, and I chuckled.

"Thanks, but no thanks. I'm heading home to fill in Rebekah on what went down and to find out where Nik went." I responded, pleased that I had gotten to Jeremy first. It seemed that I was going to be expecting a phone call from him sooner than I suspected.

 _"Sounds fun."_ Damon responded, dryly.

"Don't be a hater, Damon. I'd rather not be around Elena unless I absolutely have to. Otherwise, I'm likely to rip her head off her shoulders." I explained to him.

 _"Don't tempt me with a good time."_ Damon complained playfully, and I chuckled at him.

"Gotta go. Talk soon." I rang off, and tossed my phone back into my purse, before popping my gum into my mouth and turning back onto the road. I had just pulled up to my parking spot, when unexpectedly, Rebekah pops open the passenger door and slides in.

"Took you long enough." She says, haughty.

"What are you doing?" I asked, surprised. Rebekah sighs, as she makes herself comfortable and fixes her slightly windswept hair.

"My brother called. He says he's got a surprise for the both of us." She explained, pulling a piece of paper from her pocket and brandishing it to me. "Nik would like us to meet him at this location." Rebekah said, and I take the paper from her hand and glanced down at her elegant handwriting, reading an unfamiliar address.

"Now?" I asked, dubious.

"Do you have some other place to be?" Rebekah raised an eyebrow at me. I rolled my eyes and accessed my GPS. "What's wrong with you?" My sister seemed surprised by my slightly feisty attitude.

"Just spent some time in the hospital tonight, after calming down a pissed off teenager and distracting him from his selfish sister." I replied, pressing the start button on the GPS. _**"Continue 2.5 miles down from your current location, and turn left."**_ The GPS instructed, as I indicated and pulled out from the spot. Rebekah's eyes widened in shock.

"Are you alright? Were you hurt?" She demanded, worriedly. I smiled at her abrupt change from being bored and irritated, to concerned and overprotective.

"No. _I_ wasn't hurt, but Alaric was." I responded, calmly.

Rebekah frowned, "The high school history teacher and amateur vampire-slayer?"

"Yeah. Apparently, Nik ordered one of his hybrids to run down one of Elena's friends to prove a point to her. Alaric was the unlucky victim." I explained. "He came home, looking rather beat up and tired. Then all of a sudden, he started vomiting blood and collapsed."

"Good lord." Rebekah breathed, horrified.

"Yeah. That's when Tony - Nik's hybrid - ambushed us and sent away the help that Elena had called us, and tried to get Elena to invite him in. Except he was shot in the back by Jeremy, who then decapitated him." I said.

Rebekah looked unimpressed.

"Sounds like something Nik would do."

 _ **"In one-quarter mile, take a right turn."**_ The GPS suddenly chimed in and I immediately obeyed, frowning when I suddenly recognised the neighbourhood.

"I recognise this place." I said, surprising Rebekah.

"You do?"

"Yeah, I went for a walk and lost my way." I explained, as the trees surrounding us started getting denser. "Had to be rescued by Damon at one point the first time round. Second time, I was with Henrik." I added.

 _ **"Your destination will be on the left."**_ The GPS announced, and my mouth fell open when I recognised the same McMansion I had sat beside and sketched in my sketchbook, or reminisced with Henrik beside. I pulled up to the electric gates, as Rebekah inspected the property with a mildly interested glance.

"Impressive, Nik." She complimented him. I turned my car into the driveway and stopped in front of the callbox. I pressed the button, and a static voice crackled over the line.

 _"Yes?"_ An unfamiliar voice responded, rather snootily.

"I believe we are expected?" I responded, all business.

 _"May I have your name, please?"_ The voice requested.

"Grace Williams and Rebekah Mikaelson." I answered, and almost immediately the electric gates began sliding open. I drove all the way up the expansive driveway and parked right outside the front double doors, cutting the engine. Rebekah was the first one out of the car, as she inspected the beautiful front garden and the exterior of Nik's brand new home.

"It's acceptable." Rebekah concluded, turning to me as I got out of the car and glanced at the mansion with slight trepidation.

I couldn't help but feel spooked, since this was my third visit to this particular property. Only this time, I was actually going to be setting foot inside. It couldn't be a coincidence that I kept continuously returning to this place.

"Are you coming in?" I glanced over at Rebekah, who was looking a little annoyed.

"Yeah, sorry." I muttered, closing and locking my car. My boot heels made a dull _clack clack_ noise as I walked across the smooth stone porch and knocked twice on the heavy double doors. Rebekah and I didn't have to wait for very long before the doors were opened, revealing an excited looking Henrik; grinning from ear to ear at the sight of his sisters.

"You both gotta check this place out. It's phenomenal!" He chirped, seizing my wrist and dragging me inside; followed by an amused Rebekah.

Henrik wasn't kidding about the mansion.

The very second you stepped over the threshold, one is greeted with the view of an enormous circular main foyer that featured two large elegant staircases in a 'U' shape, with black lace wrought iron banisters. Everything appeared to be made of white marble, with touches of browns, beige and gold interior. The staircases were adorned with a light brownish axminister carpet that led to the upper-level of the mansion.

A gold and crystal chandelier hung in the central position of the foyer above an antique, polished dark brown entrance hall table with a large crystal vase of white Calla lilies. The rest of the foyer had antique chairs with a beige velvet upholstery, paintings and tapestries hung on the walls, and more vases of various white flowers decorated side tables and pedestals.

This was an obvious woman's touch.

Nik clearly had hired a female interior decorator to handle the finishing touches to the renovations he had done to the previously rundown, foreclosed mansion. I expected the rest of the mansion to look similar to what I was seeing at that moment.

"Welcome." Both Rebekah and I turned our heads towards an adjoining room to our left, which lead to what appeared to be a living room; similar to how the Salvatore's looked like, with a huge walk-in fireplace which was crackling away. Nik was standing in front of it, dressed in his usual casual attire, and holding a tumbler of scotch in his hand as he greeted us with a warm smile.

"Wow, Nik. This is really impressive." I complimented him.

"Yes. This is adequate." Rebekah agreed, earning an eye roll from Nik.

"High praise indeed, sister dear." Nik drawled, taking a sip from his drink as he walked over to us. Rebekah glowered at him for the comment. Henrik was still holding on to my wrist, and I gently disentangled his fingers from it. "But this is all for you and the rest of our family."

"I hope that my room is the biggest." Rebekah said, heading off to explore, as Nik came to a stop in front of me; ignoring what his sister had just said. I was still glancing about; taking in the opulence and felt him gently turning my face towards his so that we locked eyes.

"You really like it?" He asked, sounding a little vulnerable.

I smiled at him, "Like it? Absolutely. I'm just feeling a little intimidated. I've never set foot in a home like this before." I admitted, awkwardly.

"You'll get used to it." Nik reassured me, leading me to the living room. Henrik had disappeared somewhere in the mansion, giving us privacy.

"I'm sure I will. I'll try to visit as often as I can." I promised, taking a seat upon an overstuffed couch. Nik paused, hesitating a little.

"Actually. I want you to move in with us." He requested, indicating if I wanted him to fix me a drink. I shook my head as I looked at him with surprise.

"Pardon me?"

"I want us all to stay close together as a family. I'd feel more comfortable if you were nearby." Nik explained himself, and I bit my bottom lip.

"I don't know, Nik. The offer is an extremely generous one. But I've been taking care of myself for a long time." I countered. Nik frowned, but only slightly. It was clear that he had anticipated that I would be a little objective. "Is it really essential that I move in with you?" I asked.

"A thousand years ago, when you accepted my hand in marriage; everything that was mine, became yours as well. That applies even today, Grace." Nik felt the need to remind me.

I chose to stare into the flickering flames, as I deliberated my answer to his request. It seemed too coincidental that this came about just when my lease was about to expire. But I did have to admit, that I had always wanted to be reunited with my family. What better way to do that, than to move in with them in this admittedly beautiful mansion with all the luxuries available to me?

I smiled at him.

"When my lease expires, I'll move in with you." I agreed. That was only a week away, and it would also give me the opportunity to get used to the idea. Not to mention pack up my stuff, and possibly Rebekah's (if she needed help, that was).

Nik smiled triumphantly. "A fair compromise, love."

* * *

 **A/N: Thanks for reading. Please review! TTFN xx**


	52. On Your Side

**A/N: Pleased that my story still seems popular. I'm getting new readers every day. Thanks everyone for making my day, and proving to me that this story doesn't suck. Now onward with the story.**

 **Also, due to a reviewer's request for more romance between Grace and Klaus; I will endeavour to increase the quantity from now on, in between the action and drama this story accumulates. Thanks for bringing this to my attention.**

 **I do not own** _ **The Vampire Diaries.**_ **All characters (except for Grace) belong to author L.J. Smith.**

 **Please review respectfully with your thoughts, and please, no flaming.**

 **Now without further ado … Enjoy xx**

* * *

 **ON YOUR SIDE**

" _Life isn't pretty, we all get a little wreaked sometimes.  
If God's listening, people think you're out of your mind.  
_ _Even if you believe it. Through all the hard times, I'm on your side..."  
_ _ **~The Veronicas: 'On Your Side' (On Your Side [2016]).**_

* * *

 **~: Mikaelson Mansion :~**

After giving Nik my ultimatum in regards to moving with him into his newly purchased and renovated mansion; my love decided to give me the grand tour of the place that – until further notice – I would be living in, in two weeks time.

As I predicted; the rest of the abode had the same colour scheme as what I had seen in the main foyer:

\- There was the kitchen, which was huge and very modern with a white marble and brown stained motif, and a skylight that stretched from one side of the ceiling to the other, which – when it was daytime – would let in large amounts of natural light. It had a large restaurant style oven and an industrial stainless steel refrigerator, a large island work station with brand-new beige marble counter tops and a built in sink, stained wooden cupboards and drawers, and every imaginable kitchen appliance that you could think of.

It was every homemaker's dream kitchen; and I absolutely could picture myself in here, leaning against the counter and sipping a large mug of tea while scrolling through Facebook on my phone, or getting my hands dirty making cookies or other pastries (which was something I enjoyed doing during my down time … when I wasn't been threatened with my life, or out saving somebody else's).

\- Then there was the dining area, which Nik showed me after we passed through some one way swinging doors; the kind you'd expect to see in fancy restaurants, and I rolled my eyes at the obvious flash of cash shown here. _That_ told me that all my food needs would be catered for by live in servants, and that it was likely that my chances of having down time to myself with my cooking hobby was likely to be slim.

Fat chance.

But I am digressing.

The dining room again had the theme of 'large' and featured an enormous, expensive looking long wooden dining table with comfortable looking high-backed chairs around it, and a large flower display in the middle of the table of an exotic flower I couldn't remember the name of. Another chandelier dangled above the table, currently dimmed to give the room a sort of relaxed atmosphere, that I felt was a nice, classy touch.

\- Next door was an elegant ballroom, with floor to ceiling windows and more chandeliers, and even a skylight above our heads, which allowed a beautiful view of star constellations on a clear night. In front of the floor to ceiling window – which I noticed showed the beautiful front yard gardens – was a beautiful black full grand piano.

I turned and looked at Nik with a raised eyebrow, walking backwards towards the piano and delicately grazing my fingers across the burnished black wood.

"Who learned to play the piano?" I asked him, both curious and impressed as I walked around to the piano seat and sat down. I pressed down on a couple of keys idly.

"We all did." Nik replied, with a modest little shrug as he walked over to the piano and paused beside it, leaning on it as he watched the reactions on my face with obvious interest. It was very clear that he was anxious and eager to please. "Although Rebekah quickly lost interest after a while, as did Kol. I preferred the fine arts, over the musical arts. It was Elijah actually who persevered and became quite accomplished." He explained.

I grinned at that pleasant discovery, "Can't wait to hear him play, eventually." I expressed the interest, earning an indulging smile from Nik for my efforts.

"All in good time, darling." He promised, a little sadly. And I winced, hoping that our family reunion wouldn't be too hostile. I really wanted it to be the way it used to be, before Mikael and Esther destroyed it in one bloodstained night.

"Do you play?" He asked me, curious.

I glanced up at him, "No. I play the guitar." I replied, hopping up from the piano seat and flipping the lid shut on the keys to prevent them from becoming dusty.

"I didn't see any guitar back at your apartment." Nik observed, looking surprised at yet another talent that I possessed apart from artistry like him.

"That's probably because at one point, early on, I had to pawn it for some cash to pay off some important bills. Broke my heart to do it too." I replied, sadly.

"Sorry to hear that." Nik looked upset on my behalf, but I shrugged, stuffing my hands into my pockets as I sauntered back over to him.

"It's not a big deal. Playing a guitar is like riding a bike; you never lose the knowledge on how to play it once you're accomplished at it." I reassured him with a bright smile, before looping an arm through his. "So, where next on our little tour?" I asked him brightly, steering the topic away from my guitar playing skills and back to the present. Nik frowned at the abrupt change in topic but obediently turned and led me from the ballroom and up another set of staircases to the upper floor, where I assumed were the bedrooms.

We turned down a hallway, and instantly I noticed that the walls were decorated as far as the eye could see in beautiful pieces of artwork, and the various memorabilia Nik and his siblings had collected or probably stole or gained as a trophy over the last thousand years. Memorabilia like medieval weaponry or preserved tapestries etc.

I pulled away from Nik for a better look.

"Did you paint these?" I asked him, gesturing at the paintings.

"Most of them. Others I bought personally from the artists." Nik replied.

My mouth fell open a little; although, I wasn't sure why I was so surprised to be honest. Plus, Nik could be pretty charming and convincing when there was something that he wanted. After a few minutes of basking in the brilliance of these priceless pieces of artwork, Nik resumed showing me the rest of the mansion. We turned a corner and came across a hallway full of doors.

"Bedrooms?" I guessed.

"Yes. Each with their own bathrooms." Nik informed me, and I raised an eyebrow at the unexpected 'fun fact'.

"Problems?"

"No. A lesson well learned, actually. We were all sick of Rebekah hogging the bathroom for hours on end with her 'beauty routines'." Nik explained, not really bothering to lower his voice.

"I heard that!" Rebekah shouted from a nearby room.

"I meant you to!" Nik responded back in a normal voice, smirking. I giggled at their extremely normal sibling banter.

"And where will I be sleeping?" I asked, as we passed by Rebekah's bedroom – she was eagerly inspecting the size of her new closet – and made our way back to the staircase.

"With me in my bedroom, of course." Nik looked a little surprised by the question. "I thought that was a given?" He stated.

"How very presumptuous of you." I stated, playfully.

"If you desire a room to yourself-" I placed a finger over his lips stopping him in mid-sentence, before wrapping both my arms around his waist and smiling at him as I stepped into his personal space.

"Relax." I said, cupping his cheek, feeling the stubble underneath my palm. Nik fixed me with a bewildered look. "I'm just teasing you, my heart." I said, before kissing him chastely. However, as I pulled back and prepared to descend down the staircase, I was immediately – but gently – tugged back and engaged in a prolonged and deeply passionate kiss that took my breath away.

"You need to work a little more on your jokes, darling." He stated, resting his forehead against mine as he said this, before pecking my nose and pulling away to lead me down stairs to continue the tour. I spied another set of double doors off in the shadows, and I paused and directed his attention towards them.

"Where do those doors lead to?" I asked, already heading towards them; eager to investigate. Nik stopped me almost immediately.

"That would be my study. I cannot permit you access into it right now." He stated, firmly. I looked at him, feeling the curiosity mounting before glancing back at the doors.

"Why not?"

Nik wrapped an arm around my waist as he escorted me back to the living room. "It's also my art studio, and I'm currently working on a piece of artwork that I'd rather you not look at, at present."

I shrugged, "So it's a surprise? I get it. I've had many of those over the years." I took a seat next to Henrik who was in the middle of reading a book he must've borrowed from his brother; as I hadn't come across any private library on our tour around the place.

Nik smiled appreciatively at me. "Thanks, sweetheart."

My phone starts ringing, scaring the crap out of me and mildly annoying Nik, Henrik and Rebekah – who had just entered the room, accepting a glass of scotch from her brother – as I scrambled to answer it.

"Who would be calling at this hour?" Rebekah wanted to know, as she takes a sip from her drink and perches on the edge of the couch, eyeing my phone curiously. I glanced at caller ID and had to look twice.

"Jeremy?" I muttered. "That was quick..." I stated, before hitting the accept button. "Hey, what's wrong?" I questioned him.

 _"Elena got Damon to compel me a few minutes ago."_ Jeremy got straight to the point, and a smirk crept across my face.

"My prediction skills really don't suck." I commented.

"Or his sister is just predictable." Rebekah corrected me, sounding rather catty as she sipped.

"Alright then, so what did Elena want Damon to compel you to do?" I asked the obviously exhausted sounding Jeremy. "And make it snappy, it sounds like you could use a few hours sleep." I added, firmly.

 _"Yes, mom."_ Jeremy laughed.

"Don't get cute. Just answer my question." I prodded. I heard Jeremy groan and then bed springs squeak in protest; indicating that the teenager must've flopped down onto his bed.

 _"I had just gotten home a few hours ago, and was getting ready to crash when suddenly Elena knocked on the door frame. It looked like she was hesitating over something that she needed to tell me, and I figured I was in for it for killing Klaus' hybrid."_ Jeremy began his explanation, and I glanced up at Nik for his reaction. To my surprise, all I saw from him was curiosity. Not a hint of anger was reflected upon his handsome face.

"Well, what did she say?" I asked, getting to my feet and beginning to pace the length of the room, aware of the three sets of eyes focused upon me and two ears listening in on our conversation.

 _"She wanted to talk about what I said to her earlier this afternoon. About how the both of us should pack up and ditch Mystic Falls."_ Jeremy replied.

"Not bloody likely!" Nik immediately spoke up, this time looking annoyed. I threw a scandalised look at him, which he ignored. But unfortunately, Jeremy had already heard him.

 _"Was that Klaus?"_ He asked, sounding a little amused by his reaction.

"Yeah. Sorry, I forgot to mention that he, Rebekah and Henrik were in the room with me." I apologised, feeling embarrassed.

 _"Nah, that's cool. I don't mind them listening into the conversation. They might be able to help us with a solution."_ Jeremy pointed out.

"Solution to what?" Rebekah asked, suspiciously. I pulled the phone from my ear and put it on loud speaker, setting it down on the coffee table and re-taking my seat beside Henrik on the couch.

"Liberating Jeremy from Elena's influence." I responded to them both. "God knows he needs freedom from her."

"Understandable." Nik agreed, still looking concerned that his personal blood bank might be skipping town.

 _"Anyway, Klaus, you can chill out. Elena's not going anywhere. Apparently, I am."_ Jeremy confirmed, sounding oddly pleased.

"You are?" Nik sounded dubious.

 _"Yeah. I'm apparently being shipped off to Denver, or so Elena 'persuaded' Damon to suggest to me."_ Jeremy said. _"Where I'm staying with some nice 'family friends', going to a new school, meeting new 'living' girls and probably attending an art class. I didn't even know we had family in Colorado."_ Jeremy sounded mystified.

"Is that so?" I asked, getting angrier with Elena by the second.

 _"They want me to leave Mystic Falls behind and never think twice about it."_ Jeremy stated, sounding rather hurt.

"And do you want to do that?" Nik asked, carefully in case Jeremy was actually considering the possibility.

 _"Hell no. I wanna stay here in Mystic Falls. I want to help where I can!"_ Jeremy immediately protested. _"Although, the art class did sound tempting..."_ Jeremy trailed off.

"Jeremy, if you sincerely do not wish to leave Mystic Falls, you don't have to." I reminded him.

"I'd even be willing to offer you a few tips towards your artistry." Nik attempted to sweeten the deal.

"I second that." I agreed, smiling warmly at my boyfriend who scratched the back of his head and looked embarrassed. Even Rebekah seemed taken aback by the generous offer her brother had just put down on the table.

 _"REALLY? Are you serious?!"_ Jeremy exclaimed, loudly. My eyes widened in alarm, fearing that Elena would somehow overhear the conversation currently taking place.

"I wouldn't have given you the option if I wasn't serious." Nik stated, matter-of-fact.

"So here's a possible solution to your problem, Jeremy." I began to put forward my idea. "That is, if you agree, Nik." I added, looking shyly at him.

"Depends on what it is." Nik stated, cautiously.

"I want Jeremy to pretend to go along with Elena's idea, but in reality he'll move in with me into my apartment." I pitched the idea.

"But because you are eventually moving here, you're wondering if it would be okay if Jeremy came to live here too?" Nik correctly guessed what I was asking of him.

"That's pretty much the gist of it." I confirmed.

 _"You'd seriously do that for me?"_ Jeremy sounded astonished at what I had just suggested. But it seemed even he had doubts that Nik would give his okay to him moving into their mansion … however temporary it might be.

"Is it really that hard to believe?" I questioned, sounding a little hurt.

 _"Yeah, kinda. I mean my sister is the doppelg_ _ä_ _nger, and she's been causing problems for you lately."_ Jeremy pointed out, logically.

"Yes. But you're not Elena." Henrik put forward a rebuttal. "You've never given us any cause to dislike you or see you as a potential threat."

"I believe that you are all forgetting that I haven't given my approval on whether or not Jeremy can stay with us." Nik stated, quietly.

 _"So what's your decision then?"_ Jeremy asked. Nik went silent for several minutes, and I studied him worriedly. Thankfully, we didn't have to wait too long for him to make up his mind. He sighed heavily.

"He can stay." Nik eventually caved, sounding extremely reluctant.

Rebekah looked a little disapproving, "I do hope that we won't live to regret this decision, Nik." She warned, before knocking back what was left of her drink and leaving the room. Nik rolled his eyes, but you couldn't help but notice that he did look a little regretful.

 _"So what do I do now?"_ Jeremy's voice brought me out of my thoughts and back to the situation at hand. I grabbed my phone and took it off loud speaker.

"Get some sleep. I'll get in contact with Damon and set everything up." I instructed. "Just play along with whatever Elena is trying to make you do, we'll take care of everything else." I promised him.

Jeremy let out a loud yawn right into my ear. "Sounds good to me. I'll see you soon, I guess." He said, wary. "'Night, Grace."

"Pleasant dreams, kiddo." I chuckled and rang off.

* * *

I glanced over at Nik.

He had his back to both Henrik and me, staring into the flames of the fireplace, very obviously brooding. "Could you excuse us for a moment, Henrik?" I muttered at him without taking my eyes away from my boyfriend.

"Sure." Henrik replied, obviously sensing the tension in the room as he marked his place in his book. He unexpectedly plants a kiss on my cheek before retreating from the room and I smiled after my little brother, surprised, before I walked over to Nik; sliding my phone back into my pocket as I went. I stopped right beside him, trying not to crowd him while feeling the heat of the fire warming up my legs.

"Are you okay?" I asked, tentatively; unsure what mood he was in and didn't want to risk his wrath unnecessarily.

"I trust you realise that this went against every fibre of my being to grant asylum to your friend, love." Nik answered, sounding a bit resentful.

I nodded.

"Think of it as good karma, Nik." I suggested, earning a perplexed look from him in return. "If you want to prove to your brothers and Rebekah that you're attempting to atone for what you did to them, so that _we_ can be a family again … then granting Jeremy protection against Elena's influence is a good stepping stone towards it." I attempted to get him to see the bright side to his generosity.

"How is granting this boy permission into my home supposed to convince Elijah, Kol, Finn and Rebekah that I'm attempting to atone for my past mistakes?" He scoffed, draining his glass and heading back over to the wet bar to refill.

"In granting Jeremy sanctuary here, it's sending the message that you're regaining your compassion for others." I explained, trying to carefully choose my words as to not aggravate him. "You've been so used to getting your own way for the past thousand years, Nik, that along the way you've been cruel and unsympathetic, even ruthless." I reminded him.

"Your point being...?" Nik raised an eyebrow at me. "You're just relaying things about myself that I already know. Besides, it's gotten me to where I am today." He argued.

"But somehow you've lost the kind, sweet and loving man you used to be. The man I fell deeply in love with … before Mikael beat it out of you." Nik froze, and I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around his waist, resting my head upon his shoulder.

Nik automatically and eagerly relaxed as he turned and wrapped his arms around me and held me possessively. "It is possible to become both men, Nik. I'm not telling you to abolish the man you've become; because even I can see that it gets results quite effectively." Nik smiled slightly. "I'm just saying that it will put you in good stead with the rest of your family if they can see that you're trying to make an effort to change. Not to mention the likelihood that Jeremy will aid you no questions asked, should Elena start acting up again." I pointed out.

"What you are asking of me, darling, will not be easily achieved." Nik reminded me, squeezing me tighter.

"Then think of it as a challenge. You used to love those." I grinned.

"Still do." Nik agreed, grinning back and obviously remembering some positive memories. He sighed. "I suppose I can try to find a balance between who I was and who I am."

"Good answer." I approved. "As for your insecurities about Jeremy staying here: you can trust him. He is nothing like Elena, and from what I've observed; he just needs a friend who won't use him or stab him in the back. Perhaps you and Kol could oblige?"

"Stranger things have happened." Nik shrugged. "But I can't speak for Kol. Once we get him, Elijah and Finn back; my advice is to ask him that question yourself." Nik suggested.

I yawned, "That's the plan."

Nik pulled back a little and scrutinised my face with his blue-green eyes, before he smoothed back my hair behind my ear and planted a kiss to my forehead. "You better go to bed, love. You'll be no good to any of us dead on your feet." He suggested, frowning.

"In a moment. I still have to get into contact with Damon about bringing Jeremy over here instead of Denver." I insisted, yawning again and actually almost stumbling over.

Nik's eyes lit up as he steadied me. "So you're staying over then?"

"That was the plan. I don't fancy wrapping myself around a telephone pole travelling back to my apartment, or colliding with another vehicle." I said, pulling out my phone from my back pocket.

Nik kisses me again before pulling away and heading for the main foyer staircase. "Do you remember where my room is?"

"Yes, Nik. I'll be up in a second, I promise." I reassured him. "Get lost already." I pretended to be annoyed with him, and rolled my eyes as I heard him chuckling on his way upstairs. "Men... honestly."

I decided to take my phone call outside, as the warmth from the fireplace was making me sleepy, and I needed the cold autumn night air to be alert enough to get this conversation over and done with so I could go curl up in the arms of my beloved hybrid. It took a bit for Damon to actually pick up, but when he did he was none too pleased with me.

 _"Do you have any idea what time it is?"_ Damon grumbled down the line the second the call connected.

"I also would've accepted: 'Hey, Grace. What can I do for you now?' But given the hour, I'll accept what you just said." I retorted back, playfully; still fighting to keep my eyes open.

 _"What do you want, Grace?"_ Damon sounded bored.

"I just had an interesting conversation with Jeremy a few minutes ago. Perhaps you'd know what I'm talking about?" I stated, casually.

Damon huffed in annoyance, _"Figures that kid would've snitched. So, what now, are you going to scold me for kowtowing to Elena again?"_

"Actually, I told Jeremy to give me a call in the inevitable likelihood that Elena would've made you compel him. So, no. Not mad at you." I explained.

 _"Then why are you calling me then?"_ Damon sounded genuinely surprised by my explanation.

"To ask you for your assistance. I'm slightly adjusting the plan you and Elena had set up for Jeremy: instead of him boarding a plane to Denver – why the hell you chose that particular city I have _no_ idea – he's going to hide away with me at my place." I said.

 _"Your place?"_

 _"_ Well, technically Nik's new mansion; since I'm moving in in two weeks when my lease expires. Jeremy's already been clued in on that." I clarified.

 _"And Klaus is okay with this?"_ Damon sounded sceptical, didn't blame him.

"Absolutely. We discussed it with Jeremy, and we've got the all clear." I confirmed.

Damon groaned, _"Jesus, Grace..."_

"Damon, Jeremy doesn't want to leave Mystic Falls. He told me so himself. He wants to help out where he can, not be bundled up and sent away for his so-called 'protection'. Giving him sanctuary, albeit in a strange mansion, is letting him have that freedom to choose." I said, getting frustrated with him.

 _"I told Elena that this idea of hers would backfire."_ Damon muttered.

"Then why'd you agree to do it?" I said, slightly outraged.

 _"It was either me or Barbie. I did it under protest. I actually fully agree with you that Jeremy needs to be away from Elena."_ I heard him sigh, sounding stressed and equally as fatigued as I did. _"So what's your plan, baring in mind that Elena is going to be expecting to see her brother boarding a plane to Denver."_ Damon asked.

"Continue along with the plan of Jeremy going to Denver just like you planned with Elena. Only the second Elena – and I'm assuming Alaric – leave the airport, drive Jeremy to this address." I rattled off the address on the piece of paper Rebekah had given to me earlier to Damon. "Then Bob's your uncle, Fanny's your aunt; everybody wins." I laid down the facts to a still highly sceptical Damon.

" _Not sure who is taking Jeremy to the airport, but I'll improvise."_ Damon promised.

"Cheers, mate." I said, relaxing a little.

 _"Yeah, and what's gonna happen when Elena decides to take a trip up to Denver to visit?"_ Damon wanted to know, as I heard more bed springs creaking in the background on Damon's end of the conversation.

"We'll jump _off_ that bridge when we come to it. One step at a time, hon." I replied, automatically.

 _"Can't see this idea blowing up in our faces..."_ Damon muttered, sarcastically.

"Give me a little bit of credit, Damon. I'm not a fool." I moaned back at him. "Just make sure he gets here without Elena getting suspicious. Now, it's late and I gotta get to bed before I keel over from fatigue."

 _"Fine, whatever. But you owe me, Williams."_ Damon mumbled. _"Get some rest, and I'll see you tomorrow."_ Damon promised.

"Wait, what? Tomorrow? Why?" I asked, confused.

"Tomorrow, we're meeting Stefan at the old witch place. He wants to see me there, and I figured you'd wanna come along also." He explained.

"Probably a good idea. Thanks, Damon. Have a good night." We both hung up, and I let out another massive yawn before getting to my feet and turning for the double doors behind me. Quite by chance, I thought I heard a twig snap underfoot. I froze, and glanced behind me cautiously; hoping that Nik was still awake also and ready to come to my aid if for some reason, things went pear-shaped. "Hello? Somebody there?" I called, frowning warily.

No response.

I shook my head, assuming that in my tired state I was imagining something that wasn't there. I turned and moved sluggishly for the front double doors and let myself in before stumbling up the staircase and down the hallway towards Nik's – or should I say ' _our' –_ bedroom. I paused momentarily in front of the bedroom door before reaching for the doorknob and slowly easing it open and stepping inside.

* * *

I turned and closed the door behind me, and leaned against it as I took in Nik's bedroom: I assumed it was the master bedroom, as it had a generous space; with latte coloured walls and crème hued woodworks. There was another large fireplace in here, already lit and crackling away, and on top of the mantle were several candles of all shapes and sizes lit with a massive mirror mounted on the wall above it.

There was a large window with a cushioned window seat beneath it, that I could see myself sitting upon with my sketchbook or novel just staring outside at the backyard. Heavy taupe velvet curtains hung around it and were halfheartedly pulled across; presumably by Nik as he was preparing to roll himself into bed. I shook my head and walked over to pull it completely across, before turning and taking off my shoes and jacket as I continued looking about the room.

Nik had several large bookcases with loads of leather bound books and personal brick-er-brac, a beautiful antique vanity and mirror (which I assumed he had put in here for my use), antique lounge chairs and couches with earthy upholstery, Persian rugs, a large chest of drawers, and a walk-in closet that was also the entryway for a very modern and fancy looking en-suite bathroom. There was a feature wall, I noticed, that had lots of little framed pictures and quotes right above what I thought was undoubtedly the best thing in the room: a large king-size bed made of an expensive dark brown timber with smokey grey sheets and a burgundy comforter.

There were matching bedside tables either side of the bed, one of which had a lit lamp which illuminated a figure lying in the bed: Nik, who had his eyes shut and looking peaceful. I quickly, but quietly made my way over to the right side of the bed and got into it, clicking off the bedside lamp and rolled onto my side facing the bedroom door, making myself comfortable. I was just drifting off to sleep, when Nik suddenly shifted and wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me into his body and nuzzling his face into my neck.

I could feel his warm breath disturbing the small hairs on the back of my neck, and I smiled and reached for his hand that was holding me to him and interlocked our hands together. To my delight, he tightened the grip.

"Goodnight, sweetheart." I heard him mumble groggily into my ear.

"Sleep well, Nik."

* * *

I woke up alone the next morning, a little hurt and surprised that Nik wasn't here; until I heard the shower going and realised that my love was currently going through his morning routine. My mind immediately went south and I started having a vivid images about what Nik looked like naked. Then when the shower stopped, I instantly got out of the bed like it had been set on fire, and made a beeline for my shoes and jacket.

I did not want to still be in here when he came out to get dressed, as it would be all kinds of awkward ... for me. I managed to get one boot on, but because my other foot was still strapped up because of my sprain, it was taking a bit longer than I liked to get the other one on. I ended up hopping around like a demented bunny, trying to pull on the boot.

"Come on, dammit!" I bitched out my boot, and ended up falling sideways behind the couch. I landed with a grunt, and froze when I heard an amused chuckle coming from the entrance to the walk-in closet.

"Good morning, love." Nik greeted me, warmly. I gulped, and slowly peered over the backrest of the couch and felt my eyes widen; Nik stood there, damp from his shower and shirtless, with only a towel covering him from the hips down, preserving his modesty. "Having trouble?" He asked, curious and smirking a little. I stood up and moved around the couch and took a seat, figuring I might as well put my shoe on properly, since it was unlikely that my boyfriend was going to get changed until I had left the room.

"No, not at all." I responded, willing my heart to stop thudding like a sledgehammer. "It's just a little difficult because of my foot being strapped up like it is." I explained. Nik tossed what he was planning on wearing today onto the bed – tight, black skinny jeans with an expensive looking leather belt, a white Henley, and a pair of socks - and came over to where I was sitting.

"I'm pretty sure that your foot should be fine now. You can probably remove the tape." He pointed out. "Here allow me." And before I could stop him, Nik had already seized my foot and started carefully tearing away the sticky tape.

"Thanks, Nik." I said, feeling my face flaming out. Then, just like Cinderella's prince, Nik picked up my boot and carefully placed it on my foot, zipping it into place.

But he didn't immediately let go of my leg.

As I glanced up at him in question; a lump started to form in my throat when I saw the obvious desire in his blue-green eyes, which flashed gold for a split second. Slowly Nik, as I watched, trailed his hand up my calf, behind my knee, and then along my upper thigh, causing goosebumps to form and tingles down my spine. I felt another bolt of desire, the same I experienced back when we played _Twister_ at my apartment; as Nik's warm and powerful arm wound itself around my waist and pulled me towards him, forcing me to sit on his lap with my legs astride his hips as his mouth descended upon mine, inviting a wild kissing session.

I couldn't do much, except hold onto Nik for dear life as he stood up easily supporting my weight in his arms and moved back towards the bed, drawing me down onto it. I immediately stiffened and began to pull away from him looking at him warily, as the conversation about being virginal with Rebekah suddenly came rushing back. I wasn't completely innocent; but the furthest I had ever been with a guy was a session of heavy petting - or if we were being juvenile, third base - which had been really nice and enjoyable, all things considered. But it never felt right going further with any guy … except for Nik.

Problem was: I was afraid.

Nik paused and pulled away slightly to fix me with a worried frown. Which lasted for several minutes, before he suddenly cottoned on to why I had stiffened and offered me a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry, darling. I won't force you to do anything you're not ready for. I promise." He told me, sincerely. I smiled with relief and pulled him back down to resume kissing him, while he buried his hand into my hair to hold my head against his so I couldn't back away. I moaned and giggled a little when his tongue tickled my own. I felt him smile and laugh as well.

But unfortunately, our little bubble of bliss was popped when somebody started rudely thudding loudly on Nik's bedroom door; annoying both of us immensely.

"Ignore it." I suggested coyly, earning a boyish grin and a chuckle from Nik who immediately resumed our make out session. However, the visitor was persistent.

"Don't ignore me, Nik. I know you're in there, the shower turned off about ten minutes ago!" Both of us groaned as Rebekah – cock-blocking us, again – shouted in from behind the door. "Is Grace in there with you? I know that she didn't go home last night, but she isn't downstairs at the breakfast table." Nik growled in irritation before getting off me, and scooping up his clothes. I sat up, and watched him pull on his shirt before groaning again and flopping back down on the bed and shielding my eyes with my arm.

"Yeah, Bekah. I'm up, just give me a few minutes please." I replied back, trying to hide my own irritation. We heard her retreating footsteps fade away from the door, before I heaved myself off the bed and shrugged on my jacket; realising that Nik had used that opportunity to quickly pull on his jeans. "We just can't seem to catch a break, can we?" I muttered, with irritation as I walked over to the vanity mirror and attempted to fix up my unruly hair. But was interrupted when Nik vamp-sped over to me and turned me around so that he could push me up and pin me against the table with his whole body, to resume kissing me.

"We'll find the time to be alone, baby. I'll make sure of it." He whispered in a husky voice, kissing my neck before taking my hand and leading me out of the room and downstairs to where breakfast was apparently being served.

* * *

We found Henrik sitting and reading his book, and Rebekah sitting casually at her spot at the table, sipping from a glass of blood and nibbling at a plate of seasonal fruit. Don't ask how those two particular 'delicacies' apparently fit together as a balanced diet. Ugh!

She eyed us with interest as we both walked in hand in hand, and she took in my obviously flustered appearance and swollen lips. Not to mention, Nik's satisfied smirk and possessive grip on my hand.

"Did I interrupt something earlier?" Rebekah smirked, knowing full well that she had. Both Nik and I glared at her, unamused, as Henrik chose to change the topic.

"What are you gonna do today?" He asked around the table, brightly.

"There is a Founder's Day fundraiser happening tonight. I thought I might make an appearance. Might be able to convince Stefan to hand over the coffins if I use an outside source." Nik responded to his brother's query in a breezy tone.

"What 'outside source'?" Rebekah asked, narrowing her eyes a little.

"The Mayor." He replied, simply.

"What kind of help is she likely to be?" Rebekah sounded dubious.

"Mrs. Lockwood is a member of the Founder's Council. She holds a lot of influence." I chimed in, earning a look of surprise from Rebekah. "I did a lot of research when I first arrived in town."

"You mean that pathetic group of amateur vampire hunters made up of the founding families?" Rebekah sniffed.

"Precisely." I replied. Henrik grinned at me.

"What are you up to, Grace?" He asked, with interest.

I shrugged, reaching for the jug of OJ and poured myself a glass; while also trying to force down the bile that started to climb up my throat when I noticed both Nik and Rebekah taking large sips of their blood.

"Not a clue." I responded. "All I know is that Damon is meeting Stefan at the old witch house today, and he wants me to come with." I stated, not entirely surprised when I saw Nik immediately frown at this.

"Are you sure that's wise?" Rebekah questioned, with concern.

"Like I said, I couldn't tell you. But who knows what is running through Stefan's head at the moment. All we really know is that he really really wants to punish Nik." I responded, buttering some toast and reaching for the strawberry jam, and gesturing politely for a cup of tea to the servant serving us (which turned out to be one of Nik's hybrids; a young woman called Mindy, I believed).

"I agree with Rebekah. This doesn't feel right; and her instincts have been pretty flawless over the last few decades. As I told both you and Stefan on our way back from Chicago." Nik backed up Rebekah's objections, causing her to scoff.

"Yes, the decades that I haven't been daggered and cooped up inside a stuffy coffin." She muttered, resentfully.

Nik let out a martyred sigh, "Your complaints are becoming tiresome, Rebekah. I think it's time to forgive and forget now." Nik strongly hinted in a firm voice. Rebekah opened her mouth to object once again, but I quickly jumped in.

"This might be an opportunity to gather more information about Stefan's plans regarding the coffins." I pointed out to him.

"That's not really helping, love. I'm not particularly keen sending you into the lion's den, regardless if it could be an excellent opportunity." Nik was stubborn.

"Damon's going to be there too, Nik."

"Even worse." He responded, immediately.

"Do we have to do this _every single time_ I go somewhere with him to investigate something for your benefit?" I asked, annoyed. "I think it's time to take your own advice, sweetie." I dabbed at my mouth with a napkin. "Now, if you'll excuse me; I really need to get going."

"Where are you going?" Nik immediately asked, ditching the other topic abruptly.

"Home. I gotta have a shower and get a change of clothes before I can even think of going anywhere with Damon … and Stefan." I explained, looping my purse over my shoulder. Nik immediately got up from his chair.

"Let me walk you out." He suggested, and I blinked at him in confusion, before noticing the flirty expression on his face and immediately nodded.

"That would be lovely." I agreed, as both of us ignored the knowing expression on Rebekah's face, and the look of utter confusion on Henrik's. "I really gotta go, Nik. I'll probably see you at the Fundraiser tonight anyway." I reminded him, feeling very reluctant to part from him.

Nik pouted, playfully, (something that he would strongly deny later on) as he opened the front door and reluctantly let me leave. "I ardently look forward to it." He responded. Nik stood in the doorway, and remained there until my car went out of his sight.

* * *

I felt like I was floating on air, as I somehow managed to get back to my apartment in one piece. After getting inside, I managed to spend ten minutes bathing and getting changed into fresh clothes – black short-sleeved skater dress with white polka dots and cuban roses, and black converse hi-tops – brushed my hair up into a high ponytail, slipped in large hoop earrings and donned both my vervain/wolfsbane bracelet and Nik's silver wolf's tooth necklace, before there was the expected knock at my front door.

It was Damon; standing on my doorstep with a pleasant expression on his face, that became a look of surprise when he saw the upbeat one on mine.

"Okay, I give. Why are you so cheerful this morning?" He asked me, curiously.

"I just had a good morning, that's all." I responded, pushing Damon back out of the apartment as I turned and deadlocked the door. "Alright then, after you." I indicated, waiting for Damon to stop gawking at me.

Damon instantly recovered, still fixing me with a weirded out expression.

"I don't wanna know. Let's just find out what Stefan's up to." He suggested, and instantly grabbed my hand to lead me downstairs to his car, where Stefan was waiting impatiently in the front seat for his brother to return. The scowl on his face immediately deepened the very second I walked into view.

"Seriously? Is Grace the reason why we're here?" Stefan bitched, rudely.

I made a face at him, "Haven't you heard, Stefan? Damon and I are practically valcroed at the hip." I quipped as I slide into the backseat, ignoring the amused smirk that spread across Damon's face. "Where he goes, I go. Most of the time."

"Thought that place was reserved for your boyfriend." Stefan retorted, snidely. I ignored him, focusing on Damon.

"Let's get this show on the road, huh?" I suggested, not giving Stefan's surliness the opportunity to ruin my good mood.

* * *

 **~: Old Witch House :~**

Damon drove all three of us to the old witch house, where Stefan informed us both that Bonnie was already there attempting to open the mysterious fourth coffin that Nik had alongside Elijah, Kol and Finn's coffins.

Something told me that they would've been better off leaving well enough alone and not messed about with that coffin. Nik obviously had it closed and sealed for a reason, and opening it could be a potential recipe for disaster.

But then again, this is Stefan we are talking about; anything to screw with Nik's plans would be right up his alley at present, so I really shouldn't have been surprised that he was getting Bonnie to attempt to spell open that casket. I walked along a fair way in front the brothers, but made sure that still able to hear what they were saying without being completely obvious, as we walked up to the house ready to deal with whatever Stefan needed Damon for.

"You didn't say anything to Elena about the coffins, right?" Stefan enquired to Damon, who rolled his eyes.

"No, I said I wouldn't."

"What about _her?"_ I didn't need to look back to know that Stefan was referring to me, and I wasn't sure whether I was supposed to be insulted about that or not.

Damon frowned, "Grace hasn't got a clue." He lied, but Stefan seemed to buy it and I furrowed my brow; wondering what game he was playing at.

"Why are you asking?" Damon wanted to know.

"Because protecting the location of Klaus' family is my number one priority right now." Stefan stated, bluntly. "The fewer people who know, the better."

I couldn't help but scoff silently at his words. It seemed that Stefan was shit outta luck as far as keeping the location of Nik's coffins a secret. We were almost at the house, when Damon suddenly walked over to me and grabbed my wrist to prevent me from going inside. I glanced back at him in question.

"What?" I asked him.

Damon didn't reply, still focusing on the house. I turned to see what had caught his attention and noticed Bonnie walking slowly to the staircase, having not spotted us quite yet. When she turns to walk up the stairs, she sees the three of us standing there staring at Damon and his unexpected reaction. I rolled my eyes when Bonnie's face immediately hardened when she saw me and Damon, but she surprisingly obeyed him when he puts his finger to his lips to quiet her.

Damon inclined his head, listening intently to something only he and presumably Stefan could only hear. Then without warning, one of Nik's hybrids walked out of the house and ran right into Stefan. When the hybrid recognises him, he vamps out and goes to bite Stefan; who instinctively jerks out of surprise and moves to protect himself. But Damon vamp-sped up behind the hybrid and rips his heart out.

"These hybrids, really bringing the neighbourhood down." He stated, before allowing the bloodied heart to fall to the ground. I sighed, knowing that Nik was not going to be pleased when he learned that yet another one of his hybrids had been taken out. I stepped towards the house.

"Shall we?" I asked, gesturing carelessly at the door but not waiting for an answer as I breezed on inside, bypassing a glaring Bonnie in the process. The arrogant little witch immediately left and the rest of us followed Stefan down to the basement, where Damon and I knew that Stefan had stashed Nik's coffins and had the witches in the house cast an enchantment over them so that Nik or anybody Stefan didn't want to know about the coffin's locations would be able to see them.

Almost immediately after stepping into the room, Damon had momentarily disappeared leaving me alone in the basement with a glaring Stefan whom I attempted to ignore. But it was becoming difficult and extremely uncomfortable, as every human instinct I possessed was sending me urgent fight or flight messages. I couldn't have been more relieved when Damon returned. Only to look at him like he was a loon when Damon started fiercely bashing one of the coffins with a shovel he had brought along. Both Stefan and I watched him for a few minutes, before I wondered over to him and placed a gentle hand on his bicep; drawing my best friend's attention.

"Feelin' better? Got whatever it is out of your system?" I questioned him with boredom.

"No." Damon retorted, flashing me an unamused look.

"You're wasting your time, anyway. It won't open." Stefan agreed with me, eyeing the shovel. "Did you bury the body?"

Damon lowered the shovel. "Yeah. Any sign of our little hybrid buddies?"

"Nope, just the dead one." Stefan confirmed, then threw me a hard look that I raised an eyebrow at. "And if you know what's good for you, you'll keep your mouth shut about this."

I aimed a glare at him that could melt steel, "Watch it, Salvatore. I may not be a vampire, werewolf or hybrid; but I'm not one to be trifled with. As you already know when I killed Mikael." I reminded him, making Stefan stiffen at the memory.

"Alrighty then!" Damon spoke over the top of us, taking my hand and squeezing it in a fruitless attempt to calm me down. "Back on topic now!" He pulled me closer and leaned down to whisper into my ear. "I need you to calm down, Grace."

"I will he if does." I muttered back, darkly. Damon hummed in agreement, before kissing my temple chastely, and pulled me to his side for both protection and comfort as he addressed his obviously unstable sibling.

"So Klaus has 6 siblings. Amirite?" He looked towards me for confirmation, since I grew up with them all in my past life.

I nodded, "I never knew the eldest. She died before I was born and before our families came to the New World."

"Right, good to know. We already know that Rebekah and the youngest, Henrik, are currently staying with Grace at her apartment after Rebekah was unsuccessfully daggered by Elena." Damon continued, and I chose not to reveal both Rebekah and my intentions to move to Nik's mansion when my lease was up. Henrik had already 'moved in' and was obviously very content and happy living with his older brother like old times.

"Which leaves Elijah and two others. Three sleeping originals, four coffins. So, who is in the locked box?" Damon wondered, looking at me with hopeful eyes.

I shrugged, "You got me. Nik's very hush-hush about that."

"Whatever is in here," Stefan placed a hand upon the coffin. "Bonnie seems to think will help us kill Klaus. So, the sooner she can get this open, the sooner we will know if she's right." He stated, matter-of-fact.

"You really think that these haughty, power-hungry witches are going to help you gain access into that coffin? Whatever plan you've got going, Stefan, opening that coffin is not going to aid you a bit." I laid down the facts.

"That's not really going to stop us from seeing what's inside, though is it?" Damon retorted, before frowning at the ceiling at the 'witches' that I noticed were all crowding around us; either wearing smug smirks or had anger on their faces. "But you'd think the spirits of a bunch of dead witches that can make the coffins invisible would have figured out how to open one."

I raised an eyebrow at the group of witches, and they defiantly stared back. None of them budging an inch to give assistance. I let out a humourless chuckle, gaining their attention.

"None of these witches, are going to help you." I said, gesturing all around the room with my hand. "And for once I agree with them. Not only because I love Nik and would sooner die than betray him, but also because you really have no idea what you might be dealing with if you successfully get that open."

Although, I had a hunch and a horrible feeling I knew who was in there … and if it was true, I questioned Nik's motives and judgement.

"They're surrounding us?" Damon looked surprised, but then frowned. "Fat lot of help they are then."

"You know, none of this is gonna do us any good if Klaus' hybrid friends find our hiding place, right? They need to go away." Stefan stated, causing both Damon and I to exchange looks with each other. If that was what Stefan wanted, there was only one solution that we could think of that would get him what he wanted.

"Great idea, Stefan. Why don't you just ask them to pack their bags and take a long rest while we're at it?" Damon drawled. "How about we try to keep the peace? Don't attract attention to the real thing we are trying to hide."

I folded my arms across my chest, "Nik will call off his hybrids if only you'd just give him back his family." I pointed out to him. However, Stefan was not having a bar of what I was saying, which only frustrated me more.

"I'm not gonna play defence when I have what Klaus wants." Stefan insisted, stubbornly. "He does what I say, or I dump his family to the bottom of the ocean."

"He's not going to kowtow to anybody, Stefan. Especially someone who is behaving like a spoilt child who has had their favourite toy taken away from them as punishment." I couldn't help but make comparisons.

"Exactly. You do that, then he kills you and everyone you know like, I don't know … me!" Damon argued, earning a snort from me. Like I'd allow that to happen.

"No, he's bluffing. His family means more to him than anything else. A perfect example of that is standing right beside you." Stefan retorted.

"You sure about that?"

"Well, I don't know Damon. I mean, I guess there's only one way to find out, right? Call his bluff." Stefan concluded, and I thought I noticed his eyes flicker in my direction for a split second. My eyes widened a fraction; praying that he wasn't going to do what I thought he was to do.

Apparently, Damon hadn't cottoned on to Stefan's plan, much to my dismay.

"The only way to call someone's bluff, Stefan, is to be willing to lose everything if you're wrong." Damon pointed out the obvious, which Stefan responded to with a smile and promptly leaves, leaving a worried Damon behind. I quickly followed his example.

"Woah, hold up! Where are you goin'?" Damon asked, seizing my wrist and pulling me to a stop.

"Back to see Nik. I'm already experiencing withdrawal symptoms." I replied, with a deadpan expression on my face. Damon frowned.

"And do what exactly? Stefan wasn't bluffing about having your guts for garters if you narc on him to your boyfriend." He protested, looking panicked. His response almost caused me to smile.

"Let him then. Then you'll be dealing with a bloodthirsty, vengeful and grieving hybrid boyfriend who will literally rip _him_ to shreds. Don't even get me started on what Rebekah is likely to do." I replied, flatly, watching Damon start grinding his teeth in his anger when he realised the truth in my statement.

He and I both knew the consequences of Stefan's actions; I was just wondering if Damon was willing to let it happen to him. I shook off his grip on my wrist before continuing on my way. "Besides, who said that I was going to blab to Nik about anything that we've learned here? I'm content sitting back and waiting for Stefan to inevitably screw up with his vendetta." I said, as I walked back to where the car had been parked and continued walking.

The new Mikaelson Mansion, surprisingly, wasn't too far away from the site of the old witch house, I discovered.

And I could use the exercise.

* * *

 **A/N: This is the end of the chapter. I hope that it has a sufficient amount of romance and fluff between Klaus and Grace in it. Let me know in a review! But don't worry, there will be more where that came from in future chapters. Stay tuned for the next chapter! TTFN xx**


	53. When The Darkness Comes

**A/N: Let's get the show on the road!**

 **I do not own** _ **The Vampire Diaries.**_ **All characters (except for Grace) belong to author L.J. Smith.**

 **The lyrics to 'Love Story' belongs to Taylor Swift, and the lyrics to 'When The Darkness Comes' belongs to Colbie Caillat. None of these brilliant songs belong to me; I'm just borrowing them.**

 **Please review respectfully with your thoughts, and please, no flaming.**

 **Enjoy xx**

* * *

 **WHEN THE DARKNESS COMES**

" _Vengeance is in my heart, death in my hand.  
Blood and revenge are hammering in my head."  
_ _ **~William Shakespeare.**_

* * *

 **~: En-route to and at the Mikaelson Mansion :~**

I had just made it out of the woods and half way up the main road, when Damon unexpectedly caught up with me in his car. He honked his car horn, causing me to nearly jump into oncoming traffic. I took two steps back away from the road, and attempted to calm down my racing heart as I glared over at him.

"You goin' my way?" He joked, obviously unfazed by my annoyance. I rolled my eyes and strode over to the window that he wound down so he could talk with me.

"You offering?" I asked, mildly. Then winced when I realised I had uttered an unintentional double entendre.

"Anytime, babe. Just say the word." Damon responded, winking licentiously. I aimed a devilish smirk back at him.

"You wouldn't be able to handle me, sweet cheeks." Walking away, I paused when Damon suddenly got out of the car and called out to me.

"No, in all seriousness; I'll give you a lift back into town." He insisted and I turned to look at him. "Or wherever..." He added, trailing off and looking uncomfortable. I smiled and shook my head as I walked over to the passenger side and hopped into the car.

"A lift to Nik's house would be widely appreciated." I requested, as Damon, surprisingly enough, merely nodded and drove off. "What about you? What are you up to for the rest of the day?" I asked him.

Damon frowned, thoughtfully. "Dunno, probably try and find a way to prevent Stefan from pissing off your boyfriend any further than he already has. You?"

"Going with Nik to a fundraiser held at the Founders' Hall." I replied, promptly.

"The fundraiser for the Wickery Bridge Restoration thing? Didn't think that would be something Klaus'd be interested in." Damon raised an eyebrow.

"He's not. Nik's got another motive for going tonight." I responded. "Something to do with Mrs. Lockwood."

"Carol? Oh, shit. That can't be good." Damon pointed out, and I grinned. "Looks like I'm going to the fundraiser also."

"Be careful, Damon. Don't fuck up Nik's plans; he's only resorting to Carol Lockwood to get Stefan to back off and return his property to him." I defended my boyfriend's actions.

"Yeah, like that's gonna intimidate him." Damon scoffed.

"My sentiments exactly. But, you should know Nik by now. He can be as stubborn as a mule." I said.

" _Can_ be?"

"Watch it, Damon." I warned him.

He chuckled lightheartedly before pulling up at the elegant black metal electric gates for the address I had rattled off to him in a hurry. Damon had to look twice at the newly refurbished mansion he had once rescued me from once-upon-a-time.

"Hang on, isn't this...?"

"Yes, it is." I confirmed, smiling pleasantly.

Damon snorted, "Nothing like flashin' the cash, huh?"

"You can talk. You've got overly priced aged bourbon back at your place. Don't be a hypocrite." I scolded him, as I unbuckled my seat belt and got out of the car.

"Well, at least I know where to drop off Jeremy tomorrow morning." Damon realised, ignoring the 'hypocrite' label while eyeing the beautifully landscaped mansion with mistrust.

"So I guess I'll see you tonight then?" I said.

"Somebody's gotta keep my brother from losing his head and to hold his tongue." Damon shrugged, before giving me a mock salute and taking off down the road, presumably back to the Boarding House.

I chuckled and turned towards the pedestrian entrance to the Mikaelson Mansion and pushed the call box buzzer on the door to gain entry.

 _ **"May I help you?"**_ Mindy's voice responded over the intercom. I pressed the speak button to respond.

"Mindy, hi! Could you let me in, please?" I answered, brightly.

 _ **"Certainly. One moment."**_ Mindy replied formally, before there was a loud buzzing noise and the door unlocked itself to allow me to push through, and close the gate behind me. I walked calmly up the expansive driveway to the double doors and was just about to raise my hand to rap on the wood, when Henrik answered.

"What's up?" I asked, as I took in Henrik's slightly apprehensive and panicked expression. He beckoned me in and I moved without hesitation.

"Stefan's here." Henrik whispered, as he closed the front doors. I groaned, and raised a hand to my face. "He looked like he meant business too. What the hell happened down at the old witch house?" He wanted to know, still whispering.

"He was trying to gain access into the fourth coffin. It's been sealed shut by Nik for a reason, but both Damon and Stefan are still curious about what's inside it." I replied, also whispering.

"Why do they want to open the coffin?" Henrik was confused.

"It's mostly Stefan who wants a peek inside. Damon's curious, but not suicidal. Meaning that if the coffin had somehow been opened, he'd be interested to see what was being kept hidden, but otherwise, he'd rather steer clear of the drama." I explained.

"Smart man." Henrik muttered.

"I believe the term is careful." I corrected. "Where are they?" I asked him, and Henrik shoved his hands into his pockets.

"Nik's study." He replied.

Damn! The one place I wasn't allowed in just yet. Still, didn't mean that I couldn't attempt to eavesdrop on whatever conversation they were having.

"How long ago did Stefan arrive?" I asked him, as I headed in the direction of Nik's study.

"About five minutes before you did." Henrik said.

"Thanks." I took off in that direction.

"Wait! Where are you going?" Henrik looked alarmed. I turned and glanced back at him, walking backwards as I went.

"To eavesdrop. Gotta find out what Stefan's up to somehow, right?" I said, winking at him reassuringly.

I faced back the way I was going and walked as silently as I could – knowing that my footsteps could probably be heard by all the vampires in this place – and approached the double doors that I knew led into Nik's study and art studio.

The doors were open ajar, and I paused in front of them reaching up to knock and let Nik know that I was here, and would be hanging out with Henrik until he was available again.

"I'm surprised you're still in town." I jumped when Nik suddenly spoke, very clearly and close by. I seriously thought I was busted. But then... "I gave you your freedom, you could have gone anywhere."

Mindy suddenly emerges from the study, eyes widening when she saw me. I immediately narrowed my eyes and raised a finger to my lips so she wouldn't give me away. Mindy shrugged and wondered off.

"I live here, Klaus." Stefan replied, with a hard voice.

Nik let out an amused chuckle. "Well, if we're playing this game, then … I was here first." Nik whispered that last part with a warning tone. I walked over to the wall beside the double doors and leaned against it, waiting impatiently for them to continue their conversation.

"You know, I don't like your hybrid friends." Stefan stated, and I just barely stopped myself from snorting at this.

 _Tell us something we don't already know..._

"They're everywhere, kind of like fleas. I want them gone."

"Yeah, well I kind of like having them around." Nik answered, dismissively. "You know, I'm hurt. I hoped that when I freed you, we'd pick up where we left off. But here you are, guzzling vervain like the rest of them, I'm sure." He sighed, heavily. "So much for friendship."

"Friends don't strip friends of their free will." Stefan pointed out, mulishly. I imagined Nik thinking that statement over before shrugging,

"Okay, granted, yeah, _that_ was a little extreme; but I get moody." He confessed, and I rolled my eyes. "Just ask my siblings." He set something down with a small clatter that sounded like the wooden handle of a paintbrush. "Speaking of whom, isn't it time you handed them over?" He asked, serious.

"Klaus, get your hybrids out of Mystic Falls or I will remove them myself." Stefan demanded, and I winced.

 _Bad move. Nobody tells Nik what to do. EVER!_ Stefan was very close to becoming a condemned man. But I was pretty sure, that would not faze him at all.

Nik's voice was as smooth as silk, "Hmmm. You see, if you continue to threaten me, I'm gonna be forced to retaliate. Kill people. And it will get messy again."

"Do whatever you want, I don't really care." Stefan replied, icily. "Or you know what? Maybe I do. Maybe I care so much, that I'll drop Elijah in the Arctic." He continued threatening. Footsteps approached the doors, and my eyes widened in alarm as I quickly backpedalled out of the way so that I didn't immediately appear, at first glance, that I had been eavesdropping on their conversation. It was very clear that Stefan wasn't going to be backing down this time or taking prisoners.

Somebody was going to get hurt; whether it be physically or emotionally.

"Well, maybe I'll be willing to lose one brother if it meant killing yours." Nik retorted. Stefan's fingers curl around the door, in his aim to pull it open and leave.

Thankfully, he paused to answer Nik.

"Try me, let's find out." The door swung open and Stefan stepped out … only to freeze when he saw me standing there, attempting to look like I had only just arrived and not looking like I had been eavesdropping all along. His green eyes narrowed almost immediately. "What are you doing here?" Stefan demanded, taking a step towards me and I took a step back, not replying. "How much did you hear?" When I still didn't respond Stefan blurred over to me, grabbing my arms in a bruising hold and I flinched; yelling out in pain. "I asked you a question!"

"Let her go!" I winced in pain as I glanced over Stefan's shoulder at Nik who had appeared in the doorway, looking fierce. Stefan glanced over at Nik with a defiant glare, as though challenging him to make him release me. "I invited Grace here." Nik continued talking, then in a blink of an eye I found myself staring at his back and heard Stefan grunting in pain as a bone snapped. "Manhandle her like that again, and you won't need to worry about my hybrids being in town, because you will be dead!" He snarled, threateningly. I peered over Nik's shoulder and saw that Stefan's wrist was at a weird angle. "Our business here is concluded. I'm sure you have some place you need to be."

Stefan stoically grabs his broken wrist and jerks it back into place, just as Mindy rushes into the room; looking concerned.

"Is everything okay?" She asks, politely.

Nik doesn't bother looking at her, "Everything is fine, Mindy. Stefan was just leaving after failing to make his point, and attempting to harm Grace."

Stefan, realising that he had overstayed his welcome, turns to leave with Nik still standing protectively in front of me; watching him go. He passes by a work table that still hadn't been collected from after the renovations on this mansion had been finished, and pauses reaching for something. I frowned when he picked up a saw from the work table, then vamp-speeds without warning over to a caught off guard Mindy, and cuts her head off with one clean swing.

I gasped in horror and immediately turned to hide my face into Nik's back, gripping his shirt tightly in my hand and trembled with fright. I felt him reach back and grab my hand in his, rubbing it soothingly with his thumb in an attempt to comfort me. Even though I was used to bloodshed and violence by now; seeing somebody's head being lobbed off from their body was still not something you'd wish to witness.

"Well, one down. You may want to, ah, send the rest of them away before it gets messy, again." Stefan comments casually, before throwing the bloodied saw back on the work table and leaving the mansion, slamming the doors behind him.

* * *

The minute Stefan left, Nik immediately turns and pulls me into a comforting embrace; turning us both so that _my_ back was to the grisly display in the event that should I pull away from his arms, I was not likely to cop an eyeful of the corpse. This occurred seconds before Rebekah rushed into the room with Henrik on her heels, having heard the commotion from another part of the mansion.

I was still trembling out of fear, and I had my eyes shut tight; trying to avoid looking at the headless corpse. This was almost as worse as seeing Jeremy hacking off Tony's head with a butcher's cleaver, and I nearly missed Rebekah's outburst the second I heard her heels clacking as she came into the room.

"Bloody hell..." Henrik muttered, sounding just as horrified as I did, and I saw it first hand.

"What the hell happened in here?" Rebekah exclaimed, her footsteps coming closer to us. I didn't need to look up at them to know that Rebekah's blue eyes were wide in shock, and Henrik was studiously avoiding looking in the headless Mindy's direction like I was. "Was there an attempt on Grace's life?" She added, obviously assuming that I was involved somehow because I was being comforted by a still very angry Nik.

"No. _This_ was the handiwork of Stefan; an attempt to unsuccessfully prove a point." He responded, pulling one of his arms away from me to dig around in one of his pockets. I glanced down and noticed him pulling free his phone. "Do me a favour; call somebody to clear away the mess, will you?" Nik requested; although, it sounded more like an order. He threw his phone in Rebekah's general direction, and she must've caught it because I immediately heard her footsteps retreating away.

The next thing I knew, the world was blurring all around me as Nik relocated to a different room, and I realised that we were in the living room, because I could feel the couch cushion underneath me as I was pushed down onto it, and the warmth of the fireplace down my right side. Nik sat in front of me on the coffee table, still attempting to comfort.

"What can I do to help?" Henrik requested, from my left side.

"Could you give us some privacy, brother. Grace needs me for the moment. However, you can call Tyler Lockwood and request that he comes here." Nik replied. "I have a favour I need to ask of him."

"Sure thing." Henrik replied, before running from the room. There was silence for several seconds, broken only by the fire crackling and spitting in the hearth and the sound of Nik's sluggish heartbeat underneath my ear.

"Are you alright?" Nik murmurs to me, and I slowly pull away and look him in his concerned blue-green eyes. I nodded slowly, and Nik reached up to wipe underneath my eyes with his thumbs.

Oh, great. I was crying.

Wonderful, now I feel really stupid.

"You know it's rude to eavesdrop, don't you?" Nik gently admonished me, and I immediately felt sheepish. Should've known that he could sense that I was there. I just wonder why Stefan hadn't picked up on it? "If you wanted to know what was discussed between Stefan and myself, you need only to ask me." He stated, and I grimaced.

"How do I know that I would be guaranteed a response?" I asked him, and felt him hook a finger underneath my chin to raise it up so he could look me in the eye. He was looking at me rather sternly.

"Because I know that I can trust you, darling." Nik replied, gently.

"Oh." I said, rather lamely.

"Do you have anything to share with me about your trip to the old witches' burial site?" Nik asked me. It was obvious that his temper had not simmered down just yet, and that he was holding it at bay.

"Sorry?" I blinked at him with surprise.

"That is why you returned, isn't it?" Nik asked me, and I frowned at him.

"No, it was not the only reason, Niklaus." I responded, a little hurt, and I ignored the taken aback expression on his face when I used his whole name. "I came back because I wasn't ready to be separated from you just yet." I explained.

A pleased smile appeared on Nik's face. "I see..."

"I only went back to my apartment to freshen up. And if it wasn't for the fact that Damon had asked me to come along with him to the old witch house as back up against Stefan, I would've come back here by now." I stated, flatly.

"You have no idea how pleased I am to hear that, my love." Nik said, still smiling happily.

"Well, I'm not so sure I'm going to stay after all." I said, getting to my feet. "If all you want from me is information..." I made an attempt to leave … only to be instantaneously pulled towards Nik, who perched me on his lap so that I was facing him.

"Oh no, my love. Believe me, I want _so_ much more from you than just information." His voice was like warm honey; just _oozing_ lust as he wrapped his strong arms around my waist and pulled me extremely close. I chuckled and blushed when I realised what he was implying. "Now, what was it that you needed to tell me?" Nik requested, patiently.

I swallowed, trying to lubricate my suddenly dry mouth before replying. "Uh, only that Stefan has recruited Bonnie into making an attempt to spell open one of the coffins. The one that has been sealed shut." I responded, dully.

Nik blinked, before frowning. "Thank you for letting me know, Grace." He muttered, pulling me in for a hug. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, resting my forehead against his as I attempted to continue trying to calm _him_ down.

A hybrid, whom I recalled Nik telling me was named Daniel, barged into the room carrying a garbage bag. Nik immediately turned on him.

"You better have a very good reason for intruding on a private moment with my girl." He demanded, using a dangerous tone, just as Rebekah and Henrik entered the room as well. Rebekah was glowering at Daniel for his lack of tact.

"Apologies, Nik. He should've knocked before coming in." She explained, glowering at the cowed hybrid.

"Well, it's too late now. What do you want?" Nik drawled, impatiently at Daniel.

"Sorry, sir. But what do you want me to do with her head?" Daniel asked, raising the bag into the air. I immediately shuddered when I realised what Daniel was talking about, causing Nik to squeeze me comfortingly and kiss my temple, before responding dismissively to his hybrid.

"Just get rid of it. Burn it. I honestly don't care, Daniel." Nik said before getting to his feet, and pulling me to mine as Daniel left the room with Mindy's head. Tyler walks in passing by Daniel; eyeing Nik, Rebekah, Henrik and myself with suspicion.

"You called? I'm here. What happened?" Tyler gets straight to the point. Nik raises my hand to his lips and kisses my knuckles before directing me to go and take a seat on the couch with Henrik. He then directs his attention back to Tyler.

"What happened, is Stefan had two paths in front of him and he chose the one that made me angry. I need you to help me do something about that." He explained, in a hard voice.

Tyler groaned unhappily, "Can't you just leave me out of it?"

"What would be the point in that?" Nik asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Seriously man, can't you just get one of your other hybrids to do your bidding?" Tyler complained. "I lost my friends, my girlfriend..."

"Right, your, uh, your girlfriend." I eyed Nik questioningly, wondering where he was going with this knowledge. What did Tyler having a girlfriend have to do with anything? I soon got my answer. "Um, about her … I need you to bite her."

"Nik!" I blurted out, horrified. He aimed a warning glance at me, and I frowned at him.

"What?" Tyler looked stunned.

"Don't make me repeat myself."

"A hybrid bite will kill a vampire." Tyler reminded Nik, who who became very flippant.

 _Nik, what are you doing...?_ I thought, knowing better than to verbalise my objections out loud when Nik was in this unpredictable mood.

"Yeah. Yeah, I know exactly what it will do." Nik stated, sounding falsely apologetic. "Uh, Stefan pushed me too far, so I'm pushing back."

Tyler frowned, "I'm not biting Caroline."

My eyes widened in dismay as Nik glared back at Tyler for his repeated defiance, but surprisingly enough, managed to relax at the last minute. That could not be considered a good thing. Henrik and I exchanged worried looks with each other. But a quick glance at a stoic Rebekah proved to us that even she wouldn't go up against her raging brother either.

"Tyler, I've been supernaturally blessed with the good fortune of a sire bond to you. So, one could consider this me putting your undying loyalty to the test." Nik pointed out.

"What the hell is wrong with you? I'm not hurting Caroline!" Tyler yelled, angrily.

Nik rolled his eyes at Tyler's raised voice, and put up his hands. "Alright. Alright." He said, indicating to Tyler to calm the hell down. "I'm disappointed, but you know, it's your choice, free will and all that." Nik told him. Tyler looked surprised then suspicious at Nik's sudden change of heart. "I'll find another way to strike at Stefan. You can go now."

* * *

That seemed almost too easy.

The three of us – Rebekah, Henrik and I – watched as Tyler immediately left, before I threw a mystified look at my boyfriend.

"What the hell are you playing at?" I demanded.

"I think I need a little more information than that, love." Nik responded, pleasantly.

"That wasn't like you to let Tyler get away with back chatting you like that. What gives?" I asked, folding my arms across my chest as I waited for an explanation. Nik sighed patiently, before striding over to explain.

"Do you know how the sire bond works, sweetheart?"

"Not really, no." I replied. "I didn't even know it existed."

"Simply put. When a human is first turned into a vampire; if they have had strong feelings for the vampire who turned them beforehand, – doesn't matter if the feelings are romantic or out of respect – sometimes they trigger what is known as a sire bond with them." Nik lectured me.

"And?"

" _And,_ a vampire who is 'sired' to another vampire will unconsciously do exactly what their 'sire' tells them to do. Whether or not they want to or not." Nik tells me, with a smug little smile that I didn't like seeing on his face. It only spelt trouble.

"So what you're telling me; is that Tyler, sooner or later tonight or when he next sees Caroline is going to bite her even if he doesn't want to?" I guessed.

"Precisely."

I looked at him with horror, "That's horrible!" I shifted my arms a little and hissed when pain throbbed where Stefan had grabbed them in a tight grip.

"What is it?" Rebekah asked, coming over to me. I didn't reply to her question, in favour of shrugging out of my army jacket and inspecting my arms for damages. Sure enough, there were perfect black and blue handprints of Stefan's hands on my arms. "Those bruises look painful, love." My sister commented, looking angry and drawing Nik's attention. I swore underneath my breath as I angrily snatched up my jacket from the couch and pulled it back on. "Do you want some blood to clear that up?"

I shook my head, "I'll live. I can't be constantly asking you for blood every time I get hurt." I said, sullenly. "Besides, it should only be consumed for serious injuries." But when I moved again, twinging the bruises; I realised that it was probably worse than it looked. I heard an audible crunch of fangs tearing through flesh, and glanced up to see that Nik had torn through his wrist.

"Drink up, darling." He insisted, holding out his wrist to me. I hesitated; grimacing at his blood coating his lips, before I sighed and stepped over to him, taking his wrist in my hands. As I lowered my mouth to his wound, he spoke up again. "For the record, Grace. Nobody in this family will allow you to be hurt. Not again. We would rather you consume our blood, die and come back to us in transition, than watch you die again without any hope of return." Nik informed me.

I glanced over at Rebekah, who was nodded vehemently; agreeing wholeheartedly with what her brother said. I sighed and pulled away, nodding, but still uncomfortable. "Thanks, Nik."

"Always." Nik smiles at me, pulling away once the wound closed up, and headed back out of the door. Rebekah observes him, curiously, as all three of us follow him out of the living room and across the foyer towards his office. The blood that had been smeared and sprayed on the ground when Stefan killed Mindy, had been cleared away and bleached.

It was like nothing gruesome had happened there in the first place. Rebekah pauses in front of the office door where Nik had disappeared into.

"What are you up to now, Nik?" She asks. He re-emerges shrugging on his black leather jacket as he strides across the foyer towards the double doors. "I'm starting to get bored."

"That's not really my problem, now is it?" Nik replied, checking to see if he had his keys and phone as he muttered something to one of his hybrids who appeared out of nowhere, as though summoned. "As to what I'm 'up' to? Well, I'm carrying out a few 'errands' before Grace and I attend the fundraiser tonight." He stated briefly.

"Grace is going with you to that fundraiser?" Rebekah was surprised.

"You're more than welcome to attend as well, Bekah. But I'm not sure that it's going to be all that interesting." Nik smirked, knowing full well that Rebekah was going to decline the offer.

And sure enough... "As tempting as that sounds, I think I will pass." Rebekah stated, predictably, giving Nik a sarcastic smile before she turns on her heel and disappears off somewhere in the mansion.

Nik turns and looked at me with an apologetic smile on his face. "I know you had your heart set on spending some more time with me, but-"

"I know, Nik. Getting Elijah, Finn and Kol back takes first priority. I agree." I finished his explanation, before shrugging. "I guess, I'll go curl up somewhere and read my book, or do some sketching, or watch a movie with Henrik." I listed the possibilities. "I'll think of something to amuse myself until tonight." I reassured him with a smile.

"That's my girl." Nik complimented me, kissing my forehead. "By the way, I have a present waiting for you in the ballroom." He said, mysteriously.

I blinked, "A present?"

"Yeah. I'm positive that you will love it." He stated confidently, before giving me one last kiss and disappearing out of the double front doors with two of his hybrids trailing after him. "Stay safe, and keep out of trouble." Nik called back.

* * *

I closed the door and turned to look at Henrik, curiously.

"Do you know about this … surprise Nik has gotten for me?" I asked, suspiciously. Henrik looked like he was trying and failing to hide a smirk.

"Oh, yeah. I was there when he got it." He confirmed.

"It's not embarrassing, is it?" I asked, with a minimal amount of dread.

"No, of course not." Henrik frowned at me. "Why would my brother do that to you?"

"But you definitely believe that I'll like it, whatever it is?" I persisted. Henrik nodded, not saying another word. I studied him for a moment longer before walking towards the ballroom to discover what the surprise was. I questioned why Nik had specifically chosen the ballroom as the hiding spot for my surprise. There was nothing really in there, except for Elijah's piano.

"Are you lost, Grace?" I turned and saw Rebekah walking out of a nearby room, with a mildly curious expression on her face. I offered her a crooked smile, showing my amusement.

"Not at all. Just headed for the ballroom." I responded. My sister came over to me, now extremely interested in my business.

"What pray tell are you going to be doing in there?" She asked and I laughed, earning a slightly offended frown from her in response.

"You really are bored, aren't you?" I observed, ignoring her question about what I was going to be doing; because even I was in the dark about what I was about to discover, much to my annoyance.

"Like you wouldn't believe."

I shook my head in disagreement, "No, I think I have a fairly solid idea." We paused near the ballroom doors, then looked at each other with curiosity.

"What is it?" Rebekah asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Do you have any knowledge of a surprise Nik has for me in here?" I asked, slyly.

"Surprise? First I've heard of it." Rebekah responded. I pushed open the doors and wondered into the sun-washed ballroom, glancing about for something that seemed obvious. That was when I spotted it: a beautiful acoustic guitar perched on its stand with a red ribbon tied around the neck of the instrument, beside Elijah's piano.

My eyes widened in disbelief as I walked towards it and picked up the instrument, plucking at the strings idly as I appraised it with eager eyes.

"Is that it then?" Rebekah spoke up, and I looked up at her.

I pulled the strap over my head and onto my opposite shoulder as I played a few chords to see if the guitar needed tuning.

"I guess so." I replied, pleasantly surprised; and I normally disliked surprises.

"Do you like it?" Henrik asked, causing me to jump a little, having not expected him to sneak up on me like that. But I was too surprised by my new gift to be pissy with him at that moment.

"Very much."

"I didn't know you played the guitar." Rebekah noted, smiling.

I grinned back, "Neither did Nik until I told him last night that I had to pawn off my old guitar just so I could survive." I immediately started to play a few notes, just to get my skills again; having not played for quite awhile. After a few minutes though, I decided that I really wanted to be alone. "I'll see you two later." I said, walking back towards the entrance. Henrik's face immediately fell.

"Hang on, I thought we were going to be watching a movie?" He protested, looking a little hurt.

"I'm feeling a little sleepy, so I'm going to hang out in Nik's room for awhile, maybe take a nap. When I wake up; we'll break out the popcorn and watch as many movies as we can until Nik and I have to go to the fundraiser." I reassured him, before looking at Rebekah. "You're welcome to join us." I said, referring to the movie.

"That would be lovely. I might take you up on that offer." Rebekah smiled graciously. "I'll let you get some rest." She looped her arm around Henrik's shoulders. "C'mon, Henrik. Let's go take a walk."

"I don't want to take a walk." Henrik complained, earning an eye roll from Rebekah who 'forcibly' escorted her brother from the ballroom.

"You haven't changed one bit..." Rebekah muttered, laughing fondly.

The minute they were gone, I returned my attention back to my new guitar. It was the nicest, most sweetest thing that Nik had ever done for me … and he had only just learned that I played this instrument for only a day.

Smiling, I took a seat on Elijah's piano stool and began plucking away at the strings to songs that I listened to and learned. The music reverberated off the walls all around me and I closed my eyes, letting the memories of playing my guitar wash over me.

"What beautiful music!" An unfamiliar voice rings out, and I stopped abruptly and turned towards the entrance. A female hybrid was standing there looking shyly at me.

"Um, thanks?" I said.

"Was that _'Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring'_ by Bach?" The unfamiliar hybrid prattled on. I didn't reply, instead I stood up and carefully replaced my new guitar onto its stand. The hybrid's eyes widened in dismay. "No, please. Don't stop on my account!"

I eyed her cautiously. She was obviously one of Nik's hybrids; although, I had never seen or met her before; and it was a little weird that she had chosen now of all times to approach and introduce herself. The girl was tall (maybe slightly taller than me), statuesque, dressed casually, with natural ginger hair and brown eyes, and a pale complexion.

"Who are you?" I asked. The hybrid seemed to realise that she had intruded on my private time, and immediately started to grovel.

"Oh, shit, I'm sorry! I'm Emma! It's lovely to meet you." She babbled, brightly.

"Grace." I responded, awkwardly.

"Oh, I know who you are. You're the boss's girlfriend."

I raised an eyebrow, "And yet Nik never bothered to explain who you are?"

"Yeah, I know." There was an uncomfortable pause. "This is really weird, isn't it?" She commented, and I smiled a little.

"A bit, yeah." I confirmed, raking my hand through my hair. Grabbing both the guitar and its stand, I walked towards the door that Emma was currently blocking.

She rushed forward, "Here, let me help." She offered, taking the guitar stand from me and smiling, obviously trying to start over and make an attempt at a good impression.

"Still don't quite understand what you're doing here?" I said, as Emma fell into step beside me while I made my way to the staircase that led to the upper level and to the bedrooms.

"Oh, of course!" Emma chuckled, clapping a hand to her forehead and managing to look stranger. "Klaus sent me here to keep you company, while he was out." She explained.

"Not again, Nik..." I groaned in annoyance, taking aback Emma.

"Sorry?"

"Is this a bodyguard task? Because if it is, Nik is in so much trouble … and not the good kind either." I stated. Emma looked confused as we both turned a corner and walked down the hallway of bedrooms.

"Not that I'm aware of. Why?" She asked, curiously.

"No particular reason. Just that I've been in a 'bodyguard situation' before and it really shit me up the wall." I eyed her critically. "Although, I dare say that out of the bodyguards I've had since Nik returned to my life, I think you trump Stefan big time." I commented.

Emma frowned a little, "I'm not here to protect you. Klaus already told me that you were more than capable of taking care of yourself." She told me. "My purpose here to keep you company, since he wasn't able to do himself."

I blinked, not entirely believing what she was saying. "He was feeling _that_ guilty, that he asked you to fill in for him until he got back from whatever the hell he was doing?"

"Yeah, pretty much." She acknowledged. "Well that, and I'm also taking over where Mindy left off when she was … uh, killed." Emma added, before she eyed me with interest. "Stefan Salvatore was your bodyguard at one time?"

"Unfortunately." I confirmed. A small smile spread across my face, touched that Nik had the thoughtfulness to make up for his absence in such a nice way; but I also annoyed that he was basically ordering another person to babysit me.

His paranoia was going to drive me to drink someday.

"What was he like?" Emma asked, interested in Stefan for some unknown reason.

"Considering that he had his emotions turned off at the time, he was highly dangerous and not really giving a shit." I replied, dryly. We eventually made it to Nik's bedroom (I was still finding it a little difficult calling it 'our' bedroom) and opened it. I turned and faced Emma, who was still giving me a very sunny smile. "Well, thanks Emma. I'm gonna head in." I explained.

"No problem." She responded, handing me the guitar stand. "I'll leave you to it. Just yell my name if you need anything, I'll be able to hear you."

"You bet." I gave a weak smile as Emma immediately turned and headed back down the corridor; attending to whatever Mindy had been preoccupied with before Stefan had guillotined her head from her shoulders. I watched her go, before retreating into the bedroom and closing the door behind me.

I scanned the room, looking for a good place to put my guitar, since technically, this room was mine also. In the end, I decided to put my guitar next to the window seat before shuffling over to the large king sized bed, kicking off my shoes and removing my jacket and purse. I reached inside my purse to pull out my novel before crawling onto the bed and making myself comfortable as I resumed reading where I had left off.

It wasn't long before I felt myself drifting off into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

What I had thought was going to be a couple of hours, turned out to be far more sleep than I had first planned. But then again, I hadn't really been sleeping well for a while. At least, not until I got used to falling asleep in Nik's arms, both last night and the night he and I had once and for all killed Mikael.

What with all the different types of dangers lurking in the shadows ready to take out not only myself, but other innocent (and maybe not so innocent) people in its path; it was not exactly what dreams were made of. Ironically, the man who is deemed by every supernatural creature in the world, to be the worst of the worst and generally feared by all as a heartless monster; was the one who was able to guarantee me a good night's sleep, safe and secure in his hotter than normal arms (courtesy of his werewolf side).

I stirred from my LONG nap and sat up still clutching my novel against my chest where it had fallen when I nodded off, blinking the last traces of sleep from my eyes before yawning and taking in the stillness of Nik's – _our!_ \- bedroom, searching for any hidden dangers. I replaced my bookmark back into the spine of my book, before flipping my legs over the side of the bed and shuffling towards the door.

"Emma!" I spoke in a normal voice, knowing that the hybrid would be able to hear me from wherever she was in the mansion. "Could you come here, please?" I added. Within a split second, the perky redhead appeared, all smiles.

"How can I help, mistress?" Emma asked, politely.

I winced, "Don't call me that, please." I begged, feeling mortified. "You may call me Grace."

"Of course … Grace." Emma immediately replied, looking uncomfortable. I sighed, hoping that Nik hadn't reinforced some sort of rule with her that she had to address me like she would address him. _That_ would be extremely uncomfortable, and I don't care if Nik, Rebekah or Elijah were used to this … I was not.

 _So_ not.

"May I have some hot tea, please?" I requested, smiling politely at the hybrid to reassure her that she wasn't in trouble for calling me 'mistress'. However, it seemed that Emma didn't look at all fazed and she simply nodded.

"Right away." She responded, before blurring away. I sighed again and retreated back into the bedroom and wondered over to the window seat.

My eyes widened in shock when I realised that it was twilight outside; I could see that the sky was slowly darkening outside the window. The midnight blue sky had streaks of oranges, yellows and pinks across the horizon, and the first of the stars had begun to appear randomly in the sky just twinkling away. I took a seat on the cushion and tucked my legs up against my chest, and rested my chin on my knees. A cool breeze came into the slightly overheated room, and I closed my eyes for a moment just enjoying the temperature.

A polite knock broke the silence.

"Come in." I called out.

The bedroom door opened and in stepped Emma, carrying a silver tray with a white porcelain teapot and matching sugar and creamer, and cup and saucer. Emma had also added a small plate with a couple of sugar cookies on it.

"Your tea, Grace." Emma beamed at me.

I smiled graciously back. "Thanks, Emma. Just put it on the table, please." Emma trotted over to the coffee table and placed down the tray.

"Are you okay, Grace?" Emma suddenly asked, and I glanced at her with surprise.

"Why wouldn't I be?" I responded, unfolding myself to lean back on my hands and let my feet dangle. Emma shrugged, as she straightened up.

"No reason. You just look a little distant?"

"Not intentionally. I actually crashed while reading my book and overslept a bit. Have Rebekah and Henrik returned from their walk?" I asked, slightly worried that I had been unknowingly neglecting my siblings. Emma shook her head, and I sagged with relief.

"Not as yet. But we're expecting them anytime now." She responded, helpfully.

"Nik?"

Again Emma shook her head, "Do you want me to let you know when they return?" I smiled and shook my head.

"Nah. It's all good." I said, brightly. I reached for the pot and started to pour myself some of the amber liquid.

"Is there anything else you need?" Emma asked politely. I shook my head as I added some cream to my tea.

"I'm all good. Just needed a drink. But thanks!" I replied, as Emma nodded then quickly left the room leaving me to my own devices.

I raised the cup to my lips and took a sip as I wondered back over to the window seat and stared out of the window, taking in the view outside. The bedroom had a view of the private meadow I had admired the first time I had visited this property, and part of me wanted to gulp down the tea, race down outside and run barefoot through the soft looking grass.

But the other more logical side of me knew that that would be stupid, because it was getting dark and any matter of dangerous supernatural entities could be lurking outside ready to pick off any idiot who was walking around here unaccompanied or without any protection. I also doubted that I'd be popular with Nik or Rebekah if I did that too. I eyed my guitar and smiled, setting down my cup and reaching for it.

After adjusting the strings a little, I started to strum … and because nobody was around, I decided to sing:

 **"We were both young when I first saw you. I close my eyes, and the flashback starts, I'm standing there, on a balcony in summer air."** I sang, walking over to the window seat and taking a seat upon it, resting my guitar on my crossed legs. **"See the lights, see the party, the ballgowns. See you make your way through the crowd to say 'hello'. Little did I know."** I shut my eyes, smiling to myself. I was so into the song, that I didn't hear the bedroom door open and somebody stepping inside... **"That you were Romeo, you were throwing pebbles. And my daddy said 'stay away from Juliet!' And I was crying on the staircase, begging you 'please don't go!'"** I continued playing, oblivious to my small audience standing at the door and listening in to the song. **"And I said: 'Romeo take me somewhere we can be alone. I'll be waiting, all there's left to do is run. You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess. It's a love story, baby just say 'yes'."**

"Let me guess?" Startled, I abruptly stopped playing and snapped open my eyes, looking for the intruder. "This song is about you and Niklaus, right?" It was Rebekah, looking both amused and slightly nauseated. "Because if it is, that story is entirely inaccurate." She pointed out, causing Henrik who was standing beside her to groan and clap a hand to his forehead in his embarrassment.

I snorted, setting aside my guitar and getting to my feet to walk over and drink some more tea … while also wishing that I had gotten Emma to provide something to 'Irish up' the tea.

"Hardly. It's just a song." I replied, smiling at them both. "How was your walk?" I asked them while gesturing for them to come further in and take a seat on the couch and armchair with me. Rebekah came in and took a seat beside me, while Henrik took up the armchair, still looking embarrassed by his older sister's impudent comment.

"It was lovely thank you!" Rebekah responded.

Henrik snorted, "Speak for yourself."

"Oh, hush! It's good for you!" Rebekah chided him, haughtily. This earned her a scowl from Henrik who got up from his perch on the armchair and over to where I had set aside my guitar to examine it for himself.

"Yeah, you always say that. Even if it's not true." He muttered, and I choked on my mouthful of tea nearly spraying it across the room and earning an affronted glare from Rebekah for my troubles. I pretended not to notice. "It sounded as good as the original." Henrik commented, picking up the guitar and walking back over to me with it in hand.

"Yeah, it does." I agreed, setting down my teacup once again and taking the guitar from him, fingering the strings expertly before playing a few riffs. Rebekah eyed my guitar playing with mild interest. Nik hadn't been kidding when he told me that Rebekah had little to no interest in learning a musical instrument.

Which made me wonder what she was thinking...

"Do you know any other songs?" She asked, and I couldn't help but blink at her in astonishment. Mostly because of her earlier sassy comment, I assumed was because she wasn't a fan of modern '21st Century' songs.

"Yeah, of course." I said, thinking for a moment of a song that Rebekah couldn't possibly object to … before settling on one that not only she'd like, but also had some reference to both Nik and myself.

I began a slightly fast tempo, as Rebekah and Henrik made themselves comfortable and gave me their full attention.

 **"Underneath the echoes, buried in the shadows. There you were."** I sang, smiling at them both before continuing to sing as I strummed away at the guitar strings. **"Drawn into your mystery, I was just beginning to see your ghost. But you must know."** The bedroom door opened, drawing our attention towards it. A slightly confused, but intrigued looking Nik stepped in; looking between his brother and sister sitting on his couch and armchair, and at me playing the song … in our bedroom of all places.

I smiled at him, **"I'll be here waiting. Hoping, praying that this light will guide you home. When you're feeling lost I'll leave my love, hidden in the sun. For when the darkness comes."** I paused, locking eyes with Nik who smiled back, and leaned casually against the door; patiently waiting for me to finish.

 **"Now the door is open. The world I knew is broken. There's no return. Now my heart is not scared, just knowing that you're out there. Watching me."** Rebekah and Henrik glanced between the both of us, realising that I had momentarily forgotten all about them and was now singing this song to my boyfriend. **"So believe I'll be here waiting. Hoping, praying that this light will guide you home. When you're feeling lost I'll leave my love. Hidden in the sun, for when the darkness comes."**

I broke eye contact with Nik, and shut my eyes; wishing to finish the song without being distracted by the tender expression on his face in the process. **"Be here waiting. Hoping, praying that this light will guide you home. When you're feeling lost I'll leave my love. Hidden in the sun, for when the darkness comes. Hidden in the sun, for when the darkness comes."**

I drew my arm down on the final chord, and both Nik and Henrik started clapping in appreciation, while Rebekah cracked the smallest smile at me.

"I like it." Was all she said, and I laughed softly as I carefully removed the strap back over my shoulder and leaned my guitar against the side of the couch.

"Thanks, Bekah. I'm pleased that you do." I told her, before looking over at Nik. "Is it time to go to the fundraiser yet?" Nik pushed off from the door and started walking over to the walk-in closet.

"In about ten minutes, darling. I'm just freshening up." He told me, as he shrugged out of his leather jacket and tossed it onto the bed.

"Well, I know when we're not wanted." Rebekah piped up, 'sounding' annoyed. But the knowing smirk that touched her lips told me that she wasn't as pissed as she made herself to be. "Come on, Henrik." She requested, and surprisingly; Henrik put up no protest and obediently follows Rebekah out of the room, giving me a thumbs up as he left. I turned back towards the closet to see that Nik had already disappeared into it. His Henley had been taken off and also tossed onto the bed.

I sighed and turned to pick up my guitar and put back where it belonged so it didn't get damaged.

"That was some beautiful guitar playing, love." I froze when Nik's voice speak up from the closet and I calmly walked back over to the couch and fixed myself a refill of my tea. "Did you write that song?" He enquired curiously.

I scoffed, lightly. "No, I didn't."

"Why did you choose it then?" Nik wondered, striding back out of the closet now wearing a black silk button-up that had been left undone … probably on purpose. I found myself staring unconsciously at his damp, slightly muscular chest; toned from years and many hours of hard labour from back when we were in the Middle Ages and living in harsh conditions.

"Uh, I liked the message it gave." I responded, cryptically as I cleared my throat and turned away.

 _Dammit, Nik..._

"I see." Nik said, a hint of amusement in his voice. I picked up my tea and headed back over to the window and continued watching the sun disappearing into the west. I relaxed and leaned into him when Nik came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. "What did you get up to while I was out?" He asked, kissing my neck; causing my heart to skip a beat.

"Nothing special. I just read a little, then drifted off to sleep." I replied, nonchalantly. "But I haven't been sleeping very well." I added, feeling uneasy.

"Are you okay?" Nik immediately asked.

"I'm fine, just tired." I replied. "We better get going if you want to talk to Carol Lockwood about Stefan." I reminded him, draining my cup and gently breaking away from Nik's embrace. I walked over to where I had toed off my hi-tops, when Nik's hand wrapped gently around my upper arm, stopping me in my tracks.

"No. Something is definitely wrong, sweetheart." Nik stated, his face completely devoid of humour. "You know you can tell me anything. So tell me what's bothering you?" He said, his blue-green eyes were filled with concern. I frowned and bit my bottom lip.

"That's the thing, Nik." I began, gaining his undivided attention. "I think that something bad is gonna happen tonight. I just have no idea what it could be." I said.

"Does it have anything to do with you?" Nik demanded, suddenly getting protective.

"It's just an inkling that I have, whether or not it involves me hasn't been made clear." I replied, before swearing underneath my breath. "Oh, God. Sometimes, I wish that I didn't have a sixth sense." I muttered, shuddering and feeling creeped out. Nik obviously didn't like that answer, or the fact that I was so uncomfortable, as his eyes suddenly hardened and he began to pace. I continued putting on my shoes before shrugging into my jacket and picking up my purse. "Let's go." I suggested, trying to shove aside the uncomfortable feelings. However, the very second I placed my hand on the doorknob; Nik was by my side, pinning my back to the door.

He was shaking in fear and rage, and I really needed to calm him down so he could start thinking rationally.

"Nothing bad is going to happen to you again. I promise you this." He growled, and I swallowed hard at the determined look in his eyes.

"You can't make promises like that, Nik. That's not how it works." I told him, calmly.

"I'm not going to lose you again! Do you hear me?" He insisted, stubbornly.

"Yes, I hear you. But we don't even know if I am the target for whatever is going to happen tonight." I pointed out to him.

"I don't want to take any chances." Nik stated, curtly. My eyes widened.

"I'm not staying behind, Nik." I jumped in, believing that that was what Nik was up to. He blinked at me in confusion, before a very small smile spread across his face and he relaxed very slightly.

"I wouldn't dream of it, love. I'm just not letting you out of my sight, until this blasted fundraiser is over with and I've said what I need to say to both Carol and Stefan." Nik stated.

That didn't make me feel any better.

* * *

 **A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter update. Looking forward to your reviews. The next update should be out soon! TTFN xx**


	54. Playing With Fire

**A/N: Welcome back, guys!**

 **Happy New Year, and let's hope 2020 will be an awesome year! I hope you enjoyed the last chapter.**

 **I do not own _The Vampire Diaries._ All characters (except for Grace) belong to author L.J. Smith.**

 **Please review respectfully with your thoughts, and please, no flaming.**

 **Enjoy xx**

* * *

 **PLAYING WITH FIRE**

 _"I need someone who sees the fire in my eyes and wants to play with it."  
 **~Unknown.**_

* * *

 **~: Founder's Hall :~**

Nik and I were driven by one of his many hybrids to the Founder's Hall, where the Wickery Bridge Fundraiser was going to be held. By the time we got there, night had almost certainly fallen and already the place was packed with people attending the function.

Including, all the Founding Family representatives of the Council.

I decided to follow Nik's lead, since he was technically the mastermind of the whole reason why we were here (otherwise I'd have rather remained back at the mansion watching that promised movie with Henrik and Rebekah, eating my weight in junk food, while talking smack about the people who were giving us all the shits lately).

The very first thing Nik did when he first set foot in the place, was reach for a glass of champagne and plucked a second one off and handed it to me with a casual flourish. I accepted it without hesitation and took a generous sip from it, as Nik placed his hand on the small of my back and lead me deeper into the gathering crowd, to schmooze and locate Carol Lockwood so he could put the next part of his plan into play.

That was when I spotted both Damon and Alaric walking side by side up towards the entrance. They seemed to be in a very animated conversation with each other; and judging by the frowns and looks of concern I could see on both of their faces, the topic wasn't a particularly nice one. Nik's arm tightened around my waist, drawing my attention.

"There she is." He said, taking a sip from his champagne as he indicated towards a smartly dressed Carol Lockwood, dressed in a tailored cream coloured suit jacket and skirt, with a crisp white blouse and matching cream pumps. The woman was working the crowd surrounding her with the fakest 'politician' smile I had ever seen.

"So is Damon, and Alaric." I indicated over to the oblivious pair who were paused in the front doorway, still talking.

Nik glanced at them both before rolling his eyes and removing his arm from around my waist with great reluctance.

"Just be careful, sweetheart. Don't invite trouble." He urged, sounding vulnerable but wearing a mask of indifference on his face, despite knowing that I could be potentially in a whole lotta danger tonight.

Story of my lives, honestly...

I nodded, not bothering to argue with him about the possibility of trouble finding me. Because the same bad feeling I had been experiencing all day had not abated in the slightest.

"I won't." I promised, leaning over to kiss him on the cheek (earning a warm smile from him in return) before making my way through the crowd towards Damon and Alaric. I hadn't made it within a few feet of them before I could clearly hear their conversation. (But that might've been because of how loudly the background music was playing, that they needed to shout to be heard).

"I thought Stefan saved your life." Alaric was saying, and I paused frowning at the memory of watching Damon slowly deteriorating on his bed at the Boarding House when he had been affected by werewolf venom. It was actually the combined efforts of both Stefan AND myself that he had been saved.

Damon nodded, still frowning. "He did."

"And now he is willing to risk it just to see how far he can push Klaus?" Alaric listed the facts, sounding disgusted.

"It seems so." Damon confirmed.

Alaric looked a combination of disgusted, but also extremely confused. And to be honest; I was too. "So is his humanity on or off?" He asked.

"I think there is another option at play." Damon stated, and I raised an eyebrow. I couldn't wait to hear this theory. "A dimmer switch, which is a huge problem."

"Why?"

"Because I can't predict how far he is willing to go until someone gets killed." Damon confessed, looking stressed. What exactly went on after he dropped me off at the Mikaelson Mansion this afternoon, to cause my best friend this must stress and anxiety? Even Alaric looked dubious.

"So, suddenly you care who lives and dies?" He smirked. Thankfully, Damon knew that Alaric was just taking the piss and not intending any offence.

"I have a small list." Damon smiled, as his eyes suddenly flicked in my direction and he nodded in greeting. I grinned back and saluted him with my champagne flute before taking another sip. I decided that it was safe to approach now.

"Talk about a humanity dimmer switch." Alaric teased.

"Screw you!" Damon was unamused. Alaric began to rubberneck around the party as I almost reached them.

"Can't a Council meeting ever just be a Council meeting?" He asked, tiredly.

"Is that what this was?" I piped up, drawing Alaric's attention. The older man looked surprised to see me here, but offered a small smile and nodded in acknowledgement. "And here I thought it was just a plain old boring fundraiser to update the town's rickety old bridge." I teased, poking my tongue out at Damon when he narrowed his eyes warningly at me. "Silly me."

"Where's Klaus?" Damon asked me, when Alaric was out of earshot.

"Probably still trying to find Carol. Wouldn't be surprised if they're already talking as we speak." I clarified.

"Great..." Damon drawled, unenthusiastic. I rolled my eyes at him.

"Would you just relax already? You already know what Nik's purpose here is. Just pray that Stefan doesn't go and fuck it all up, and ignite Nik's foul temper." I said, mentally crossing fingers that that did not happen. Damon and Alaric escorted me towards a nearby model of how the town wanted Wickery Bridge to be restored. My best friend grimaced.

"That's the bridge where Elena and Jeremy's parents died in the car accident." Damon decided to share with us.

"Is it really?" I said, sardonically. Damon elbowed me in the ribs just as Alaric changed the subject.

"Which reminds me. Something is up with her. Elena. Something more than usual. You know what it is?" Alaric asked Damon. However, I filled in the question; since I needed to tell Damon exactly what Stefan had done this afternoon and the consequences of said actions.

"Pretty sure it starts with a 'Stef' and ends with an 'an'." I said, earning a frown from Damon who had been about to open his mouth and respond. "BTW, Stefan paid a little visit to Nik this afternoon. Probably a little after we finished with our business at the old witch place." I informed Damon, who immediately stiffened.

"What did he do?" Damon asked, sounding both resigned and anxious.

"Basically threatened Nik with the destruction of his hybrids if he didn't call them off." I replied, earning a groan from Damon.

"And naturally, Klaus refused; like the dick he is." Damon guessed.

"Ignoring that last part, but yes. That's pretty much what happened." I confirmed.

"And how did you know this? Pretty sure that Stefan wouldn't have said anything if he knew you were there." Damon questioned.

"Eavesdropped. Which would've worked if Stefan hadn't come out and spotted me, before demanding to know what I knew about their conversation. And..." I hesitated, making Damon narrow his eyes at me.

"What did he do?" Damon demanded, already predicting the worst.

"He grabbed my arms very tightly – there was a perfect black and blue hand print on both my arms afterwards – and shook me violently." I replied, watching Damon's cerulean blue eyes turn hard and flinty like an iceberg.

"Of all the stupid things to do, Grace." Damon muttered, annoyed. "What happened next?" He asked.

"Nik came out, told him to let me go and then broke his wrist. Which only served to provoke Stefan even further and he decapitated one of Nik's hybrids." I responded, shuddering at the memory.

Damon swore, and looked like he needed a stiff drink or to break something … probably both. Then Damon looked at me, with dread on his face.

"Let me guess, Klaus retaliated?"

I really wanted to tell him 'no', that Nik decided to let it all go so we could all deal with one drama at a time. But I couldn't.

Stefan brought all of this upon himself, and unfortunately, he was bringing Damon down with him. You never messed with someone who could potentially hold your nuts in a vise, if they so desired. You especially don't mess with somebody whom said person prizes above everything else (INCLUDING his hybrids) and not expect to get away with it scot-free. (And if you think I'm stroking my own ego by saying this; you'd be wrong...)

"Yep. Big time." I confirmed. "Partially why we're here. So I'm just giving you a heads up." I said.

"Gee, thanks." Damon radiated sarcasm, but his eyes reflected gratitude behind all the anger and frustration.

"That's what friends are for, Damon. Remember that." I didn't hesitate to tell him. "You might also want to keep an eye on Caroline too." I muttered that part underneath my breath before taking a sip.

"What? Why?" Damon asked.

"Nik ordered Tyler to bite her." I responded. "He naturally refused, but you never know." I said, apologetically. Damon sighed, before turning towards a concerned looking Alaric.

"I'm gonna get a drink, write a check and then we're out?" He suggested to Alaric, who nodded. "Thanks." Damon smiled a little at me, before spotting Nik talking with Carol Lockwood. "Shall I go and make nice with Klaus then?" He asked me.

I shrugged, "Up to you. But I'll come with."

* * *

Damon and I excused ourselves from Alaric who was quickly approached by an unfamiliar woman. My eyes narrowed when I noticed that Carol was in full flirt mood with Nik; but thankfully my love did not seem to be flirting back. In fact, he looked rather repulsed but managed to keep a polite smile on his face as he laid on the charm.

"You know Carol when I think of a mayor I think of an old fuddy-duddy, but you really have changed my perception." Nik stated to her, causing her to beam at the praise.

"Oh, thank you!" Carol fawned over him, but immediately frowned when I quickened my step towards them both and took Nik's hand when he reached out for me without looking away from her. He really drove the disinterest home towards Carol when he wrapped an arm around my waist and kissed my temple.

"Hello, love." He murmurs to me, before returning his attention back towards Carol. "May I assume that you know my girlfriend, Grace, Carol?" Nik asked politely, but with a wicked smile on his face when he noticed Carol's obvious annoyance and disappointment that he was already taken.

"Yes, we've met once. How are you, Grace?" Carol asked, smiling and glaring at me at the same time. I didn't miss a beat, and returned the 'compliment'.

"Very well, thank you. You've really outdone yourself with this party." I stated, with a saccharine smile and tone that Rebekah would've been proud of. Nik chuckled underneath his breath and squeezed me to show his appreciation. Carol reluctantly accepted the compliment and made to change the subject.

"Yes, well. The mayor's work is never done." She said, haughtily.

"I mean you are just delightful!" Nik continued to insincerely compliment her. "What colour are your eyes?" He wondered, just as Damon finally caught up with us.

"They are blue." Carol sounded confused by the question. Nik examined them.

"Oh yes, they are." He smiled, compelling her with a silent message to relay.

"Look what the cat dragged in." Damon greeted Nik, who narrowed his eyes slightly at his greeting. I glanced behind when I could sense a presence, and noticed that Daniel had shown up; presumably waiting for his instructions.

"Thank you very much, good to see you, Damon." Nik greeted him with a pained smile on his face. "Carol and I were discussing about whether you would be the other big benefactor." Carol immediately addressed Damon, obviously reacting to whatever Nik had compelled her to say.

"What do you say Damon?" She wheedled. "Klaus has made a very generous pledge. You know how we're chomping at the bit to begin the renovation." Carol explained to him, and I raised an eyebrow and looked at Nik questioningly. I didn't think that he'd be spending money on this.

Damon looked disapprovingly at Carol, "Don't take this the wrong way, but do you realise that you've been kissing the ass of an immortal hybrid who ruined your son's life?" Nik pretended to look affronted by the accusation, even though every word Damon had said was entirely true.

"Oh, come now. Some would say that I saved him from all that nasty full moon business. I've never had to go through it myself more than twice, to be honest, but still, I'm very sympathetic." He argued.

Damon looked like he wanted to retort with: 'yeah, I'll bet' but I quickly widened my eyes at him and tried to subtly shake my head to stop him from doing so. Damon sagged, but reluctantly agreed to behave himself. Carol continued talking, oblivious to the brief pantomime performance between Damon and myself.

"Klaus has promised to protect Tyler, Damon. And our town." She told him.

Damon raised a sceptical eyebrow, "From who?" He gestured towards Nik with his thumb. "His hybrids are the ones the town needs protection from." Except for the nicer ones like Emma and (up until she had been killed) Mindy. Daniel was okay, but tended to be more a 'yes man' and got kinda nervous around Nik due to his temper.

"Well, I'd have no use for them if your brother would kindly return my family." Nik responded, still with a sardonic smile on his face. Damon looked Nik dead in the eyes, which caused my boyfriend to falter slightly and subtly raise a questioning eyebrow at him.

"Not gonna happen." Damon stated with a pleading look in his blue eyes, trying to translate to my boyfriend that while he'd be all too willing to just hand his brothers back over to Nik, no questions asked, it wasn't going to be an easy task when it came to Stefan and his personal vendetta.

Nik's smile fell slightly, and his blue-green eyes narrowed. He very obviously did not like that answer, and both Damon and I knew that. But he surprised us both by nodding very, very subtly and very reluctantly at Damon. But he still had to be the hard-arse he had been projecting to the world for the last thousand years; so he responded with:

"That's what I thought, which is why I've come to an agreement with the Mayor. You and the Council stay out of my hair, I stay out of yours. Your town gets protected, my hybrids get left alone and everybody will be happy. All you have to do is get Stefan to stop decapitating my friends." Nik 'compromised', tightening his arm around my waist.

"Please Damon, just get your brother under control, or the Council will be forced to take action against him." Carol added.

Damon looked aghast, "You've gotta be _kidding_ me!"

Nik takes a sip from his champagne, a look of triumph on his face, "Oh, come on mate. Give peace a chance."

Damon groaned in frustration before walking away, disappearing into the crowd.

* * *

Something moved within my peripheral vision, and I automatically glanced in that direction. My eyes widened in shock when I spotted Stefan, darting through the crowd. He looked like a man on a mission.

"Everything alright, love?" Nik asked me, concerned.

I turned back to him and offered him a reassuring smile. I needed an excuse to go and investigate Stefan's unexpected presence here, and one glance at the champagne I was still in the process of drinking gave me in the inspiration I required.

"Fine. Nature's just calling." I responded, drinking what was left in my champagne flute before handing it to a passing waiter. "Please excuse me." I said, kissing Nik chastely on the cheek before breaking away and heading in direction I had last seen Stefan walking in. However, it appeared that Stefan had either seen me coming or I had lost my sense of direction entirely, because he had completely disappeared.

Stumped, I gave up the useless searching and headed for the upstairs bathroom. I pushed open the restroom door, unintentionally interrupting a conversation between two women, whom immediately scowled at me. I rolled my eyes and darted quickly into a nearby stall, just barely managing to get my knickers down in time. The conversation I had interrupted resumed in low murmurings, but I tuned it out trying to figure out the reasons why Stefan would've come here to the fundraiser if his mind was completely focused upon getting back at Nik.

Coming up with nothing, I tuned back in and realised that both women had already left the restroom. So I quickly finished and flushed before walking back out of the stall and over to the large, fancy vanity mirror and grimaced at my tired face, and at the slightly smeared eyeliner and mascara.

Real attractive.

Sighing, I washed my hands then splashed my flushed and sweaty face with water to help myself cool down and refocus. After patting my face dry, and a quick eyeliner and mascara re-apply, I walked out of the bathroom and back towards the staircase to rejoin the conversation Nik was feigning interest in, or to go and find Damon.

Something shatters in a nearby room, and I frowned, debated with myself about whether or not I should investigate or ignore it and rejoin the party. I chose, and against my better judgement, found myself walking over to where I could hear a struggle taking place in a room with a closed door.

I pressed my ear up against the door, and waited.

"What are you doing?" My eyes widened when I recognised Stefan rudely addressing somebody in the room with him.

"What are _you_ doing? No dead hybrids at the Founder's party!" It was Damon.

So that's where he disappeared off to. He must've spotted Stefan either before or after I did, and like me, decided to go and intercept him.

And by the sounds of it, Stefan was not at all pleased.

"No, I told Klaus to get his hybrids out of town. He didn't listen, so I'm gonna say it louder." He retorted, angrily.

"You don't think there's ten more where that came from? And if you kill them, Klaus won't make twenty more?" Damon pointed out, sounding at his wit's end. "Have you forgotten about Elena's part in all of this? Or do you not care if she is a human blood bag for the rest of her life?"

Stefan sneered at his brother, "Protecting Elena is your problem now. See, I'm not compelled by Klaus to do that anymore."

There was another loud thud; which I imagined was probably Damon shoving Stefan up against the wall to prevent him from leaving the room.

"Don't give me that no-humanity crap, you can't just flip your switch!" Damon yelled at him. "Your switch is fried, Stefan, just like your brain! You wanna take Klaus? You wanna beat the villain? You gotta be smarter!"

Some more muted movements, then: "To beat the villain, Damon, you have to be the better villain." Stefan told him.

Suddenly, footsteps began approaching where I was currently standing; and not wanting to be caught in the same situation again, with no Nik to come to my rescue, I quickly darted back into the ladies room.

I forced myself to count to ten before, cautiously, re-emerging into the hallway. I sighed with relief and turned in the direction of the staircase, only to thud into a hard body. I gasped out of shock and found myself staring into Stefan's cold face. I opened my mouth to scream, to at least alert either Damon or Nik to my danger; but Stefan quickly puts his hand over my mouth and blurs me away.

* * *

 **~: Stefan's Car :~**

A few minutes later, I found myself sitting in the passenger side of Stefan's red car; feeling disoriented and questioning what he was about to do.

"Stefan?" I blurted out, confused. He ignored me, put his car into gear and immediately took off for the highway, driving at a very reckless speed. "What are you doing, Stefan?" I demanded, nervously.

Suddenly, my phone rings and before I could answer it, Stefan snatches it from me and answers instead.

"Hello Damon, she's a little busy right now." Stefan wasted no time setting his brother straight.

 _"Why the hell do you have Grace's phone?"_ I could clearly hear Damon's voice from where I was sitting, and I stared at Stefan in absolute horror.

"I'm making my next move." Stefan responded, bluntly. "Let me ask you something: what will Klaus do if his long-lost sweetheart suddenly goes missing without an explanation?" He asked rhetorically as my mouth fell open with shock. This was the bad feeling I had been dreading all day. I had an inkling when I noticed the look Stefan gave me back at the Mikaelson Mansion when Nik stopped him from hurting me and had broken his wrist in retaliation.

"What?" I yelled.

 _"Stefan, leave her out of this."_ I heard Damon shouting desperately at Stefan, who responds by rolling down the window and throwing my phone out of it, onto the road below.

"You're using me as leverage against Nik?!" I immediately saw red. I grabbed the door handle and made to unlock it, with the intention of barrel rolling out of the car if I had to, in an effort to get as far away from Stefan as possible. However, the vengeful vampire backhanded me across the face – causing my nose to gush with blood – and deadlocked the car; leaving me at his mercy.

I turned on him, cupping my face with my hand; letting the blood pool in my palm as I glared at him, "Stefan, let me out of this car. Do you hear me? Let me out of the car!"

Stefan chose to ignore me as he continued driving towards our unknown location.

* * *

 **~: Founder's Hall (No P.O.V) :~**

The second the line went dead, Damon swore colourfully and nearly threw his phone against the wall in his anger. But he somehow managed to stop himself in time, and instead shoved his phone back into his pocket and raced back inside the mansion; in search of the only person who could stop this potential disaster from happening.

He eventually found Klaus in the middle of a conversation with Carol and a bunch of other guests. But he also observed that the Original seemed to be somewhat distracted and worriedly glancing about the room, searching for somebody.

 _Oh, this is not good..._ Damon thought, despairingly. "Klaus," The Original Hybrid turned towards him, and narrowed his eyes at the younger male in annoyance.

"Back so soon, Salvatore?" He smirked, mockingly. Damon barely acknowledged the slight, much to Klaus' suspicion.

"May I have a word?" Damon requested, as politely as he could underneath the obvious frustration and anxiety he was exuding at present. Klaus raised an eyebrow, but nodded. He turned back to a curious looking Carol and offered her his best disarming smile.

"Please excuse me for a moment. There's something that needs my attention." He said, with false sincerity. If he was being entirely honest; he was somewhat relieved that this baby vampire had pulled him away from the otherwise dull conversation. But he wasn't about to let Damon know that, obviously. He walked into another room, with Damon following closely; gesturing to a nearby empty room. "What now? You just pulled me away from a fascinating conversation about landscaping the Town Square." Klaus demanded, as Damon immediately shut the door behind them.

"Stefan just grabbed Grace." Damon got to the point.

Klaus immediately froze and his hands clenched into fists. It appeared that his last warning to his former best friend had gone in one ear and out of the other.

"Well, he's getting desperate. I had half-expected him to go after Elena." Klaus admitted, just barely holding onto his temper.

"Stefan knows how important Grace is to you, Klaus." Damon reminded him. "He gonna try and use her against you. Do what he says, get rid of your hybrids." He urged, pleadingly.

Klaus shook his head, "Or what? Stefan won't kill her. He knows the consequences should he attempt that route."

"You're going to gamble her life just to prove a point?" Damon sounded outraged. Almost immediately, Klaus grabbed him by the throat and shoved him up against the wall.

"How dare you!" He snarled, his eyes turning hybrid gold at the mere suggestion. "I've spent nearly a thousand years trying to find her again after Mikael slaughtered her in front of me. I would not jeopardise a future with her."

"I'm serious." Damon wheezed, trying to pry Klaus' hand away from his throat. "He just tried to behead someone in the middle of a Council party. He's operating on crazy right now." He insisted.

Klaus squeezed his throat a little tighter, "Well, crazy or not. He's bluffing."

"Maybe he is, maybe he isn't. But if you don't want to believe him, believe me. I know my brother better than anyone, and right now, I don't have a clue how far he is willing to take this." Damon admitted, helplessly. "So if he says blink, I suggest you blink."

Klaus snarled in frustration, before releasing Damon who dropped to his knees; gasping for breath that he didn't really need.

* * *

 **~: Stefan's Car (Grace's P.O.V) :~**

I watched the scenery outside my window practically blur by as Stefan continued driving along the road. His behaviour had been concerning before, now it was downright scaring me and I glanced over at the speedometer, only to gape at him in horror when I saw that he was going way too fast.

"So what's the plan, Stefan? What's the big move you're making?" I asked him, not expecting him to actually answer me; since he was seemingly deaf to my pleas for him to stop and let me get out of the car. To my surprise, he answered.

"I took Klaus' family to make him suffer. I think that it's high time, that I finished the job." Stefan stated, darkly.

I stared at him with dread, "What are you gonna do? Lock me in some cave and keep me hostage?"

He scoffed, "Now why would I do that?" Stefan increased the speed before continuing to speak. "I think driving you off Wickery Bridge is more likely to drive the point home, don't you?"

I suddenly felt sick...

"Stop the car, Stefan!" I shouted, fearful for my life. "I mean it! Stop the car!" Stefan continued to ignore me and reached into his pocket for his phone, accessing speed dial. "Please, Stefan! I don't want to die!" I screamed.

 _"Stefan, how nice to hear your voice."_ Nik stated, sarcastically. I saw my chance and immediately yelled out to him.

"NIK!" I hollered, ignoring when Stefan glared at me. "NIK, HELP! HELP ME!" Stefan instantly slammed his hand over my mouth and held tight when I struggled to free myself.

"Tell your hybrids to get out of town, Klaus." Stefan ordered him, still effortlessly fighting with me to stop me from calling out again. I whimpered in fear; and judging by the wolf-like snarl that came over the line, Nik obviously heard me.

 _"Well, that's not gonna happen until I get my coffins, AND Grace back."_ Nik gave his rebuttal.

"Okay, well then I'm gonna drive your sweetheart off Wickery Bridge." Stefan told him, casually.

 _"I don't believe you Stefan. You won't kill her."_ Nik insisted. Stefan pressed his foot further down on the accelerator, and I started to panic even more and managed to pull Stefan's hand from my mouth.

"No! No! No! Please, stop! STEFAN!" I wailed, tears threatening. Stefan slowed down very slightly.

 _"What's going on?"_ I could hear Damon in the background, sounding incredibly concerned.

"Oh, hey Damon. You're just in time to hear Grace take a little plunge over Wickery Bridge." Stefan explained, casually.

 _"WHAT? Jesus, Stefan! Don't do this!"_ Damon yelled, frantically.

 _"You won't do it."_ Nik promised him, sounding livid.

Stefan chuckled, "Really? Try me, because your coffins are next to go. Say goodbye to your family, Klaus!" He snarled, before flooring it.

I screamed at the top of my lungs, "Oh, God! Stefan, slow down! Stefan! Stefan, stop it!"

 _"Klaus! Do something!?"_ I heard Damon snarl at my boyfriend, as I clung for dear life to the passenger side door, and shut my eyes tightly in my fear.

"Nik! Damon! I love you, both." My voice broke, tears streaming down my face. "Tell Rebekah and Henrik that I love them too!" I yelled over the roar of the engine as the car continued thundering towards the bridge.

 _"Fine, I'll send them away! You win!"_ Nik's hard voice shouted. However, Stefan did not immediately stop.

I screamed in absolute terror...

 _"STEFAN! STOP, DAMMNIT!"_ Damon snarled.

 _"Stop the car, Stefan!"_ Nik screamed, urgently.

Stefan slams on the brakes and the car skids to a stop, just yards away from the bridge. I forced up the lock on the door and immediately stumbled out of the car and started to run back towards Mystic Falls, uncaring that Stefan could easily catch up to me in a heartbeat.

"Get back in the car." Stefan growled, stepping out of the car also. I stopped running and spun round, glaring hatefully at him; and wondering why Elena was wasting her time trying to bring Stefan back.

He was clearly a lost cause.

"You stay the _hell_ away from me!" I yelled back at him, tears still streaming down my face. Stefan ignored what I said and took a deliberate and very threatening step towards me.

"Grace, I said: get in the car." He repeated himself.

"Are you hard of hearing!? I already told you no!" I screamed back at him. "Why me?! I was not a threat towards you, Stefan. I thought that we were friends!?" I demanded.

Stefan sighed in irritation, and I itched to slap his face. He raked a hand through his brown hair, before turning to give me an explanation.

"Look, he had to believe that I would do it, alright? Your fear sold it." Stefan insisted.

"Your plan was flawed from the very second you abducted me from the fundraiser, Stefan. Nik would never let anything happen to me, and you know it!" I stated.

"You're very sure of yourself." Stefan retorted.

"Hardly. If Nik did not care about me, he wouldn't waste his time on me." I told him, like it should've been obvious.

"You are his weakness! That's why I kidnapped you, Grace. Through you, I can destroy him!" Stefan shouted at me, and I looked at him with pity.

"After everything, that's what mattered? Destroying my boyfriend?" I was stunned.

Stefan looked away. "Destroying Klaus is all I've got left." He started walking back to his car, and was about to get back into it when I spoke up at the last minute to remind him of something.

"What about Elena?"

Stefan paused, tensing. "I lost her the minute I left town with you and Klaus. She just hasn't let herself admit that yet."

"Is that seriously what you're doing? Trying to make her hate you?" I was disgusted. Stefan raised his head to look at me with his cold, empty forest green eyes.

"I don't really care what she or anybody else thinks about me any more, Grace." He paused for a moment. "I'm sorry that I scared you."

Stefan then gets back into his car and drives off. I watched him go, until I couldn't see his taillights anymore.

* * *

A few hours after Stefan had abandoned me on the side of the road, nearby the Wickery Bridge, I was sitting on the banister staring off into space. Silent tears were still falling down my face, when I realised exactly how close I had come to dying [again] tonight.

That was probably why I didn't notice when Damon's car pulled up to the bridge, or when somebody came and sat down beside me, until a hand reached over and wiped away a stray tear. I jumped and looked at the person intruding on my solace.

"Grace? Are you okay, sweetheart?" One look at Damon's extremely concerned face was apparently all I needed to completely break down. He pulled me into his arms and kissed the crown of my head, and I automatically wrapped my arms around his middle; clinging to him like a lifeline. "Shhh, Grace. It's okay I've got you, you're safe now." He promised me, still sounding angry.

"Where's Nik?" I whispered.

"Waiting for you in my car." Damon responded, indicating towards the idling 1969 baby blue Camaro Convertible. It took a few minutes to compose myself before I pulled back and wiped my eyes. I smiled at my best friend, gratefully.

"Thank you, Damon." I turned and headed for the car, knowing that Damon was following. As I got closer to the car, the passengers side opened and within seconds my face was buried in Nik's dark silk button-up as he crushed me to his chest, and I winced when I could feel warm blood dripping out of my (up until now) healed nose. Damon respectfully continued walking towards the drivers side and got in, closing the door behind him to give Nik and I some privacy.

"I love you too." Nik murmured into my hair, and I frowned before remembering that at the height of my fear I had said my goodbyes to both Nik and Damon. I smiled, and tightened my arms around him.

Suddenly he sniffed and immediately pulled back, starring at my face. His eyes narrowed dangerously at the blood. "You're bleeding."

I sighed, rubbing uselessly at my nose.

"Yeah. Can we get out of here? I just want to get away from the bridge." I admitted, pinching my nostrils closed. Nik nodded and lead me over to Damon's car. "Sorry about your shirt." I winced, causing him to roll his eyes fondly.

"Please, love. This shirt has seen its share of bloodstains over the years." He confirmed. I grimaced at the thought.

"I don't think I wanna know..." I joked, earning a chuckle from him.

"That's too bad. I still look back on those days with fond memories." Nik teased back with a playful smirk, and handed me a handkerchief.

I smirked when the handkerchief immediately reminded me of Elijah; who after dealing with something bloody – such as removing hearts – would always meticulously, with a calm, composed expression on his face, remove his clean white handkerchief and slowly and deliberately wipe his hand clean. I wondered _when_ we would ever be getting him, Kol and Finn back safely.

Sliding into the backseat, followed by Nik who immediately cradled me into his side and kisses my temple; Damon puts his car into gear and swiftly turns it around and takes off back into town.

"About that." Damon indicated to the blood I was dabbing and wiping away with the hanky, as he eyed me through the rear view mirror, looking stern. "How in the hell did you get a blood nose in the first place?" He wanted to know.

I grimaced, "Stefan backhanded me when I tried to escape." I said, without hesitation. Nik stiffened and growled, while Damon slammed on the brakes; which nearly threw me onto the floor of the car.

"What?" Damon exclaimed, looking at me with outrage.

"You heard me; and you can relax, it's not broken. It'd be bleeding a hell of a lot more than it is, if that was the case." I stated, getting irritated as I dabbed at my nose.

"That's not the point. He's clearly gone crazy." Damon stated, turning back round to resume driving.

I was concerned that Nik hadn't spoken up about the fact that I had been backhanded across the face yet. That was never really a good sign; which usually meant that somebody was about to either be seriously maimed or killed. However, that really didn't occur to me as I was too busy scoffing at Damon's rather unfair description of his brother's sanity.

"He's not actually. An insane person wouldn't have stopped the car, despite Nik and you telling him to. I'd be on the bottom of the river by now." I pointed out. "Ow, Nik..." I protested when Nik's hand gradually tightened around mine, during my explanation, to the point that it was getting painful. I glanced up at him while pulling away my hand to flex my fingers.

Nik was starting to morph into 'hybrid-mode' and my eyes widened in horror.

"Holy shit..." Damon muttered and his sky blue eyes grew wide when he saw the predatory golden eyes and the points of Nik's wolf fangs starting to jut out from underneath his top lip. He stops and pulled over once again, ready to leap in and defend me should the need arise.

However, I abandoned the hanky and immediately put both my hands on Nik's face and tried to get him to focus on me.

"Wait, Grace...!" Damon objected and I threw a stern look at him.

"No, Damon!" I hissed, not looking away from my boyfriend, feeling concerned and very scared that my experience with Stefan had caused him to react this way. "Nik, please calm down. It's not worth it, I promise you." I said, slowly and lovingly stroking his face. "I'm fine. Look at me." I persisted with clear, succinct words.

Nik obeyed what I said without hesitation, scanning over my face presumably to reassure himself that I was as 'okay' as I had proclaimed myself to be. He was shaking badly, and his chest was heaving. The sound of fabric tearing caught our attention and both Damon and I glanced down and noticed that Nik's fingernails had become longer and sharper; like a wolf's and had ripped scratches into his jeans; like he had been clenching and unclenching his hands into fists. I felt a bead of my blood slowly trickle out of my nostril, and Nik's hybrid eyes zeroed in on it before I could hastily clear it away.

"Klaus..." Damon began to say when he noticed his interest in my blood. But Nik let out a low growl, warning him to be quiet and I looked at him reassuringly.

"It's okay, Damon. He won't hurt me." I told him, grabbing the handkerchief and wiping away the blood. I put the hanky away and cupped Nik's face once again and leaned forward to kiss his forehead then his closed eyelids as Nik struggled to calm his raging temper. "Come back to me, Nik..." I whispered, still leaving small kisses on his face. Slowly, Nik started calming down and his eyes went from golden back to blue-green, and the wolf fangs receded back into his gums. "Welcome back." I smiled at him.

"I'll be goddamned." Damon muttered, uncomfortably clearing his throat as both Nik and I turned to look at him; Nik still scowling. "Now that we know that Klaus isn't about to go on a rampage, is there any place you'd like me to drop you at?" Damon asked, rather impatiently.

"The Forbes Residence." Nik immediately piped up before I had the chance to speak. He unbuckled my seat belt and pulled me onto his lap, burying his face into my shoulder. Both Damon and I looked at him with confusion. "I have something that I need to address." He mumbled, as he continued squeezing me like a vulnerable child would with a teddy bear.

"You're the hybrid." Damon said, trying to sound flippant and failing dismally as he resumed driving. It was obvious that he was shocked by the rapid changes in emotion Nik had just gone through in the past few minutes. But you could tell that he was also curious about what Nik was up to. I on the other hand knew exactly why we were making this brief detour on our way back to the Mansion.

"Tyler bit Caroline, huh?" I realised, then scoffed when Nik slowly nodded. "Just like you said that he would."

"Go ahead and condemn me." Nik said, sounding defensive. I sighed and hooked a finger underneath his rugged chin, forcing him to look me in the eye.

"I was there when you gave Tyler that order to bite her, Nik." I reminded him. "If I didn't yell at you then, why would I do it now?" I asked him, and smiled at him. Nik tentatively smiled back, before hiding his face back into my shoulder. "Let's just go and save Caroline."

Damon rolled his eyes.

* * *

 **~: Forbes Residence :~**

It took the entire ride over to Caroline's place for Nik to completely calm down from his rage. But even after we arrived, Nik was still very reluctant to let me leave his side. Our hands were clasped together tightly as he lead me down the path towards the Forbes' white painted front door.

I reached up to rap my knuckles on the door. But before I could make contact, the door opened revealing an extremely worried Matt Donovan, who the very second he saw Nik, glared at him.

"Grace? What are you doing here?" Matt asked, curiously. It was becoming rather obvious that the blonde quarterback was also suffering from a lack of sleep, if the slight bags underneath his eyes gave anything away. I smiled, and raised my hand (the one not being held in an iron grip by Nik) in the air as a sign of peace.

"I'm here helping Nik on a mission of mercy." I explained, awkwardly.

"Or rather, Tyler came to see me." Nik corrected, as he came up to stand beside me; fixing Matt with a painfully polite smile on his handsome face. That only made Matt glower even further. "Poor boy, he seemed quite distressed. He said Caroline had a terrible accident." He stated, looking falsely apologetic.

I elbowed him in the side, knowing that he was deliberately stirring the pot to get a rise out of Matt, whom despite the bitter breakup he had with Caroline, still quite honestly cared deeply for the bubbly blonde vampire. Nik's response to this was to raise our clasped hands up his lips and kissed the back of mine, affectionately. I assumed that this was his way of saying 'sorry'.

Matt looked unimpressed, "You made him do this to her. He would have never done something like this." He insisted, folding his arms across his chest.

"I'm here to help, Matt." Nik stated, sighing tiredly and starting to become serious now. "My blood will heal her. Please, ask the Sheriff to invite me inside."

As though summoned, Liz appeared at the door; eyeing Nik and I with deep suspicion and caution.

"I know how this game works." Liz stated, "You want something in return."

"Just your support." Nik responded, squeezing my hand; a sign that he was becoming irritated, and I glanced up at the Sheriff with what I hoped was a pleading expression on my face.

"Please, we're not here to cause trouble. We just want to come inside and give Caroline the cure, then go home." Liz raised an eyebrow at me, looking mildly concerned by the tone of my voice. "It's been a long, rough day for both of us."

Liz studied us a few minutes longer, as she considered Nik's offer, and my plea; before eventually nodding. "Come in."

Nik smiled, and took a deliberate step forward through the threshold to test the sincerity of Liz's invitation into her home before casually breezing on in, pulling me through as well.

"Where's Caroline's room?" Nik asked, politely.

"Straight upstairs. First door on the right." Liz instructed. Nik nodded, and headed for the staircase giving Matt a sly smile as he passes by him. "May I have a word with you?" Liz stops me, and Nik narrows his eyes at her, obviously mistrustful of everyone right now.

"It's okay, Nik. I'll catch up in a minute." I reassured him, earning a perplexed look from Liz as she observed us both. He reluctantly lets go of my hand and continues making his way upstairs. I turned my attention towards Liz who looked at me with deep concern.

"Is he always like that?" She asked, cautiously.

I sighed wearily, "Not usually. But today my life was threatened four times, and Nik did not take the news very well. He almost went into Hybrid-mode as a result."

Liz's eyes widened, "Are you okay?!"

"Did he hurt you?" Matt demanded, worriedly. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"I appreciate the concern, but I'll survive. I've been through worse situations." I stated, defensively. Liz narrowed her eyes at me, critically.

"Are you sure that you're safe with him, Grace?" Liz asked me, falling back on her maternal instincts; and while I was grateful (to a point) that she was looking out for my best interests, I was getting rather annoyed that they were sticking their noses into my business. Or rather, sticking their noses into _our_ business.

I stared her down, sharply. "I grew up with him."

Liz looked at me with shock, having obviously not expected that answer to fall from my lips. I continued eyeing her cautiously as Liz let that information sink in before continuing on with her obvious sleuthing.

"How is that possible?" Liz was astounded. "I heard that Klaus Mikaelson and his siblings were over a thousand years old, and I know for a fact that you are not a vampire."

I sighed, "My former life grew up with him and his siblings in the village that was eventually destroyed, and then recreated into what will be known as 'Mystic Falls' in 1864." I explained, tiredly. "Nik, his siblings and I became close, and eventually I became family. When we were older, Nik and I started courting; and eventually he proposed and I accepted. However, my life was then cut short when Mikael Mikaelson murdered me in front of him. My death nearly destroyed Nik, especially because he did not have a particularly pleasant family life, and I had become his reason for persevering." I stated, uncomfortable.

Matt looked confused, "So how are you here now?"

"I am a reincarnation of my former life, essentially taking over from where I had left off." I said, smiling a little.

"But that doesn't really answer my question, Grace." Liz persisted. "Are you _safe_ with him?"

I narrowed my eyes. "A lot more than you are about to be if you keep it up with the questioning." I warned her, indicating to Nik upstairs who was most likely listening in to this interrogation.

It was Liz's turn to narrow her eyes at me. "Are you threatening me?"

"Not at all." I said. "Just giving you some friendly advice. Nik doesn't like when people beat around the bush, and nor do I. I'm also going to tell you that with all sincerity, I am most assuredly safe with him." I stated confidently, as I walked over to the staircase. "Now, if you'll excuse me." I ascended the stairs to the second level where I paused when I saw that Nik _had_ been eavesdropping on the conversation. "I thought you said that eavesdropping was rude?" I stated, smirking at him.

Nik scowled at me, unamused.

"Everything alright now, love?" He asked me, an unimpressed and frankly insulted expression was on his face, that indicated that he did not appreciate the assumption that I was in danger around him.

"Fine. Why are you out here and not attending to Caroline?" I asked him, curiously.

Nik just fixed me with a look, "I did not trust them. I wanted to make sure that they were not likely to pull a fast one behind my back."

"That's sweet, Nik. But Liz was just looking out for my well-being. It's her job." I scolded him, as I came over and took his hand. "Come on. The sooner we give Caroline the cure, the faster we can go home and crash." I sighed, exasperatedly. "I am so over this day."

"You and me both, love." He agreed, squeezing my hand.

We both found Caroline lying curled up on her side in her bed, with her right arm cradled underneath her head. Nik lets go of my hand and walks over to Caroline's bedside, while I stand at the foot of her king size bed looking at the poor blonde with deep concern.

Caroline, sensing that there were people in her room, opened her eyes and blinked at both Nik and me in surprise at first, then open hostility when she realised that Nik was looking down at her with a mildly concerned expression on his face.

"Klaus? Grace?" Caroline croaked weakly. "Am I hallucinating?" She wanted to know.

Nik chuckled, "No, love. We're very real."

"Are you going to kill me?" Caroline questioned, vulnerable.

"On your birthday?" Nik sounded appalled. "You really think that low of me?"

"Yes." Caroline glared.

Nik sighed, and glances down at her neck where I could see a nasty looking bite spreading across her throat.

"That looks bad." Nik observes, and I couldn't help but agree. It didn't look nearly as bad as what Rose's looked like, but it came pretty close. "My apologies, you're what's known as collateral damage. It's nothing personal." He insisted. I came over and sat down on Caroline's other side, drawing the girl's attention.

"Apart from being bitten," I glanced disapprovingly at Nik, who shrugged. "Did you have a good birthday?" I asked, trying to take Caroline's mind off what pain she was probably experiencing at this moment.

Caroline shrugged, then regretted the action when she disturbed the bite on her neck and whimpered. "I initially wanted to forget all about it; but Elena, Bonnie, Tyler and Matt encouraged me to celebrate. So we had a 'wake' instead."

I blinked at her in astonishment, "Interesting."

"I love birthdays." Nik commented, smiling a little. Caroline smirked at him, making Nik look at her warily.

"Yeah. Aren't you like … a billion, or something?" She asked, innocently. I snorted, giggling a little as Nik rolled his eyes and ignored the question.

"Well, you have to adjust your perception of time when you become a vampire, Caroline." Nik suggested, obviously interpreting the fact that instead of a normal birthday party, her friends were trying to make Caroline appreciate her birthday, despite the fact that she will always be stuck at age seventeen for the rest of her existence. Thus why they had a 'wake' instead. "Celebrate the fact that you're no longer bound by trivial human conventions. You're free." He stated, matter-of-fact.

"No, I'm dying." Caroline stated, wincing again when the pain returned. Nik takes a seat beside her on the bed and leans down to whisper into her ear.

"And I could let you die, if that's what you want." Nik stated, casually. I looked at him with dismay, causing him to look up at me to smile and wink reassuringly. I relaxed a little. "If you really believe your existence has no meaning." Caroline paused, waiting for him to elaborate. "I thought about it myself, once or twice over the centuries, truth be told. Especially when I believed that Grace was lost to me forever. But I'll let you in on a little secret." Caroline and I looked at him in curiosity. "There is a whole wide world out there, waiting for you. Great cities and art and music, genuine beauty. And you can have all of it. You can have a thousand more birthdays." Then Nik looked right at me, and I knew that was he was about to say next was going to not only directed at Caroline … but also towards me. "All you have to do is ask."

I smiled lovingly at him, while Caroline mulled this knowledge of a potentially better life that was waiting for her, should she choose it. Then her face set in a determination.

"I don't wanna die." Caroline stated. And with that declaration, Nik assists Caroline to sit up right and offers her his wrist.

"There you go, sweetheart. Have at it." He said, and Caroline bites into his wrist without hesitation. I smiled at her, reaching out to tuck her slightly sweaty blonde hair behind her ear.

"Happy birthday, Caroline." I said, sincerely.

After a couple of pulls at Nik's blood, Caroline quickly falls asleep and he pulls away, gently lowering her back down onto her pillow and tucking her in.

"Pleasant dreams, love." He whispers, before reaching into his jacket pocket and producing a little navy-blue, rectangular velvet jewellery box. I raise an eyebrow at it.

"What is it?" I asked, hopping off the bed and walking around to take a look at it for myself. Nik wordlessly hands me the box, and I ease it open. "Whoa! That's beautiful." I stated, looking at the beautiful and expensive-looking gold bracelet with diamonds. I quickly shut the box and handed it back to Nik, who placed the box on Caroline's bedside table with a note that read: 'Best wishes, from Klaus and Grace'.

"You're not jealous, are you?" He teased, and I looked at him in confusion.

"Why would I be jealous? It's her birthday, and everybody deserves a gift on their day." I said, walking towards the bedroom door.

"Good. Let's go." Nik said, kissing me on the forehead then the lips, before we finally left the Forbes House and headed back to the mansion.

* * *

 **A/N: Thanks for reading, and please review!**


	55. Breaking Free

**A/N: Hey guys! This chapter welcomes back Elijah! YAY!**

 **I do not own The Vampire Diaries. All characters (except for Grace) belong to author L.J. Smith.**

 **Please review respectfully with your thoughts, and please, no flaming.**

 **Enjoy xx**

* * *

 **BREAKING FREE**

" _Dark and difficult times lie ahead.  
_ _Soon, we must all face the choice between what is right_ _and what is easy."_ _ **~J.K. Rowling.**_

* * *

 **~: Mikaelson Mansion :~**

I woke up feeling well-rested and content, and after a quick shower and a change of clothes (which I picked up at my apartment after Nik cured Caroline), I headed downstairs to greet the day, and help Nik deal with the aftermath of Stefan attempting to kill me to get him to pull back his hybrids.

Jeremy was expected to arrive at the mansion anytime now, underneath the guise that he was supposed to be heading for Denver, Colorado to escape the madness that was Mystic Falls. Problem was that Jeremy had absolutely no interest in leaving town to appease Elena's conscience and supposedly protect him from the big bad world. She didn't want to lose anymore of her family.

Jeremy on the other hand, wanted to be useful and to be let in on what went on in the supernatural world that his sister was so selfishly and determined that he'd be protected from. The question was, why exactly?

Was he incapable of thinking for himself, and looking after himself? It seemed far more logical to _be_ informed, rather than being completely clueless and vulnerable to attacks. Thankfully, the Mikaelsons and I had lots of things that we could do to help improve Jeremy's knowledge about Mystic Falls, as well as remind Nik to give the teenager pointers for his art pieces, since he was an aspiring artist like _he_ used to be a thousand years ago.

It was decided that Jeremy would go along with his sister's plan, with one minor alteration: His vervain bracelet, that I had returned to him when I found it near the back door of his house, would be his saving grace and allow him to pretend go along with Elena's plan; but then Damon would instead deliver him safely and covertly to the Mikaelson Mansion. Then the real fun for Jeremy would begin.

I would make sure of it.

I reached the bottom of the staircase, glancing around once again at the fantastic main foyer and my eyes locked onto the closed (and probably locked) double doors leading into Nik's study. I couldn't help it. I was curious and just itching to go and have a peek. But I also didn't want to break Nik's trust. So, in the end, I reluctantly turned the corner and headed straight for the dining room, where both Nik and Rebekah were already seated at the table being served by Emma some fresh blood in elegant and expensive looking crystal goblets; the kind you'd expect water or O.J. to be served in during breakfast in wealthy households.

Which essentially, this place was.

I grimaced but pasted a weak smile on my face as I approached the table, already laden with your typical breakfast foods.

"Morning!" I greeted brightly, avoiding watching my vampire family members sipping nonchalantly at their blood. Both Nik and Rebekah immediately brightened and gave me their undivided attention.

"Good morning, darling." Nik greeted me as I made a beeline for him and kissed him hello. "Did you sleep well?"

"How are you feeling?" Rebekah added, looking concerned.

Both Nik and I received a severe tongue-lashing from an anxious Rebekah when we both returned to the mansion last night. The fact that I looked tired and withdrawn, not to mention that both of us had tight grips on each other because of our mutual fears that we were going to lose one another, had put her on high alert.

We eventually explained what went down last night, and it only took Nik sternly threatening to put her back into a box for a couple of decades, for Rebekah to get the message that neither of us were in the right frame of mind, or inclined to dwell on what had happened. But she still gave Nik the stink-eye and me a disapproving scowl afterwards.

"Better." I responded to both questions. "I'm still a little bit, uh, scared-" Both Nik and Rebekah stiffened almost immediately. "But I need to get over it sometime." I was quick to state, feeling awkward as I moved to go take a seat. "Hi, Emma!" I greeted the bubbly hybrid when she came over to pour me some O.J.

"Hey, Grace-" Emma was almost immediately cut off and she flinched when Nik suddenly growled underneath his breath when he heard his hybrid use my name so informally. I sighed with barely concealed impatience.

"Knock it off, Nik." I warned him, eyeing him sharply. "I asked her to call me by my first name." I said, trying to calm an apprehensive Emma who was retreating away from the table, submissively.

"But that's not how I _told_ her to address you." He stated, somewhat forcefully.

"Honestly, Nik. Being called 'mistress' is very uncomfortable for me. This isn't the 12th Century anymore." I pointed out to him, using a calm and reasonable tone. "I know that you and Rebekah had grown accustomed to being called that when you were lord and lady of the manor way back when, but I'm not. Please don't force me to." I urged him. Nik eyed me sternly for several seconds, and I stubbornly stared him down.

He eventually sighed, backing down. "As you wish, love."

Emma relaxed, counting all her blessings that she had been spared her sire's wrath, while I all but did a happy dance in my seat. Rebekah smirked smugly at her brother, as she reached for her glass of blood and took a dainty sip from it.

"Looks like you've been told, Nik." Rebekah stated, earning a scowl from the both of us.

"Don't be rude." I stated, just as there was suddenly a loud thudding on the front door. I immediately pushed my chair back to go answer it when excited footfalls started pounding down the stairs in the distance towards it.

"I got it!" Henrik yelled, brightly.

I relaxed and sat back against my chair, sipping at my O.J. Rebekah pouted at me from across the table.

"Fine. Spoil all my fun why don't you?" She groused, folding her arms across her chest.

"That's what siblings are for, honey." I smirked back and steepled my hands; which earned an amused chuckle from Nik. I took another generous sip from my juice as Emma darted back into the room and came over to me.

"What would you like for breakfast?" The redhead asked, brightly.

"Scrambled eggs on Toast would be lovely, thanks." I replied, warmly. I hadn't had that for breakfast for years.

"Coming right up!" Emma responded, flashing me a smile and blurring away back into the kitchen, just as Henrik walked into the dining room with a gobsmacked Jeremy trailing along behind him, obviously stunned by the size and splendor of the Mikaelsons' newly renovated home.

"Look who I found on our doorstep!" Henrik chirped, thumbing over his shoulder at Jeremy who immediately recovered from his shock and flushed in embarrassment.

"Hey Jeremy, good flight?" I joked, piling a bowl with fruit salad and spearing a piece of juicy cantaloupe into my mouth while I waited for my eggs. Jeremy gave me a sarcastic smile back in response.

"Spectacular." He drawled, pulling his backpack off his back and leaning both the pack and his suitcase up against the wall near the doorway, to be collected later when he chose his new bedroom. "Your home is awesome by the way." He said that last part to Nik, who preened himself like a cat at the compliment.

"Thank you! It was a labour of love." Nik stated, smiling a little at Jeremy and ignoring when both Rebekah and I snorted at his words. He then pushed his chair away from the table and stood up. "Please, make yourself at home. I've got a few errands I need to attend to." Nik encouraged Jeremy, gesturing towards one of the empty chairs surrounding the table, before striding over and kissing me tenderly.

"Ugh! I didn't need to see that..." Jeremy squirmed as he pulled out a chair next to Rebekah, and I giggled as Nik rolled his eyes at the sixteen-year old's comment before leaving the room. I quickly hopped up from my chair and jogged after Nik.

"Nik, hold up!" I called when we were out of the room. He turned and looked at me with surprise. "Do you need any help carrying out these errands?" I asked him, worried that he was really going out to stir up trouble because of the actions Stefan had provoked out of him last night. While I also wanted Stefan to be punished for putting my life at risk unnecessarily, retaliating was probably not the wisest move right now.

Nik sighed heavily, before striding back over to me and smoothing my hair behind my ears.

"I've got everything under control, sweetheart. Hopefully by tonight, I'll have the coffins back in my possession." Nik reassured me as he cradled me tightly to his chest and kissed the crown of my head.

"How can you be so confident about that?" I said, doubtfully. "Those bloody witches aren't going to give up the coffins easily." I pointed out.

"It's very important that I get ALL the coffins back. Under no circumstances can they gain access into the fourth coffin." Nik insisted. "Times up! No more negotiating." He declared, firmly.

"Esther's in the fourth coffin, isn't she?" I guessed, causing Nik to pull back and look at me with shock.

"How do you know that?" He demanded, not unkindly.

"An extremely lucky guess." I offered him a crooked smile. "My question is: why did you keep your mother's body in the first place? Didn't you bury it back in the Village?" I asked, feeling confused.

"Esther's body is an extremely powerful source of magic, alive or dead. I secreted it away to avoid the wrong people taking it to use her magic for the wrong reasons." Nik explained, looking pained.

"And the Bennett Witches fall under that category. I get it." I sighed. "I apologise for being nosy. It's your business, not mine." I acknowledged, surprised that Nik hadn't flown off the deep end like he had with other people who had questioned his motives. Even _I_ couldn't escape that possibility, if he was backed enough into a corner with no other alternative but to fight his way free with a few well-chosen words.

"Apology accepted." Nik nodded, pulling away and heading for the front doors.

"But I'm coming with when you eventually head down to the Old Witch House." I declared, confidently.

"No! Absolutely not! I forbid it." Nik was quick to respond, as he spun round and strode back over to me looking angry.

I raised an eyebrow, "You _forbid_ it? Need I remind you that I've managed to convince those old biddies to get off their high horses _twice_." I pointed out, hotly.

"I have my own way of getting what I want, Grace. You forget your place." Nik stubbornly told me.

"Yeah, and it's right by your side." _That_ made him pause and look at me with a hard, calculating look. "Please, Nik. They're my family too, and I'll be damned if I can't lend a hand to bring them back here where they belong … even if they still have unresolved issues with you." I pleaded with him. Nik still looked very much against the idea; but I could be just as stubborn as he could be.

"Everything okay out here?" Our attention turned towards a cautious and frowning Jeremy who had obviously heard the raised voices and came out to investigate. He seriously had the worst timing ever.

"Yeah, Jer. Everything's cool." I hastily reassured him and turned towards him with a probably unconvincing smile pasted on my face as I attempted to prevent Nik from bellowing at the poor teen for sticking his nose into our business. "Why don't you head back in and help yourself to some breakfast, you look a bit peaky." I suggested, urgently.

"Right..." Jeremy looked a bit unconvinced and raised a curious eyebrow at Nik, before turning and reluctantly heading back into the other room. I sighed and turned back towards Nik, who was looking at me impatiently.

"What say you, Nik?" I put my cards on the table waiting for him to do the same. His eyes narrowed and his jaw locked into a stubborn snarl; but at the same time I could tell that my previous experiences with that motley group of arrogant Bennett witches had registered with him, and I grinned with triumph when he eventually caved.

"Goddamn it..." He muttered angrily underneath his breath. "This is _not_ a good idea. I'll be back here at twilight to pick you up on my way to the Old Witch Place." He instructed, sternly. "Be ready to leave as soon as I honk that horn."

I nodded, closing the distance between us. "I will. Thank you, Nik." I said sincerely, kissing him gratefully. Nik's hard face softened slightly as he automatically kissed me back, then gave me a very small smile and a shake of his head before he turned and headed for the front doors; clicking his fingers. Two hybrids appeared as though summoned before all three of them disappeared out of the door.

* * *

I headed back into the dining room and was almost immediately pounced on by Jeremy, who was chomping at the bit to learn what Nik and I were talking about.

"What's going on with him? I expected him to yell at me for that." He questioned, as he helped himself to some coffee.

Rebekah eyed him with mistrust. It was obvious she disapproved of the fact that Jeremy had gone poking his nose where it wasn't wanted. My question was: why didn't she stop him?

"Nik is more determined than ever to get my brothers back." She explained, also giving me dagger eyes as well. Yep, she had overheard our conversation outside those double doors. Like Nik, was completely against me going with him to retrieve Elijah, Finn, Kol and Esther.

But was she just peeved at me for volunteering my services in liberating the coffins? Or she was she pissed about the fact that though her eavesdropping on our conversation; she had learned that Nik had their mother's body stashed in the fourth coffin after all these years?

"It seemed that Stefan not only threatened to dispose of them last night, but he also made an attempt on Grace's life." Rebekah explained, causing Jeremy's eyes to widen with concern and mine to narrow suspiciously at her. Rebekah deliberately avoided eye contact. "Nik didn't take that very well." She added, wiping her mouth with her napkin to remove traces of blood from around her lips.

"Understatement of the year." Henrik declared, frowning as he took a seat beside Nik's chair and bookmarked his place in his book. Jeremy's eyes narrowed in outrage.

"What did Stefan do?" He demanded, and I raised an eyebrow at the protective tone in his voice that he usually reserved for when he was defending Elena.

Since when did I get promoted to 'Elena' status?

"The idiot threatened Nik by declaring that he was going to plunge his car off Wickery Bridge, with me in it with him." I responded, still sore about the subject as I sat sipping my O.J. uncomfortably.

"What!?" Jeremy shouted.

"Hey, calm down." I said, smiling at him. "I'm still in one piece, mate." I reassured him. Then frowned when something occurred to me, and mentally slapped myself for not thinking of it sooner. "Where's Damon? I thought he was supposed to escort you here?" I asked Jeremy, who scowled.

"He did. But the second I got my last bag out of the car; he took off down the road before I could thank him for the ride." Jeremy looked a little ticked off about that.

"That's rude, even by Damon's standards." Rebekah commented, looking surprised.

"I think he, like Nik, is having a hard time dealing with the fact that Stefan almost managed to kill me last night. This is probably one of his coping mechanisms." I guessed, feeling worried.

"You mean you don't know? You, his best friend, has no clue?" Rebekah sounded both shocked and smug about that.

"We all have our little quirks, Bekah." I reminded her. "But just to be on the safe side, I'm gonna give him a call to find out what's going on with him." I stated, pulling out my (brand new) phone and speed dialed his number.

Damon picked up on the first ring; like he had been anticipating that I would be calling the second Jeremy was admitted entry into the Mansion.

 _"Now is really not the time to chat, Grace."_ He stated, firmly.

"Well too bad." I responded, frowning. "I really must say that I'm hurt that you couldn't be bothered to at least come with Jeremy up to the front door and say 'hi'." I chastised him and heard him let out a frustrated groan.

 _"Look, I'm sorry that your feelings are hurt, but right now I'm just not sure I can face you, Grace. I feel somewhat responsible for Stefan's actions, and the fact that I couldn't protect you."_ Damon confessed, sounding bitter. Rebekah scoffed from the opposite end of the table drawing a confused look from Jeremy as a result, because he is unable to listen in on the conversation like she could.

"I don't know why you would be feeling guilty about this. Damon, you're not responsible for Stefan's actions. He is his own man for God's sake." I said, flatly.

"I bloody well blame him." Rebekah stated, flipping through a magazine that she had produced from nowhere. I scowled at her in annoyance as Damon let out a derisive laugh.

 _"Well, I DO blame myself."_ Damon insisted, backing up Rebekah much to my sister's surprise. _"And I'm gonna do whatever it takes to make it up to you."_

I sighed, wearily. "If that's what's gonna help you sleep at night, fine." I stated. "Look, Damon. When you next get the chance, and when you've stopped feeling sorry for yourself; please, come visit." I requested, ringing off.

I put a fake smile on my face as I turned towards Jeremy, who was looking at me with deep concern on his face. "Hope you've prepared yourself, kid. Because like it or not, you're now going to be living temporarily with the world's most dysfunctional family. God have mercy on you." I muttered as Emma returned from the kitchen with a large plate of scrambled eggs, and I studiously ignored the irritated scowl coming from Rebekah's direction while I salted my eggs.

I could only pick at the plate as I had lost my appetite.

* * *

A few hours later, I was feeling restless and needing to blow off some steam. So, I decided to get a bit of exercise. I changed into a pair of loose smoky grey three-quarter length gym pants, a black jogging bra and my ratty over-sized purple T-shirt that I specifically used to work out in.

After pulling on my sneakers, tying my hair back into a sloppy ponytail and grabbing my iPod; I headed out of our bedroom with the intention of heading downstairs and outside to spar on the Mikaelsons' private meadow, but thudded into Jeremy who was also walking towards the staircase.

"Woah!" Jeremy hollered, grabbing my arms to steady me so I didn't topple over. "Where's the fire?" He joked, and I chuckled out of embarrassment.

"Sorry, Jer. My mind was elsewhere." I apologised. "How'd you like your room?" I asked him politely, as he fell into step beside me towards the staircase. The second breakfast was over this morning, Henrik and I had given Jeremy the grand tour of the house he was going to be hiding out in until further notice. Jeremy had grinned like a Cheshire cat when he saw the inside of his new bedroom.

"It's insane. I could fit Elena's jeep in there!" He said, looking a lot more relaxed. Probably because he wasn't being left out of everything anymore. I couldn't help but pat myself on the back for giving him this opportunity to live a little. "What are you doing now?" He asked, curiously. It was obvious that he was bored too; and unfortunately, he really couldn't set foot outside the mansion if he didn't want to be sprung by either Elena or Bonnie.

"I'm getting some exercise out back." I said, as we reached the top of the staircase.

"Can I come too?" He asked, without hesitation. I stopped halfway down the stairs and looked back at him incredulously. "What?"

"You really must be bored." I teased, earning a sheepish grin.

"Oh, I really am." Jeremy agreed, looking awkward.

"Don't you have anything else you'd rather be doing than hanging out with me?" I asked him, limbering up my muscles.

Jeremy looked a bit defensive, "Actually, no." He sighed, before walking down towards where I was standing, and started checking out the beautiful pieces of artwork mounted on the walls as he resumed talking. "I can't believe that I'm actually saying this, but I'm not in the mood for video games at the moment."

I blinked at him, having not expecting that sort of answer from a teenage boy. "You're right. That's probably the last thing I expected you to say. What happened to hanging out with Henrik?" I questioned him. He and Jeremy were getting along like a house on fire.

"He's apparently making up for lost time with Rebekah. Were they really close a thousand years ago?" Jeremy asked, curiously.

"Very much so." I nodded, "They were both the babies of the family, and when she wasn't hanging out with Nik and/or myself, you'd usually find them together." I stated, then sagged a little when I remembered Henrik's final hours. "The day that Henrik was killed, I had never seen her look so shredded. It was also the day that everyone in our family became a little too overprotective of her, because she was now the youngest. It also didn't help that she was female as well." I said, wincing a bit at the memory.

"Yeah, I'll bet." Jeremy scoffed, probably remembering our little trip through my memories and how Rebekah and I had been treated by the men back then. A couple of minutes passed before Jeremy broke the silence. "Wow, that got depressing fast." Jeremy said and I chuckled.

"Yeah, kind of." Then I looked at him contemplatively, before getting an idea that would prevent him from becoming bored but would also keep him alert and able to defend himself long enough for help to arrive to aid him. "Tell you what; if you're coming with, go get changed into something you don't mind getting dirty in." I instructed. Jeremy left so quickly and so eagerly that he left an after image of himself. "Meet me outside in the meadow out back!" I shouted down the corridor at him, before shoving my earphones into my ears and hurrying down the rest of the staircase.

* * *

Once outside, I paused to take in the fresh air deep into my lungs and to soak in the warm sunshine onto my skin before I ventured deeper into the meadow. It really reminded me of my life back in the Middle Ages when the Mikaelsons and I used the meadow as a retreat from both Mikael and our responsibilities for a few hours. It made me wonder if that was one of the reasons why Nik had purchased this block of land. Not for the mansion itself but for the private meadow and the surrounding trees, for that little bit of happy nostalgia.

When I determined that I had enough room for my workout, I immediately sat down in the grass and started stretching out my legs.

"Miss me?" I glanced up and saw Jeremy jogging up to me and looking a little cocky.

"Desperately." I deadpanned, before getting to my feet and making a brief observation of him. Jeremy was wearing basketball shorts, a sleeveless baggy red muscle singlet top, and a pair of black and white Nike trainers.

Not bad, really must be taking this seriously.

"So, now what?" He asked, unnaturally eager.

"Now, we're gonna work on our cardio." I explained, and Jeremy's face fell a little. "But first we're gonna stretch out our muscles."

"What? Are you serious?" Jeremy complained. "Geez, I should've stayed in my room." He grumbled.

"God, quit your complaining. It's good for you." I bitched back. "Besides, I'm also gonna give you some self-defense lessons for when you eventually 'return' to normal life and shock the pants off your annoying sister." I added, seriously.

"Self-defense? You're gonna teach me self-defense?" Jeremy looked skeptical, and I noted that he hadn't objected to me calling Elena 'annoying'.

"Laugh it up, mate. You're looking at an expert." I told him, feeling a little taken aback by his attitude.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, _seriously._ " I parroted. "Now stop flapping your gums and get over here. I need your help." I requested, acerbically. Jeremy begrudgingly stomped his way over to where I was standing and looked at me for an explanation.

"What do you need help with?" He asked. In response, I slid easily into a sideways split like Rebekah did during her first day at cheer-leading practice. This caused Jeremy to wince in pain. "Oh, damn! Doesn't that hurt?" He questioned, looking horrified.

"Not any more." I said, leaning forward onto my elbows and stretching the muscles in my thighs. "I mean the first time's the worst because you're stretching muscles you never thought you had, but then after a while you get used to it." I said, before finger crooking at him. "Now. Do me a favour: sit cross-legged on my back; I need the extra weight to stretch out the muscles in my legs."

"You're kidding." Jeremy's mouth fell open.

"I wouldn't have asked you to if I was." I said, getting impatient with him.

Hesitantly, Jeremy clambered up onto my back and sat reluctantly with his legs crossed. I winced a little when the bones in my spine popped in places.

"Doesn't this hurt? I've gotta be way too heavy for ya." Jeremy fretted, nervously.

"Mate, I'm used to it. This was standard for the warm-up routines I first started doing for self-defense." I told him, not unkindly. "Believe when I first learned that I'd be stretching while doing the splits, I also complained a lot." I reassured him, trying to break the ice a little. This helped Jeremy relax a little during the next twenty minutes he was helping me stretch like this, before I eventually indicated for him to hop off, and I slowly got to my feet and curled my legs behind me one after the other, to encourage the blood flow in my legs. "Okay, we're gonna start off easy with fifty laps around this meadow." I said, all business.

"Fifty!?"

"Be thankful I didn't say one-hundred." I said, smirking at him. "Okay? Ready, set, GO!" I took off, followed closely by a reluctant Jeremy.

We started the laps off easily enough; just a gentle jog around the massive meadow until we found our stride. Then we gradually sped up, much to Jeremy's horror. On the 25th lap, I stopped – jogging on the spot as I waited for Jeremy – before I turned and reversed course to run the last twenty-five laps in the opposite direction. Jeremy was just barely keeping up the pace but was also looking very red in the face and like he was about ready to spew up a lung.

"Okay! Let's take five." I suggested when we both completed our 50th lap, and Jeremy promptly collapsed on the grass; chest heaving and sucking in the oxygen like it was going out of style. "You okay there, mate?" I asked, look both concerned and slightly amused.

"My...lungs...are...burning!" Jeremy gasped, before sitting up and licking his slightly chapped lips. I handed him what was left of my drink bottle, which he promptly drank down. "How'd the hell did you manage to do all that and also somehow manage to not look like you've broken a sweat?!" He demanded resentfully when he could breathe properly.

"Because I'm used to it." I shrugged, stretching my arm across my chest and repeating with the other arm. "You're just out of practice, Jeremy. Once you've done it a bit more; it'll get easier for you." I promised him. On cue, Rebekah blurred in carrying an entire stack of disposable water bottles underneath both arms; smiling at me knowingly.

"You read my mind." I greeted her, taking a water bottle and twisting off the cap.

"Not really." She shrugged, dumping the stacks of disposable water bottles onto the grass; whereupon Jeremy immediately pounced upon one of them and grabbed a bottle. "How is your little working out session?" Rebekah asked casually, as Jeremy ripped off the blue plastic cap and downed half the water in one breath.

"Not bad. But he needs a lot of work." I determined, before frowning with concern when Jeremy seemed to gag a little on the water he was chugging down. "Steady on, Jeremy. You'll choke." I warned him. The teen paid me little attention and had managed to consume at least four bottles of water before he finally drew his arm across his mouth to dry it and scowled at me in annoyance. Rebekah wondered over to a nearby bench situated underneath one of the trees in the Mikaelsons' meadow.

"I'll be here if you need me." My sister waved a lazy hand as she began reading a book. I nodded and returned my attention back to Jeremy.

"I really hate you." He bitched and I grinned back.

"No, you don't. You're grateful that I'm actually giving a shit about your welfare." I corrected him, with a shrug. Jeremy made no other comment, choosing instead to continue chugging down his water and frowning as he looked over at Rebekah with confusion.

"Where's Henrik?" He asked, before taking another drink. I was about to ask Rebekah the same question, when I remembered that Henrik sometimes tended to leave randomly without explanation.

"Not sure. But he'll be back; sometimes he disappears without warning. There's no harm in it." After a few minutes, I glanced down at my student and extended a hand towards him to take.

"What?" He questioned, suspiciously.

"Break time's over. I'm gonna teach you some self-defense now." I told him, pulling him to his feet. "Now, do you know how to punch properly?" I asked him, and Jeremy looked at me oddly.

"Of course, I know how to punch."

"No. I asked if you knew how to punch _properly_?" I corrected him, rolling my eyes. Jeremy frowned at my statement.

"What do you mean _properly_? Is there a wrong way to punch someone?" He asked, curiously.

"Yeah, believe it or not, there is." I confirmed to a surprised looking Jeremy. "Show me how you punch." I encouraged him, taking a step out of the firing zone and folding my arms across my chest as I studied his technique. Bewildered, Jeremy immediately curled his hand up into a fist, drew it back and let fly. I smirked when I instantly spotted his mistake.

"It's not rocket science." Jeremy insisted, before scowling when I shook my head. "Okay then, show me how to 'punch' properly." He said, defensively. I wondered over to him and gently and calmly grabbed his hand pulling it up to face level.

"First of all: the way you've been holding your fist is going to break your thumb." I stated, curling his fingers into the correct position for a punch. "When you punch, your thumb needs to be on the _outside_ of your fist, between your first and second knuckles on your index and middle finger." I explained, pointing towards Jeremy's first and second knuckles.

"Are there different types of punches?" I was pleased that he seemed to be taking what I was saying seriously.

"Yeah, there are. The few that I do know off hand are the 'Jab', 'cross', 'uppercut', the 'hay maker' and 'sucker punch'." I listed with my fingers.

Jeremy smirked, "What about the 'knuckle sandwich'?" He joked.

"That's just a slang term for being punched in the mouth." I said, dismissively. "The type of punch you deliver depends on which discipline you're practicing. Whether it be self-defense or boxing." I stated, feeling strangely like a walking encyclopedia.

"Which did you study?" Jeremy asked, curiously.

"Both. Although in your case we're going to be focusing on boxing." I explained to him, going over what I knew in my head.

Jeremy and I spent the rest of the time learning the basics of boxing and doing it safely, until it was time to wrap things up so I could go and get ready for tonight's rescue mission.

"Hey, um. Thanks for the extra tips." Jeremy stooped down and picked up the remaining water bottles still lying on the grass and tucked them underneath his armpit, while looking sheepish and very much like the awkward teenager he was.

"You're welcome." I responded, messing up his sweaty hair with my free hand and regretting the action completely. "It's better to learn now, than on the spot when you're in some serious strife against a rogue vampire, werewolf or even a hybrid." I told him, seriously as we walked, unhurried, back to the mansion. "Or at least hold them off until help arrives to back you up. You still need loads more practice, but if we set aside a few hours together I can get you trained up. Perhaps we can even persuade some assistance from the Mikaelsons, if they're not too busy." I suggested, hoping that he'd take up the offer.

"Sounds great!" Jeremy agreed, then glanced over to where Rebekah had been sitting on the bench underneath the tree, presumably to make sure that that was alright with her, before he jerked in surprise. "Hey, where'd Rebekah go?"

I glanced over at the bench and noticed that she was missing, and shrugged. "Not sure. She must've gotten bored and left to do something else. It happens." I explained, remembering back to the times when she, Nik and I would be lazing about when our chores were done, and Rebekah got bored very quickly and would often just leave. "So, what's next on your agenda?" I asked, half-interested and half-desperate to seek the sanctuary of the shower so I could prepare myself to head back down to the Old Witch House, and lend a hand to finally bring back Elijah, Finn, Kol and apparently Esther home. Or at least, watch a very intense tug-of-war session between Nik and those bloody witches to see who would give in first. I was pretty sure, it would not be Nik caving this time. But those witches could potentially give him a run for his money.

"I dunno. I'm beat." Jeremy responded, sounding a bit sluggish. I winced; I think I probably over did it a little, particularly because this is Jeremy's first real survival work out. "I might play on my X-box after all, then crash before dinner." He shrugged, a bit carelessly.

"Good plan. Ask Henrik to join ya." I suggested, causing Jeremy to shrug then let out an almighty yawn that nearly sent him sprawling face first onto the ground.

"Why not? I gotta get used to this family sometime." Jeremy pointed out and I rolled my eyes. "Relax." He nudged me playfully in the ribs. "I'm just messing with you. But I won't lie and say that it won't be easy getting to know them; considering that Klaus killed Aunt Jenna and Elena, and the rest of them have been terrorizing the world for the last few centuries. But if you say that they're not as bad as the others are making them out to be, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt." Jeremy promised.

I grinned, triumphantly. "There is a God!" I teased, earning a playful scowl from the teenager before we broke off from each other and disappeared into our respective rooms.

"That's yet to be proven." Jeremy retorted, this time without any hint of humour on his face as he stomped down the corridor and disappeared into his room, slamming the door behind him.

* * *

I sighed, before opening the bedroom door and shuffling in and locking the door behind me. I grabbed my backpack, which I had stuffed with a couple of outfits the night before and simultaneously peeled off my sweaty purple tee, stuffing it inside a grocery bag I had stashed in my bag so I could launder it and the rest of my working out gear when I went back to my apartment. I was just in the process of walking towards the shower when there was an insistent knock at the bedroom door.

"We're closed." I quipped in my normal voice as I toed off my sneakers, knowing that the visitor behind the door was a vampire.

"Very funny." It was Rebekah; and she sounded annoyed. She hammered on the door again. "I would like a word with you, Grace." She insisted.

"Yes, I've become aware of this, Bekah." I retorted, stomping over to the door and unlocking it. "Please come in. I'm just about to have a shower." I told her, as I immediately turned away from her and hopped around removing my socks. Rebekah breezed on in, shutting the door behind her but made no move to walk deeper into the room. "So, what seems to be the problem du jour?" I asked casually, with my back to my obviously vexed sister.

"You speak French?" Rebekah sounded a little surprised.

"Very poorly. Don't change the subject." I said, steering the conversation back on point so that my sister could say her piece then leave, and I could bathe in peace. "What's up with you?"

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I did I or did I not hear both you and my brother talking about my mother being in one of those coffins that he had misplaced?" Rebekah demanded, and I froze mid-step; cursing vampires and their handy and yet irritating enhanced hearing ability.

"Thought that eavesdropping was rude." I responded pointedly. Rebekah scowled at me before blurring over, spinning me around and shoving me against the wall.

"Don't toy with me, Grace!" She snapped, and I looked at her with surprise. "I love you, you're my dearest sister. But I am not above hurting you to get what I want, you know. I have done it before." Rebekah felt the need to tell me, and I returned the annoyed scowl.

"Jesus! Yes, Rebekah; you did hear Nik confirming that Esther was hidden in that fourth coffin. Believe me I was just as shocked as you are." I confirmed. Rebekah's eyes widened, and I used her shock as an opportunity to break away from her to massage my wrists. "Why did it take you this long to confront me about it?" I asked, curiously.

Rebekah sniffed, haughtily. "I make it a point not to discuss family business with strangers outside of the family." She indicated in the direction of Jeremy's room.

I nodded.

"Fair point." I conceded. "So, what's your next move now that you know?" I asked, as Rebekah wondered over and helped herself to Nik's private wet bar.

"For that, I require my other brothers to assist me." Rebekah responded cryptically and I frowned, not liking that response.

"What do you mean? What are you going to do to him?" I asked, worriedly. Rebekah perched on the armrest of one of Nik's couches. "Rebekah, talk to me. What are you planning?" I begged, trying to stop myself from panicking.

"Answer her question, Sister." Another voice insisted from the doorway and both Rebekah and I snapped our heads in the direction of the bedroom door. Henrik stood there with a straight face, looking directly at Rebekah as she continued to stubbornly ignore my question. "She's not the only one who would like to know." He stated, seriously.

"Be reasonable, Henrik. Our brother has kept our mother's body hidden away in a coffin after all these years; carting it around along with him wherever he went, instead of allowing her to have the peace she deserves." Rebekah attempted to get her brother on side, but he shook his head and folded his arms across his chest. "He deserves to be punished for what he has done!"

"Or maybe you should get all your facts _first,_ instead of falling back on what you've always done when Niklaus has done something that you disapprove of or disagree with." Henrik retorted, and I wanted to groan in frustration. I didn't have all night to discuss Rebekah's obvious displeasure with Nik or referee this siblings' tiff.

"You were not there when Nik was at his worst, Henrik! You wouldn't understand what he has put our brothers and me through all these years! All in the name of our so-called survival." Rebekah snapped at him, angrily.

"Yes. I was." Henrik responded, calmly. "You just couldn't see me." Both Rebekah and I looked at him incredulously.

"You were?" I blurted out. "Why didn't you say so before?"

"Because at the time, you had only just learned about the supernatural. I didn't want to bombard you with too much information before you were ready." Henrik said, still not raising his voice.

"So, you approve of what he has done? To _all_ of us?" Rebekah accused, and Henrik scowled at her.

"Of course not. I didn't understand at first why he did what he did with mother. Now I do, and while I don't approve of his methods, it could potentially stop a lot of bad things from happening as a result. Even if we don't truly appreciate it at times." Henrik insisted. "Besides, in this case I agree that we need to prevent mother from being released from that coffin at all costs."

"Why?" Rebekah demanded, tearfully.

"I don't trust her. Not anymore. And neither should you." Henrik stated, before holding out a hand towards his distraught sister. "Now, come along. Give Grace some privacy to prepare for tonight so she can help our brother bring back the rest of our family." He requested, firmly. Rebekah threw both of us resentful looks before storming from the room in a huff.

This wouldn't be the last that we'd hear about this. Nik was unfortunately in for a rude awakening I fear from the rest of his family.

"Thanks, Henrik." I thanked him, sincerely. But was taken aback by the scowl that he was now directing towards me.

"I didn't do it for you. What Nik did was wrong, but I also can't stand by and watch him get punished over something as serious as our mother's fate." He stated, before heading for the door. "I'll leave you to it." The door closed behind him with a soft click and I couldn't help but stare broodingly at the closed door for several minutes afterwards. But one glance at Nik's wall clock had me moving faster than the speed of light to get ready.

About ten minutes later, I re-emerged from the shower; my hair still damp and tied back into a severe ponytail, and Nik's silver wolf's tooth necklace was strung around my neck, as usual.

I decided on a pair of tight blue skinny jeans with a black leather belt, a simple black V-necked blouse with lace long sleeves and a simple pair of black converse sneakers. After double knotting the laces on my shoes, I snatched up my purse; making sure that my phone, keys and other essentials were inside before dashing quickly downstairs and straight for the front double doors.

"Grace! Wait up a sec." I turned and saw a freshly clean and dressed Jeremy descending the staircase two steps at a time to get to me before I could disappear out the door.

I cursed my luck.

"Sorry, Jer. I can't chat right now. There's something we've got to deal with right now." I stated, hastily.

"Yeah, I figured from all the yelling I heard earlier." He stated, dryly. I winced, biting my bottom lip.

"You heard that, huh?" I guessed, feeling sheepish.

"I think the whole of Mystic Falls heard you … or at least heard Rebekah." Jeremy drawled, raising an eyebrow at me for my skittish behavior. "Everything alright?"

"Not really. But it's nothing that can't be resolved later, and hopefully with minimal bloodshed." I responded, mentally crossing my fingers. A car horn sounded from outside, I knew that Nik had finally arrived to take me with him to the Old Witch Place as promised. "That's my ride. Uh, best stay out of Rebekah's way for the rest of the night. She's not in the best of moods right now." I suggested hastily.

"Got it. Be careful, huh?" Jeremy warned and I raised an eyebrow at him, curiously.

"Always am. Emma!" I called out, and the perky redheaded hybrid appeared as though by magic. "Take care of Jeremy while Nik and I are out. Whatever he needs, give it to him." I instructed her, then scowled when I noticed the lustful eye sweep Jeremy was giving the slightly uncomfortable redhead.

"Not a problem." Emma smiled at me.

" _Definitely_ not a problem." Jeremy agreed and I swotted him over the head. "OW! Hey!?" He frowned at me.

"There are limits to what Emma can give to you, buster. Don't abuse the privilege." I warned him. The car horn sounded again, and I rolled my eyes at Nik's impatience. "Gotta go. Behave!"

"Yes, mom." Jeremy sassed me back, and I frowned at him before wrenching open the front door and darting out.

* * *

 **Old Witch Place  
** **Twilight**

I hurried over towards a fancy looking black Mercedes idling in the driveway behind the large Gothic-style electric fence, and watched as one of Nik's hybrids suddenly stepped from the car to open the backseat for me. I immediately slid into the car beside a slightly annoyed but otherwise pleasant looking Nik.

"The Old Witch Burial Ground." Nik curtly instructed the hybrid who was driving the minute the backdoor closed behind me. I turned towards Nik and he smiled lightly. "Good evening, sweetheart. Did you have a productive day?" Nik greeted me casually, as he drummed his fingers against the black leather armrest, seemingly relaxed.

"Well, I did; up until Rebekah and I had words late this afternoon." I responded, somewhat apprehensive. "Or at least until Henrik _stepped_ in when Rebekah wouldn't let me explain the situation without getting worked up." I added. Nik frowned, and I immediately launched into an explanation as to how his day was before he could comment. "Did you get what you needed done?" I asked, trying to change the subject and hoping that Nik took the bait.

No such luck.

"What do you mean 'had words'?" Nik narrowed his eyes, ignoring my question. I sighed, not really wanting to throw Rebekah underneath the metaphorical bus and have her even angrier at me. But I knew that it would be worse for her if Nik found out by himself. So, I fessed up.

"Rebekah overheard our conversation this morning about Esther and didn't take the information very well. She confronted me about it and things kinda escalated from there." I confessed, reluctantly.

"I see." Nik sighed, in irritation. "I suppose she refused to listen to reason then?" He asked me, and I nodded.

"She became very upset when I confirmed what she had overheard us talking about." I said, turning my head to look out the window at the darkening landscape outside the tinted car window. "Let's just say; you're in for a very hostile and uncomfortable conversation with your sister when we eventually see her next." I said, regretfully.

"Rebekah's always been that way when it came to our mother. She needs evidence before she will believe you. Until then she will remain in denial and not be reasoned with." Nik stated, very matter of fact.

"But this is a situation we have to deal with later." I stated firmly, gaining a look of surprise from Nik. "Right now, our main priority should be retrieving the coffins out from underneath Stefan's nose."

"Agreed." Nik responded, still looking shocked about my frank attitude.

"So, what did you do today; assuming that the so called 'errands' you were taking care of this morning had anything to do with the coffins." I asked, calm and collected.

Nik immediately recovered from the shock, "I paid a visit to Stefan this morning. Or rather, I let myself into the Boarding House, helped myself to a drink and waited until he made an appearance." My eyes must've widened in alarm, as Nik smiled at me reassuringly and placed his hand on mine. "Relax, sweetheart. I didn't retaliate, despite the obvious temptation when he eventually did show up." He said, squeezing a little.

I relaxed, "What happened?" I asked, angling myself in his direction and making myself comfortable.

"Same old, same old. He questioned why I was at the house, and I requested an explanation about what he wanted from me so I could get the coffins back." Nik responded, casually.

"I bet that went down like a lead balloon." I grimaced.

"Precisely. He even tried to threaten to drop them in the ocean if I didn't pack up and leave town." Nik added and I made a face.

"Sounds like he's getting desperate if he's trying that on with you." I observed.

"More likely that he thinks that I am a complete fool and have the wool pulled over my eyes. He's stalling, and I think I have a theory about why he is." He insisted, and I couldn't help but feel nervous about what that theory could potentially be.

"What do you suspect he's up to?" I asked, worriedly.

"Smart money would be that he's trying to open the coffin that contains my mother." Nik said, looking concerned. I was alarmed at first, but then realised something important.

"But that's impossible, no one can get into it." I stated, going by what Nik had explained before about the powerful seal that had been placed upon Esther's coffin.

"No one, except for the witch who placed the protective seal upon the coffin in the first place." Nik pointed out. My eyes widened when I realised where he was going with this.

"Oh, don't tell me that Bonnie can open that damn coffin." I groaned in both fear and frustration.

"Alright I won't." He said, straight-faced; and I just gave him a flat look. "But she alone won't be able to break that spell. Bonnie'll need assistance." Nik reassured me.

"From whom?"

"Another Bennett witch." He said, darkly. "Specifically, her estranged mother. Which was why I sent Daniel to get to the woman first." I was impressed; Nik really was one step ahead of them all.

"What did Daniel do?" I asked, interested. Nik shrugged, casually.

"It turned out that Ms. Abby Bennett Wilson, lives in Monroe, North Carolina with an adopted son. Jamie, I believe his name is." He smirked. "So, I instructed Daniel to compel both Abby and Jaime to subdue Bonnie and anybody who comes along with her to turn them away in any way they can." Nik revealed.

"Which considering who we're dealing with, would be Stefan and most likely Elena. Sneaky." I complimented him.

"Why thank you, darling." Nik smiled at me affectionately.

I rolled my eyes but smiled back. "So did Daniel pull it off?"

"We'll just have to wait and find out, now won't we?" Nik stated, as we pulled up to the path through the trees that lead towards the Old Witch House. We both get out of the car, followed automatically by his two hybrids. However, he instantly stops them in their tracks. "Stay here. When I locate the coffins be ready to come down and collect." He instructed the two hybrids, who nodded once and hung back to lean against the Mercedes like they were members of the secret service. Nik reaches over and takes my hand in his. "Shall we?" He asks, rhetorically.

* * *

Nik and I made our way up the trail towards the house; both of us hoping that this would be the very last time we would be making a trip here. This whole exercise was becoming excessively repetitive. I was instantly hit with an icy shiver down my spine the minute I stepped past the threshold and I paused mid-step, shutting my eyes automatically.

"What's wrong?" Nik questioned me, placing a hand on my shoulder to help me anchor myself to the here and now. I slowly opened my eyes and nearly jerked backwards with shock when I noticed that the both of us were surrounded by the hundreds of dead witches inhabiting this place.

I groaned with irritation.

"Everything's fine, Nik. The witches have been summoned." I explained and continued walking deeper into the house, with a frowning Nik following at my heels. "I really wish they wouldn't do that."

"Do what?" Nik asked, curiously.

"Just randomly appear out of thin air." I sighed. "I think they get some sort of kick out of scaring the hell out of me for their own amusement." I groused.

"Well, hopefully we won't have to deal with their presence for very much longer. Assuming they co-operate and willingly hand over what is mine." Nik reassured me. I nodded, choosing not to comment. This situation could go in any multiple directions. "Now, love. You've been here before. Where are the coffins being contained?" He asked me, smiling cheerfully. I led Nik down to the basement, which was just as seemingly bare and vacant of the four coffins as the last time Damon and I had been here with Stefan.

But of course, I knew better.

"The coffins are stashed down here." I confirmed, glancing about the dusty, unkempt basement and wrinkling my nose at the squalor. Nik stood at the bottom of the staircase and glanced about in confusion before he looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Where love?" He asked. I glanced over at the witches who had followed us down here, watching us suspiciously and cautiously.

"The witches have hidden them from us." I replied, scowling at the witches who were helping Stefan with this ridiculous vendetta and earning malicious smirks back. "They don't trust us."

Nik shrugged looking unconcerned, "No matter. I will get what I came here for eventually." He walked about the room, gathering up discarded candles presumably left behind from when Bonnie had been stashed away here to prepare to take down Nik during the Hybrid Ritual.

"What are you doing, Nik?" I asked.

"I'm bringing a little bit of light into this room. It's getting a bit dark in here." Nik stated flippantly as he set up the candles around the room and began lighting each of them up.

"Whatever for? You can see in the dark, Nik." I reminded him, confused.

"Yeah. But you can't." He reminded _me._ I let a small smile spread across my face, touched by the gesture.

"That's not necessary, Nik. But thanks." I said, graciously. A floorboard squeaked overhead, and both of us froze glancing up at the upper level above us. "Are you expecting someone?" I asked him, cautiously.

"Yes, as a matter of fact. But I think it's best if we hide until I confirm that it is the right person." Nik requested and I rolled my eyes as we blended into the shadows. I couldn't deny that I was curious about who we were waiting on; and my curiosity was confirmed when Damon suddenly walked into the room, looking a tad bit stressed. Nik kissed my cheek before stepping back out of the shadows. "What took you so long?" Damon immediately bristled upon seeing my boyfriend. "I don't like to be kept waiting. And in squalor, no less." Nik stated.

The candles all around the room suddenly burn brighter and the flames shoot into the air. At the same moment, Nik suddenly falls to his knees and clutches at his head, screaming in pain.

Damon smirked, "Insulting a bunch of dead witches … not smart. I made the exact same mistake first time I came in here." I immediately rushed out from the shadows and went over to Nik's side cradling him in my arms as I glared up at the witches angrily.

"Grace? What are you doing here?" Damon asked, sounding genuinely confused. I ignored him.

"Let him go!" I ordered. Emily Bennett steps forward, a cold expression on her face as she stared at Nik and me.

"I suggest you stand down, if you know what's good for you." Emily suggested, and I stood up and walked towards her ignoring the obviously confused looks on both Damon and Nik's faces.

"Or what? It goes against your nature to harm an innocent." I reminded them, trying to stop myself from being smug. Emily shrugged, unconcerned.

"Rules can be changed if necessary." The Bennett matriarch retorted, and my eyes widened comically before I scoffed.

"Did you just threaten me?" I asked before looking back at Damon. "These bitches just threatened me." He glowered in outrage. "I don't believe it." I laughed out of sheer disbelief. "Now I've heard everything. I can't wait to see what happens next." I stated unsympathetically as I walked back over to Nik's side. I was now beyond helping them anymore, if they were willing to put me in harm's way to prevent Nik from getting his family back on the whim of a pathetic individual like Stefan. My boyfriend was eventually able to glance up and spoke out in a forced, strained voice.

"You know, the funny thing about witches is, that living or dead, they care about their own. A hundred dead witches have a thousand living descendants…" Nik shouts out in pain once again, and I steadied him when he nearly toppled over.

"Nik!" I panicked before glaring up at the arrogant pests surrounding us. I was getting extremely tired of these old crones believing that they were all powerful because they had dominion over nature. "Stop this!" I hissed at the witches. Nik clutched at my hand reassuringly. He raises his voice, addressing the witches despite not being able to see them.

"And I have no problem, killing every last one of them, if I don't get my coffins back!" He roars. "As we speak, my hybrid friend is prepared to end the Bennett line!" There was no lie in Nik's eyes, and we could see that clearly. Immediately the witches release Nik from their torture, allowing him to get to his feet. "Now… please… show me the coffins." Nik demanded.

Emily looked at him resentfully before waving her hand.

Almost immediately, the coffins materialized in the room.

"Here we are. Was that so hard?" Nik couldn't resist taunting them. Unfortunately, there was a glaringly obvious problem staring us right in the face.

"Damon, what have you done?" I demanded, anxiously. When Nik overheard what I said, he took another look at the room and the triumphant smile on his face faded.

"Where's the fourth?" He muttered before shouting at the witches in the room. "Show me!"

"Well, here's the thing." Damon began, looking pissed. "They can't. It's not here." He confessed, reluctantly.

Nik looked incensed, "What did you do?"

"Believe it or not, nothing. Stefan appears to be shiftier than we both thought. I think he relocated the coffin none of us seemed to be able to open." Damon guessed.

I groaned, "Stefan really is taking this revenge scheme way too far…" I reacted when Nik suddenly seizes Damon by the lapels of his leather jacket and shoves him hard against the wall, obviously failing to hold back his fearsome temper.

"I will tear you, limb from limb. And only then, when you're a riving mass of blood and flesh, I will rip your heart from your chest!" Nik promised, and Damon managed to look bored with the threat thankfully.

"Hey! This is not his fault!" I defended Damon, as I attempted to calm Nik down somewhat unsuccessfully. "We will get the coffin back. Just calm down!" I stated, firmly.

"Listen. I'm sorry for what Stefan has done, and I know you want your family back. But something tells me Stefan knows you want what's in that coffin a _lot_ more." Damon stated.

"You don't say." My voice dripped with sarcasm. "We better hope and pray that Bonnie doesn't manage to get that damn coffin open before we get it back." Nik reluctantly lowers Damon back to the ground and immediately storms back up the stairs.

"Where's he going?" Damon questioned, straightening his jacket.

"He's summoning the hybrids he brought along in anticipation of bringing the coffins back to the mansion. We're taking these ones back with us." I said, hurrying up the staircase after Nik and leaving Damon behind with the coffins.

* * *

 **~: Salvatore Boarding House :~  
** **(No P.O.V)**

After Damon reluctantly helped Klaus, Grace and two of Klaus' hybrids remove the three remaining coffins from the Old Witch House and restore them to the Mikaelson Mansion, Damon headed back to the Boarding House. He was thoroughly over the entire day, what with being blood-jacked by Alaric's crazy doctor girlfriend, helping an ungrateful Petrova doppelgänger bitch and her even worse witchy friend locate Sabrina the Teenage Bitch's mom for a reason he had no idea about (until he discovered the reason only hours before), and discovered and was blamed unfairly for a missing coffin belonging to a desperate and highly volatile Original Hybrid.

He was more than ready to just crawl into bed and pass out for the night. But there was just one more thing he felt he needed to deal with before he could commit to eight or more hours of uninterrupted sleep. So, he fixed himself a drink and positioned himself in front of the roaring fireplace; waiting for his insane brother to finally return.

"Oh, you're still alive." Speak of the devil. Damon turned to face Stefan, and calmly raised his glass to his lips as Stefan made a beeline for the bourbon as well. "I assume, that means that Klaus didn't get his coffins?" Stefan inquired, earning a dark scowl from Damon.

"Oh, no. He got them alright. All _three_ of them, to be exact." Stefan froze for a split second before recovering and continuing as though Damon hadn't said anything. "Almost had my heart removed by Klaus for my troubles as well. Where the hell do you get off making off with the locked coffin?" Damon wanted to know.

"It was the better choice out of the four. It'll give us time to figure out how to gain access into it." Stefan responded, unconcerned.

"Yeah, well if you're banking on Bonnie's momma to open it, you're screwed. I heard it on the grapevine that she hadn't got any powers." Damon pointed out.

"Doesn't surprise me. It's been one of those nights." Stefan admitted.

Damon smirked, "And I'm about to make it even better." He holds up a silver dagger, and Stefan glances at it in horror. "So, why don't we talk about this, huh?"

"What did you do?" Stefan demanded.

"I set Elijah free." Damon stated. "Now the fun begins."

* * *

 **~: Mikaelson Mansion :~  
** **(Grace P.O.V)**

This whole day has been one unpleasant surprise after the other, and all I wanted to do was crawl into bed with Nik and not resurface until the next morning. Then we could deal with the next set of problems that would revolve around getting back Esther's coffin from Stefan, Elena and Bonnie.

I followed Nik, Daniel and Nik's two hybrids as they shoved all three coffins into a large unoccupied room in the mansion. I stood in the doorway, just observing.

"You've got your family back. Finally." Daniel observed, and Nik nodded absently; extending a hand towards me. I automatically took it and allowed Nik to pull me towards him, seeking a bit of comfort. It was obvious that Nik was feeling a bit anxious at the thought that his mother's coffin was still at large, and in the wrong hands. "You gonna open them?" Daniel asked, curiously.

Nik shook his head, "Not quite yet. I still have some unfinished business to take care of." He stated, and I frowned at him.

"What business, Nik?" I asked. Nik was about to respond to my question, when both of us see Daniel squirm and suddenly fall to the floor, dead. Shocked, we both glanced up and my mouth fell open when I saw Elijah standing there with Daniel's heart clenched in his hand. "Oh, my God…" I muttered, as Elijah calmly looks at Nik; ignoring me momentarily.

"So, Niklaus…" Elijah began, his voice as smooth as silk, causing me to squirm unpleasantly. He was pissed.

"Elijah!" Nik exclaimed, immediately shoving me behind him for my own protection. An action that caused Elijah to narrow his eyes almost immediately.

"What did I miss?" Elijah wanted to know.

* * *

 **A/N: Finally! I've finished this bloody chapter. It took me forever to figure out where I was going with this. I hope it makes sense and that you enjoyed it. The next chapter hopefully won't take as long to come out.**

 **TTFN xx**


	56. Family Feud

**A/N: Welcome back, and thanks for tuning in to this new chapter update.**

 **Caution: Long chapter ahead! I do not own** _ **The Vampire Diaries.**_ **All characters except for Grace belong to author L.J. Smith.**

 **Please review with your thoughts but flaming for the sake of flaming is prohibited. Thanks once again :)**

 **Enjoy xx**

* * *

 **FAMILY FEUD**

" _No family is perfect… we argue, we fight. We even stop talking to each other at times, but in the end, family is family … the love will always be there."_ _ **~Inspirational Quote.**_

* * *

 **Mikaelson Mansion  
** **Night**

Nik and I looked back at Elijah with shock and horror as the elder Original stood before us both, wiping blood off his hands with his white handkerchief after brutally killing Daniel.

"Elijah." I spoke out loud, drawing his attention. "How? How is this possible?" I asked incredulously, trying to move around Nik so I could greet my brother properly. However, Nik wasn't having a bar of it and stubbornly stood his ground standing in front of me. I narrowed my eyes at him in irritation as Elijah raised an elegant eyebrow; obviously surprised by our reactions.

"I see. This is most interesting." Elijah observed, and both Nik and I looked at him questioningly. "You both look surprised to see me." He then directed his next statement towards Nik, coldly. "So, it wasn't you that removed the dagger from my heart?"

All three of us were understandably confused, until something occurred to me about tonight involving a certain other vampire that had been at the dilapidated house with Nik and me. I swore underneath my breath grabbing both Elijah and Nik's attention. I couldn't believe that this didn't occur to me sooner. It would explain why Damon didn't immediately follow me out when I went after Nik.

Fatal mistake.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me." I muttered angrily through clenched teeth.

"I beg your pardon, Grace?" Elijah inquired, as he and Nik frowned at me curiously. "I'm afraid you've lost us both completely. Is there something you wish to bring to our attention?" He asked, mildly concerned.

I grimaced, "Damon."

"What about Mr. Salvatore?" Elijah asked, as Nik suddenly cottoned on to why I had my outburst, and then he too scowled as well. "What does he have to do with who removed the dagger from my chest?"

"Everything." I scoffed in frustration. "He's the one who removed it." I responded, as I turned away and started walking towards the main doors. "I'll kill him. I'm actually going to kill him…" I muttered underneath my breath as I walked, only to be stopped by Nik who blurred into my path and gently grabbed my wrists. He immediately pulled me to his side and tried to calm _me_ down by kissing my temple and muttering calming words into my ears.

"Easy, love." He muttered. Nik's tone indicated to me that he was also less than impressed with Damon's stupid actions. "One problem at a time." I nodded, and then Nik turned and addressed Elijah who watching our interaction curiously but also seemed strangely unsurprised that Damon had been the one to free him from his dormancy. "You look like you could do with a drink." I froze; knowing exactly what Nik meant by 'drink' but relaxed a little when Nik shushed me as he continued to greet Elijah with a falsely polite smile. "And _we_ have a lot to discuss. So, shall we?" He indicated towards the doors I had been heading towards in my determination to cave in Damon's head when he stopped me.

However, Elijah attacks Nik without warning; causing him to roughly push me out of harm's way and I landed hard on the polished floorboards. I watched Elijah send him flying through a window into the immaculately manicured hedges outside.

"Elijah!" I protested angrily, as Nik calmly straightens up and brushes himself down.

"And I just finished renovating too…" He mutters, mildly annoyed as Rebekah, overhearing the commotion, burst into the room. She and Elijah gape at each other in surprise.

"Elijah?" Rebekah gasps.

"Rebekah, you've been awoken as well, I see?" Elijah is bewildered as Nik steps back through the broken window not taking his eyes off Elijah for a second as he addresses Rebekah.

"Yes, sister. Our brother is awake." Nik drawls, unenthusiastically. "A bit premature, mind you. But beggars can't be choosers."

"Why don't you head off home, Grace? Niklaus is right, we have a lot to discuss." Elijah suggested, using firm tones and ever being the protector. I slowly got to my feet, rolling my shoulder gingerly. I had landed awkwardly on it when Nik had shoved me out of danger.

"I am home." I told Elijah, who blinked at me then at Nik with surprise. "I just haven't officially moved all my stuff into the mansion just yet." I stated, crossly.

"I have a lot to catch up on, it seems." Elijah mused. Nik suddenly rushes at him, causing Elijah to crash into a nearby table and turn it into firewood.

"You know, you have every right to be mad at me." Nik admitted. "But I kept my word, I reunited you with our family."

His words only cause Elijah to attack Nik again, forcing Rebekah to pull me out of harm's way and shield me against the battling brothers. It seemed that Nik and Elijah fighting was enough to eradicate any animosity Rebekah might have been harboring towards me this night.

"Stop this! What is wrong with the pair of you!?" I shouted tears building up as I watched two of the strongest men I had ever known during my previous life and this one, squabbling like cat and dog. When did everything get so messed up?

I want my family back.

They ignored me as Nik is eventually knocked back against one of the coffins. In retaliation, he opens the coffin next to the one he had been thrown against and reaches inside. I was unable to see who resided inside the coffin, but I watched as Nik undaggers which ever brother it was and rushes at Elijah. He shoves and holds him against the third unopened coffin by his throat. Rebekah and I squeal in protest; and I cupped my mouth to stifle a cry when Nik holds up the silver dagger threateningly.

"Don't make me do this to you again, Elijah!" Nik threatens.

Elijah bares his fangs defiantly, "Come on. Use it. I dare you!" He eggs on Nik who hesitates. "But then you'll have Kol to deal with."

 _Kol…_ I went forward to see my 'twin' for myself, but Rebekah stops me by grabbing my arm.

"Stay where you are, Grace!" Elijah tells me, sternly. "We are aware of everything, even daggered. Kol will not hesitate to bleed you dry if you go too close. It won't matter who you are." He warns me. I stop struggling to break free from Rebekah's iron grip but continue staring at Nik and Elijah.

Nik lowers the dagger.

"Mikael is dead." He says as he releases Elijah who straightens up, surprised at what he's heard.

"What did you say?" He demanded.

"We killed him." I spoke up, causing Elijah to turn his head and look at me. "With his own weapon."

"He's gone Elijah. Forever." Nik told him, firmly.

" _You_ killed Mikael?" Elijah looked at me in disbelief. "Niklaus I can believe. But _you?_ How is that possible?"

I smiled bitterly, "It was not without extreme difficulty, I admit." I stated, drawing in a deep breath as I tried to remember what I had tried to suppress when the deed was officially over and done with. "First he beat me. Then he snapped my leg like it was kindling, before he threatened to slit my throat with my own dagger in front of both Nik and Rebekah." Elijah looked horrified. "And he would've succeeded, if it had not been for Henrik who saved me."

Elijah's eyes widened, "Henrik?"

"Somebody calling me?" Henrik called from out in the hallway.

"Yeah, sweetie. Could you come in here? We've got a surprise for you." I called back. Henrik stepped into the room, frowning a little in curiosity before his face lit up like a candle when he saw Elijah, who was stunned to see his baby brother alive, corporeal and completely unharmed.

"Elijah!" Henrik exclaimed, before running full pelt towards his older brother and flinging his arms around his shoulders. "I've missed you, brother."

Elijah was slow to react, but eventually he raised his arms to wrap them tightly around his brother's waist as he returned the embrace he had long since forgotten in a thousand years, when he was still human and Henrik was still an innocent child.

"How is this possible? I thought he was a ghost?" Elijah demanded, still clutching to Henrik like a lifeline.

"I still am." Henrik confirmed. "I just can touch things now." He explained.

"It was a powerful spell that allowed Henrik to be seen. But a heartfelt wish that allowed him to stay with us, permanently." I confessed. Grateful tears formed in Elijah's eyes, before he steeled himself and returned his attention towards Nik.

"What I don't understand, is why do our family remain in these coffins?" Elijah demanded, angrily. "Finn for 900-years, Kol for over a century." My eyes widened and I turned and gaped at Nik, who stubbornly refused to look at me.

"That would be because of Stefan Salvatore." He explained. "He holds one thing keeping me from freeing them." Rebekah frowned and opened her mouth to reveal what that was, since she had only just recently learned it herself. But a hard glance from Nik stopped her. "There are things that you do not know about our past, Elijah. Or you Rebekah." He glances at his sister with some regret. "Our mother's death. Things I never wanted you to know but I'm ready to tell you now. I only ask that you remember the oath of loyalty you once swore to me."

Nik immediately goes over to a small table nearby that had a small urn resting on top of it. He removed the lid and dipped the dagger inside before walking back over to Kol's coffin. Rebekah and Elijah watched Nik suspiciously, while Henrik and I looked on with confusion.

"What are you doing?" Elijah questions Nik. My boyfriend studies Kol for a few minutes before raising the dagger once again over his heart. My eyes widened in dismay.

"Wait, Nik!" But Nik daggers Kol again, despite my protest. I just hoped Nik had good reasons for not allowing Kol and Finn freedom just yet. Nik turns to address us all with hard eyes.

"Always and forever. I need you to stand by my side. Help me destroy Stefan and I _promise_ you our family will be whole again." He requests of us all, before he closes Kol's coffin lid with an air of finality.

Sighing, feeling tired and completely over this whole day, I immediately turned and headed out of the room to seek refuge in Nik's and my bedroom. Feeling eyes on the back of my head as I went, I slowly walked up the spiraling staircase. Now that three out of the four coffins had been found and relocated to their rightful place, it was (in my opinion) time to sleep. I needed to be well-rested so I could head back to my apartment and start packing. Like I told Elijah before, I was going to be officially moving into the mansion soon enough; I might as well get a head start on my packing.

I must've passed out the second I was ready for bed, because I don't remember anything after my head hit the pillow. I was out like a light and I woke up when something warm started stroking my bare arm. That same warmth was pressed up against my back cradling me protectively. I stirred and looked over my shoulder to see Nik lying behind me on the bed, deep in thought.

"Nik? What's wrong?" I mumbled, before yawning. "Can't you sleep?" I asked him, concerned. Nik smiled down at me affectionately before cuddling me close and kissing my shoulder.

"I'm fine, love. You go back to sleep." He insisted, and I nodded absently and turned away shutting my eyes as I tried to get comfortable again. However, I didn't immediately nod off. Now that Nik and I were alone together without any distractions or nosy siblings to butt in where they weren't welcome, there was something that I needed to ask him. Something that Elijah had said earlier that both intrigued and freaked me out a little.

"Nik?" I whispered.

"Hmmm?" He responded, and I winced. He must've just gotten off to sleep just before I spoke up. But I needed to know.

"Was what Elijah said before true?" I asked tentatively. "Are he and the others still aware of everything that goes on around them while they are still daggered?" Nik was silent for several minutes, and I thought he had drifted off to sleep.

But then, "Honestly sweetheart, I wouldn't have the faintest idea if that would be true or not. Those daggers don't work on me so I couldn't find out." Nik responded. "Why do you ask?"

"The idea sounded intriguing to me, and I was curious enough to want to know if it was possible." I said, before shuffling further backwards into him and making myself comfortable. "Sorry I woke you." I added, before relaxing and trying to fall back to sleep. Nik chuckled, a little confused by my question before he too, drifted off.

I waited until his breathing evened out, indicating that he was in deep slumber, before I cautiously wriggled my way out of his arms and silently headed for the bedroom door, letting it close behind me with a soft click.

* * *

I made my way as slowly and as silently down the main staircase as I could, heading towards the large room off from the dining area where Nik had stored the coffins temporarily. I wanted to test a theory to see if Elijah was in fact telling me the truth about being able to hear everything while daggered.

The room itself was dark, save for the moonlight which filtered through the window that illuminated the two coffins and made me feel a sense of foreboding despite the fact that (as far as I knew) neither of the vampires currently daggered would harm me, unless I was particularly reckless. I took a gamble about which coffin held Kol and opened one at random, hitting the jackpot first try.

I recoiled in horror, though, when I saw him for the first time in a thousand years; even though I had already seen both Elijah and Rebekah in this state once before and really had nothing to worry about. It was still confronting, nevertheless seeing my twin in everything but blood lying there grey and veiny with a silver dagger buried in his heart all the way to the hilt.

It was clear that Kol had been daggered by Nik around about the time men were starting to cut their hair shorter and neater, and he was dressed quite dapper in a suit that probably would've looked expensive and immaculate once upon a time, if Nik had not daggered him and allowed time to wither and decay it, like it would any normal corpse buried underground for several decades. I glanced down at Kol's unmoving face for several minutes before sighing once again.

"Hey Kol. It's me, Gráinne. Although, nowadays I prefer being called Grace. Long time no see." I chuckled a little sadly. "I'm still not entirely convinced that Elijah was telling the truth about whether or not you could actually hear me, but I'm still going to talk to you nevertheless." I began, smiling a little. "I just want to apologize to you, Kol. Rebekah told me how badly you had taken my death a thousand years ago, and I never wanted to hurt you like that. I also wanted you to know it was Mikael who had killed me that night. But Nik and I got even." I told him. "I look forward to the day Nik finally releases you from your coffin." I reached out and smoothed back his slightly unruly dark brown hair. "I miss you, brother."

I closed the lid gently, feeling the fatigue threatening to pull me back under and I turned around to head back to bed … only to stifle a shriek when I saw an intrigued Elijah standing behind me in silent observation.

"Good evening, Grace. Shouldn't you be asleep?" Elijah asked, across between amused and disapproving.

"Elijah, I couldn't sleep." I responded, relieved then slightly grumpy. "Also, you scared the hell out of me. I hate it when you do that." I bitched, earning a crooked smile from Elijah.

"My apologies, sister." Elijah said, before walking over to me and wrapping an arm around my shoulders as he escorted me away from the coffins and back out of the door towards the living room where the fireplace was almost completely extinguished for the night. I could still see little orange-yellow and red embers crackling away in the smoldering ashes. I took a seat upon one of the couches, while Elijah took a seat in front of me on the coffee table looking … pensive.

 _Hmmm…?_

"A lot of things went down in my absence. Do you care to elaborate a little?" He asked, and I got the feeling that my brother wouldn't be taking 'no' for an answer. So, I caved and gave him a rundown on what Nik, and I got up to after Nik spontaneously daggered him – much to my horror at the time – in Alaric's apartment all those months ago. There was a tense few minutes after I finished my explanation where Elijah just proceeded to study me before getting up and starting to pace.

"Everything okay, Elijah?" I asked him, concerned that he hadn't said anything just yet about this.

"It seems that Niklaus has been making gradual changes to his overall personality while I've been 'away'." Elijah mused, frowning a little.

I smiled fondly, "Yeah. He's been trying so hard." I reported, pulling my knees to my chest and resting my chin against them. "You'd be so proud of him." I whispered. However, Elijah stubbornly shook his head.

"It's a little difficult for me to take what you've just told me at face value." Elijah told me. I nodded in agreement.

"Yes. There have been times when Nik has slipped up and let his temper control him. But that's normal when you're attempting to turn over a new leaf." I defended Nik's actions.

Elijah raised his eyebrow, "So, you call threatening to re-dagger me making process?" He looked skeptical.

"Like I said before; he's had his moments." I said, evenly. "But I believe that the biggest headaches that Nik's been suffering in your absence has involved Damon. Intentional or not." I admitted, hoping to somehow discover if Elijah had any inkling that Damon had been the one to free him from the influences of the silver dagger. Elijah's eyes lit up with recognition.

"Ah. That might explain why I found this in my pocket when I first awoke." He said, pulling free a piece of scrap paper with Damon's familiar handwriting scribbled hastily on it and handed it to me.

I stared down at the note, confused. "But why? Why would he go to so much trouble to wake you up? Not that I'm not pleased that you have woken up, of course. But it just doesn't add up." I observed.

"I plan on following the note's instructions and meeting up with Mr. Salvatore to demand an explanation. Do you wish to come?" Elijah asked, calmly.

"Absolutely." I agreed. "And he'd better have a good explanation for going behind Nik's back like that, and it better not have anything to do with jealousy and getting even." I stated, before letting out a large yawn for my troubles. Elijah chuckled.

"Better not fight it any longer, dearest." He suggested. I nodded and stood up from the couch nearly falling forward into Elijah's arms at the same time. He reached out and steadied me as he also stood up. "Pleasant dreams, Grace." He bid me goodnight.

I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around his middle, smiling dreamily. "And to you, brother." I said. "I missed you too, you know." I added, pulling away a little to look him in the eye. "I know you heard me saying so to Kol." I said, knowingly.

Elijah smiled warmly. "Yes, I did. I missed you too." He returned my warm hug before pulling away and gently nudging me towards the entrance to the living room. "Off to bed now." I shuffled wearily up the staircase and cautiously back into Nik's bedroom.

"Where did you disappear off to?" I immediately heard Nik question me the second I stepped into the room and shut the door behind me.

"I had a nightmare. Went for a walk to get my mind off the dream." I offered Nik a white lie, before getting back into the bed and cuddling up to him. He frowned, obviously not entirely believing my story; but allowed me to cuddle up.

"Are you alright? Do you want to talk about it?" He asked, concerned. I shook my head, touched but not worried.

"Nah. I just really want to go back to sleep right now." I stated, before leaning up and kissing his stubble cheek. "Goodnight, Nik." I mumbled before relaxing my head on his chest.

"Sweet dreams, sweetheart."

* * *

 **A meadow somewhere in Mystic Falls  
** **Day**

Elijah was surprisingly serious about his offer to let me tag along with him when he met up with Damon, as per the hastily scrawled note he had left in Elijah's breast pocket. And didn't appear to mind the little white lie I fed Nik when he questioned what I was up to.

What I told him was partially true. I had intended to head back to my apartment today to pack up my belongings and bring them over to the mansion, so I didn't have a lot to do when my lease was up. But it was also a cover up so that Elijah and I could go and confront Damon without Nik becoming too suspicious. Even though we (or at least I) was doing this for Nik's benefit, Elijah still wasn't completely convinced that Nik was trying to be a better man.

Turns out he and Rebekah were two peas in a pod as far as Nik was concerned: if they didn't have complete evidence, Nik was guilty until proven innocent. Nik _was_ a little suspicious and a bit overprotective when I mentioned that Elijah was coming along to help me pack, as well as using that opportunity to spend some time and catch up with me. But in the end, he let it go because I really did require some muscle.

Which was how I found myself hiking alongside Elijah – dressed as usual in one of his immaculate silk suits, only minus a tie and looking very much like a model on the cover of a GQ magazine – through the woods towards the meadow Damon had asked Elijah to meet him at once he had fully recovered. I had chosen to dress trendy as well: black skinny jeans, grey skivvy top, a pair of tan swede knee-length boots that zipped up and one of Nik's black leather jackets he had loaned me, but I hadn't returned yet.

I turned towards Elijah, curious. "What do you suppose Damon wants to talk to you about?" I asked my brother, who appeared completely blank.

"I suspect we are about to find out. He is right up ahead, talking to that history teacher Niklaus possessed when he had first arrived here." Elijah clarified, and I glanced around in the distance looking for a glimpse of what Elijah was describing to me. Sure enough, we stepped out into a huge, rolling green meadow and immediately spotted a tense looking Damon talking on his phone which was clamped to his ear.

"Do you know what they're saying?" I asked, and Elijah nodded.

"Nothing of significance. Mr. Saltzman was just inquiring where Damon is." Elijah responded, dismissively. We paused just a bit behind Damon, who ended his phone call and spun around having already sensed Elijah standing there. But he was surprised to see me there as well, standing and looking at him with obvious anger and demanding an explanation for his actions.

"Elijah. My favorite Original, back from the dead." Damon deliberately ignored my presence for a moment, focusing on Elijah who narrowed his eyes at the obvious snub. "You clean up nice." Damon complimented my brother.

"You left something in my jacket pocket." Elijah withdrew the note from his pocket and showed it to Damon who looked sheepish for a split second before adopting a slightly cheeky manner.

"Oh, yeah. "Dear Elijah, let's get together, plot the destruction of your brother. XOXO."" Damon smirked.

"Damon!" I hissed and took a step towards him, but Elijah placed a calming, but restraining hand on my shoulder as he too looked at the younger vampire with an unamused frown.

"I'd tread lightly, Mr. Salvatore. My sister is none too happy with you right this minute, and I'd must admit I would like you to get to the point as well." Elijah warned Damon, whose smirk dropped, and he eyed me with slight guilt. I wasn't about to let this slide and wanted a damn good explanation yesterday.

"If that's the case, was I right to undagger you or are we gonna have a problem?" Damon questioned Elijah, cautiously. Elijah's eyes narrowed even further.

"That all depends on what you want to know." Elijah responded, still not removing his hand from my shoulder but this time pulling me backwards to stand beside him. "I've heard stories that Niklaus has been undergoing some changes in my absence." Damon glanced at me when Elijah said this, "And while what I've heard has been intriguing to say the least, it doesn't hurt to get other explanations before I make my decision." Elijah said, ignoring the accusing look I threw at him while Damon looked triumphant. "So, let's talk."

Damon nodded, "Fine. Let's start with an easy question. Any idea what kind of Klaus-killing weapon could be magically sealed in a mystery coffin?" I froze, drawing both Elijah and Damon's attention towards me. "Of course, you'd know. I'm sure Klaus would've told you. But I'm wondering if Elijah knows?" Damon mused thoughtfully.

"Actually, Nik didn't tell me anything. I took a wild guess that paid off. Nik was just as surprised that I knew who was in that bloody coffin, and I can guarantee neither Stefan nor Bonnie have any idea what they will unleash if they manage to get it open." I said.

"Who is it, Sister?" Elijah asked, curious and concerned. But I shook my head.

"I'm sorry. But you're going to have to let Nik tell you like he promised he would." I reiterated. Elijah looked frustrated with my answer.

"Is this related to the things that Niklaus is yet to divulge to us about our past?" I nodded. "So, you're telling me that I have to endure yet another secret that my brother has kept from us all these years without any explanation as to why?" Elijah was angry and I flinched.

"He has a very good reason why." I insisted, calmly.

"But you won't tell me." Elijah realized, and I stared down at my feet.

"Because the truth will hurt you, brother. Nik has kept this from you all because he loves all of us." I insisted, while Damon scoffed.

"He has a funny way of showing it, if he's willing to keep things from you." He observed. Both Elijah and I looked at him with hard eyes. I was extremely disappointed in him and getting tired of putting him back into his place. So, I decided to let a master do it instead.

"Well, thankfully; none of us are interested in your opinion. So, I'd advise that you keep it to yourself unless you'd rather enjoy a missing body part." Elijah hinted acidly before looking at me sternly. "I suppose I have no choice in the matter. If I must wait to get the answers I require to make sense of it all, then so be it." Elijah told me, and I bit my bottom lip; wishing that I could tell him what was going on. Damon cleared his throat, drawing the attention back towards himself.

"Right then. What now?" He asked, impatiently.

"How about learn some patience?" I bitched back, mellowing only when Elijah placed his hand once again on my shoulder and gave me a disapproving glare. Damon looked hurt for about a split second before recovering and waiting for Elijah to speak.

"Niklaus promised that he would reveal all to us; so, I suggest that we negotiate a sit-down discussion over dinner and hear him out to see if what he has to reveal to us merits action or reveals exactly what we require." Elijah suggested.

"Because Grace won't reveal that right here and now." Damon scowled at me.

"And she shouldn't have to." Elijah argued. "I agree with her. It is not her place; it is Niklaus's secret to share, not Grace's. The sit-down is the only way we will get what we require from my brother." Elijah defended my actions.

"Is Stefan required for this 'sit down'?" Damon raised an eyebrow.

"He is the whole reason for the sit down. This animosity between him and Niklaus has gone on long enough. I believe it is time for a truce and some peace … whether they want it or not." Elijah confirmed, and both Damon and I couldn't help but sigh with relief. It was hard being the hams in the sandwich within this conflict between them.

"Great!" Damon exclaimed. "Well, Stefan and I will see you both tonight. Be seeing you." He started to walk off, but Elijah suddenly blurred into his path, causing Damon to nearly walk right into him.

"Not so fast." Elijah stated. "You are not going anywhere until this conflict between you and Grace is resolved. There's going to be enough tension in the room tonight without the both of you at each other's throats." Elijah then turned on _his_ heel and headed back in the direction he and I had come from in order to get to this meadow. "Remember, I will be watching the both of you very closely. So, don't think that either of you will be able to escape." Then he blurred away, leaving Damon and I standing in an awkward silence in the middle of the lush green meadow.

Neither one of us spoke for several minutes, both stubbornly avoiding looking at each other. But I was curious about why Damon seemed to mess up every plan that Nik and I (or just Nik solo) came up with to make our conflict with Stefan that much bearable. Finally, I gave in and let out a frustrated sigh.

"This is ridiculous." I turned and gestured somewhat aggressively at Damon, who was looking back at me like he had when he first met me; like an enigma he was trying to solve. "What's been with you lately? Whose side are you freaking on?" I demanded.

"Side? Yours obviously. What sort of question is that?" Damon blurted out, looking shocked.

"Then why are you messing up Nik's plans?" I asked, exasperated. "Is there some kind of point you're trying to make that both of us are missing?" I questioned.

"No, should there be?" Damon was stubborn.

I snarled in frustration. "Oh, Christ. Forget it! I can't get through to you. I don't understand why you have such an issue with Nik, okay? And apparently, you're not going to fess up; so, I'm not going to waste any more of my time on you that I could be using to pack up my things so I can move permanently into Nik's mansion." I turned and headed in the direction of Elijah.

"Wait, Grace!" I stopped when Damon's hand clamped down on my shoulder, and I turned and looked at him with a raised eyebrow and my arms crossed over my chest; waiting for the explanation. "Truth is, I'm jealous okay? Don't make me repeat myself." Damon confessed and I gawked openly. "Stop being such a pain in the ass." He muttered, irritated.

"Jealous, seriously? Damon, what the hell?" I exclaimed, crossly. I can't believe that I was spot on about what Damon's problem with Nik was. "What do you have to be jealous about?"

"Klaus, okay!?" Damon shouted, causing me to take a step back from him out of shock and pure instinct. "I'm jealous of Klaus! Are you happy now? Are you satisfied?" He looked humiliated by the forced confession, whereas I was totally astounded by the confession.

"What the hell are you jealous about?" I asked, trying to use a calm soothing voice. "What has Nik got that you haven't got?" I wanted to know.

"You, dammit! He's got you, and what's worse about it is that I never stood a chance." Damon stated, and I scowled at him.

"So, you deliberately pissed him off and sabotaged his plans; all because you're sick of being the second choice?" Damon stubbornly remained silent. But it spoke volumes.

I scoffed incredulously, "Do you have any idea how incredibly selfish that is?" I demanded but plowed on before he could respond. "Not only are you wrong on two accounts about this but you're also behaving immaturely and rather stupidly." Damon looked offended by that. But I couldn't bring myself to really care.

It was about time somebody set him straight about all this, and unfortunately it came down to me. _Oh, joy…_

"First of all, Damon. You've always had me, okay? Just not in the way you want me to be. And you won't ever lose me. However, keep this up and you _will_ lose me. Because I will have gotten fed up with all your bullshit, or Nik or one of my other brothers will have put you out of your misery because you pissed THEM off." I pointed out. "And secondly, the reason why you never stood a chance against Nik for my heart, was partly because I had already given it to him a long time ago and never got it back—"

"Great. Thanks for letting me know. I'm gonna go drown myself in bourbon now." Damon sulked and went to walk away, but I snatched his wrist and pulled him back.

"I wasn't finished!" I said, sternly. "And because, somebody else wants your heart, but is afraid of pursuing it." I explained, causing Damon's fierce glare to fade almost immediately to be replaced with a look of hope?

"Who?" He asked, then looked horrified. "Don't tell me it's Elena. Oh, God please." He begged. "Because if it is just kill me now. Because I would rather die." Damon pleaded, rather melodramatically.

I rolled my eyes, "No, you idiot. I wouldn't inflict that kind of torture on anyone." I promised, and Damon instantly relaxed. "Besides, she's still hooked on Stefan."

"Then who then?" Damon asked.

"Rebekah." I responded, succinctly. I could've sworn I heard a disbelieving gasp coming from where Elijah was still observing us.

"Barbie Klaus?!" Damon looked shocked. I grimaced at Damon's unfortunate habit of giving unflattering nicknames.

"I would strongly suggest that you don't address my sister like that." Elijah warned Damon, stepping from the tree line. "She gets her ferocious temper from our father."

"And you do not want to be the object of her fury." I added, as Damon paled. Probably remembering back to when he last saw Mikael during our showdown at the Lockwood Mansion during the homecoming dance.

"So, why hasn't she declared her feelings to me now?" He asked, out of confusion. Elijah looked uneasy.

"I suspect she is trying to protect both herself and you from Niklaus's wrath." Elijah explained. "He tended to be somewhat brutal and overprotective against any potential suitor of Rebekah's who dared to share an interest towards our sister." Elijah reminisced. "Nobody was ever good enough for Rebekah."

Damon raised an eyebrow, "What is he, her father?" He scoffed, then regretted it when he saw the dark look in Elijah's eyes.

"Her last love interest ended up having his head delivered to Rebekah as a gift." Elijah told him casually. "Am I clear?" He hinted, glaringly.

"Transparently." Damon looked sickened, while I felt extremely sympathetic to my poor sister. Here's hoping Damon wouldn't suffer a similar fate.

* * *

 **Grace's Apartment  
** **Day**

Elijah followed me back to my apartment to help me pack up my meagre belongings so I can move officially into the mansion. It was mostly so we could keep up the excuse that we had given to Nik to avoid him learning what we had really been doing. But it turned out that my brother would've come along to help me, even if we didn't have an ulterior motive.

I guess I really shouldn't have been surprised. Elijah would give a down-on-his-luck person the shirt off his own back. He was that type of person back then, and it apparently hadn't changed since he became an extremely powerful, thousand-year old vampire. I fronted up to my apartment door and attempted to shift the packing boxes I had purchased with Elijah on my way here underneath my armpit, as I fumbled with my keys.

I heard Elijah sigh, "Must you make things even more complicated for yourself?" I asked me rhetorically as he gently removed the boxes from my grasp and held onto them as I finally managed to get the door open.

"Home sweet home." I muttered, stepping aside to give Elijah access. "Or at least it is for a few more days." I amended, as Elijah sets down the boxes and packing tape and heads over to the window to look out onto the main road at the passersby. I paused just looking at his back, before summoning my courage to ask him a question that had been nagging at me since we organized the sit-down that would be occurring tonight.

"Something on your mind, Grace?" Elijah jumped in before I could open my mouth to even speak. I narrowed my eyes at him as he turned and offered a slight smirk; obviously aware but not sorry that he had correctly guessed that I wanted to speak to him.

"You're not going to do anything sneaky tonight, are you Elijah?" I asked, cautiously. The smirk on Elijah's face faded and was replaced with a sober one.

"There are many things about our family that you have been allowed to know about, Grace, because you will become our sister soon enough. However, what will be transpiring tonight must remain a secret. Even from you." Elijah told me; his tone regretful but his face cold. I frowned at him.

"What do you mean?" I demanded. "What are you going to do to him?" I immediately walked over, but Elijah seemed to shut down. It was obvious that he did not wish to discuss this subject further.

"What must be done. This has been long since overdue for a tremendously long time." He declared. I opened my mouth to object further, but Elijah turned on me angrily. "Do not question our decision, Grace! We won't kill him, because we cannot without the White Oak Stake." I paled with dread at the very thought of watching Nik burning to death like Mikael had when Nik and I finally did him in. "But that won't stop us from punishing him severely." He stated. Elijah's face then softened a little, when he saw my distress. "Please, for your own safety, do not get involved. I do not want to compel you, but I will if I have to." I felt completely trapped; knowing that this was a family matter, one that I wasn't officially part of just yet.

I instead, decided to ask for an ultimatum.

"I won't interfere, if you grant me something." I spoke up.

Elijah was a man of his word and would always honor any bargain struck, provided it was possible. As proven many times when Elena attempted to weasel her way out of trouble, _twice,_ back when Nik was trying to find her to use her in the Hybrid Curse. However, you needed to word what you requested _carefully._ With every bargain there would always be a loophole and if you weren't careful, Elijah could exploit it to his own advantage.

"I'm listening…" Elijah replied, reluctantly. I drew in a deep breath, before looking him in his dark brown eyes. There was no guarantee that I would get my wish.

"You must swear to me, that neither you nor any of your siblings will abandon him." I pleaded, causing Elijah's eyes to widen in surprise. "I know that Nik has to be taught a lesson for the hurt that he has inflicted upon you all, these thousand years. But I think that because of Mikael and Esther's actions, he's suffered enough. You all have." I added, my voice breaking and tears welling up in my eyes as I fought for fairness. "What he did, he did out of his fear of abandonment."

To my utter frustration, Elijah still looked a little unconvinced.

"How would you know this?" He demanded.

"Your childhood was my childhood as well, Elijah." I chuckled bitter-sweetly. "A memory is a curious thing, sweetie. If they were good ones, they never fade. No matter what, whenever Nik was beaten down by Mikael physically, mentally or verbally; we, as his siblings and in my case his friend, we were always there to pick up the pieces and help him smile again or laugh." I reminded him. "He might've taken the worst route when it comes down to it, but he has protected you all these years. And in my mind, that is his way of thanking you for being there when he needed us the most. So, don't lower yourselves to Mikael's level, and don't spoil the memories." I urged.

I immediately turned and picked up my backpack, the cardboard boxes and packing tape, and headed straight for the tiny laundry to do a load; leaving Elijah to ponder what I had just told him. It wasn't until I had boxed the last of my belongings, and (with some assistance from Elijah) called the local storage locker to house my larger belongings indefinitely, that Elijah finally responded. We were about to get into my car to return to the mansion, when Elijah stopped me by placing his hand upon my shoulder. I turned and looked at my brother, questioningly.

"You have my word." Elijah told me, solemnly. "I'll make sure that Rebekah, Kol and Finn understand this as well." He promised. I gave him a brilliant smile, before flinging my arms around his shoulders and pulling him into a grateful bear hug, which he returned with a warm smile.

Nik was my whole world; and I would do what it takes to help him.

If he deserved it.

* * *

 **Mikaelson Mansion  
** **Afternoon**

I drove us back to the mansion with all my boxes, and I nearly stumbled through the front door underneath the weight of most of the boxes I had picked up from the backseat of my car, much to Elijah's dismay and amusement.

"You should've let me take a few more boxes, Grace." Elijah scolded me as he reached out with his free hand to stop me from tripping over.

"You've already done plenty for me today, Elijah. Stop fussing." I complained, setting down one of the boxes on a nearby table in the foyer.

"I can't help _but_ fuss. You're just as accident-prone as you were when you were a child." I noticed Elijah smirking at me, and I stuck out my tongue at him childishly. "Charming. Please act your age." He scolded me as he set down his own load. I straightened up and nearly jumped out of my skin when arms suddenly circled around my waist and crushed me against a hard chest.

" _Nik!_ " I yelled in annoyance and rolled my eyes when he chuckled and pecked my cheek affectionately. I couldn't help but glance over to see Elijah's reaction to Nik's playfulness, and wasn't disappointed when I saw a look of astonishment upon his face. Followed by a warning scowl when I threw him a knowing look.

"Is this everything then?" Nik asked, gesturing to all my boxes, a few suitcases and my weapons duffel bag.

"With the exception of a few larger items like my bed, chest of drawers, wardrobe and the like – which I'm sending to a storage locker for safe keeping – this is pretty much it." I confirmed.

"Excellent. Welcome home, sweetheart." Nik chirped, kissing me once again. "Emma. Samuel." Emma and another hybrid of Nik's appeared, standing at attention. "Please help Grace carry her belongings upstairs into our room." He ordered, and without another word Emma and Samuel each picked up several boxes between them, leaving only a couple for me and blurred upstairs and out of sight.

"Woah…" I muttered.

Elijah stepped forward to address Nik, and almost immediately there was a tense air between the brothers that was almost stifling.

"We're having guests tonight, Niklaus, to negotiate an agreement with our current dilemma." Elijah said to Nik, who raised an eyebrow.

"Are we really, brother? Can't wait to hear this. Who are we entertaining tonight?" Nik asked, pleasantly.

"Damon and Stefan Salvatore." Elijah responded, promptly. I could feel Nik's arm immediately tense up around my waist the second both Salvatore brothers were mentioned. I instantly reached over and took his hand, rubbing it with my thumb in what I hoped was a soothing gesture. It seemed to work, because Nik relaxed a smidgen but didn't look any happier that two current pains in his ass were going to be arriving tonight for dinner.

"Great. Shall we go and take care of the preparations then?" Nik soldiered on, leaning over once more to plant another kiss on my lips and followed Elijah towards his office. "I'll see you tonight, darling." He smiled sincerely at me before closing the door behind him.

"It'll be a night to remember, that's for sure." I muttered sarcastically, before deliberating how I was going to carry two heavy boxes upstairs by myself. My solution came thundering downstairs, texting away on his phone. As though sensing that I was looking at him, Jeremy glanced up and brightened.

"Hey, Grace. How's it going?" He asked, putting his phone back into his pocket then frowned when he noticed that I was struggling. "Here, let me help." He offered and took one of the boxes off my hands.

"Cheers, mate." I said, gratefully. "I'm taking them upstairs." I instructed, and Jeremy nodded and turned to head back the way he came from.

"So, what are you doing now?" Jeremy asked.

"Bored?" I asked, amused.

"Not really. I just paused a game upstairs and came down to grab a snack." Jeremy shrugged. I brightened; this could kill two birds with one stone.

"Not a bad idea. I'm feeling a bit peckish myself." I admitted truthfully. "Plus, I got a favor I gotta ask of you." I added, earning a curious look from the teenager.

"What is it?" Jeremy asked. I shifted the box's weight in my arms before responding.

"Help me take these upstairs and we'll head down to the kitchen. I'll tell you there." I compromised. Jeremy grimaced underneath the weight of the box he was carrying.

"Geez, what are you carrying in here anyway? Bricks?" He complained.

"Nope. Art supplies." I responded, eyeing the words 'ART SUPPLIES' written in black felt tip on the side of the box, obviously unseen by Jeremy when he first took the box from me. "Feel free to borrow some if you're low but ask first." I offered, and Jeremy brightened.

"Thanks! What art medium do you use mostly?" He asked, as we came closer to my bedroom.

"Charcoal and graphite pencils mostly. Why?" I asked him.

"I'm experimenting with different mediums to see which one I like best." Jeremy explained, rubbernecking at the Mikaelson's collection (or rather Nik's collection) of priceless art pieces decorating the walls, clearly in seventh heaven.

I smiled, "I see. Tell me what you've experimented with already." I asked, as I pushed down the handle on my shared bedroom and tried to hip-check the door open. I did, successfully and both Jeremy and I walked in. Piled on the two couches and on the window-seat were the other boxes. "Just put your box on the coffee table." I requested, and Jeremy nodded and carefully placed down the box as he started listing the materials he's ever used. I set down my box on the bench in front of the bed and came over to open the art supplies box.

"Uh. Crayons, colored pencils, poster paint, pastels…" He listed.

"Dry or Oil?" I immediately jumped in, smiling at him with approval.

"There's different kinds?" Jeremy blinked at me.

"Yeah." I reached into the art supplies box and pulled out a small shiny black cardboard box with a viewing window of rainbow-colored sticks and showed it to Jeremy, who took the box curiously. "That's oil. Feels kind of gritty on the fingers, and a bitch to get out of your clothing if you accidentally sit on some." I reminisced and frowned at the embarrassing memory of when I first used oil pastels in Year 2 back in the UK.

"Was that you?" Jeremy smirked. I cleared my throat before thrusting a slightly thicker yellow cardboard box into his hand.

"And these are oil pastels. Very messy, and smudges easily. Good quality ones can stain your fingers for a few days after use. But worth it if you don't mind having multicolored fingers for a few days." I explained, earning a chuckle from Jeremy. "There's also these really cool colored pencils that I discovered." I chirped, pulling free what looked like a standard box of ordinary colored pencils.

"What's so great about them? They just look like the same colored pencils we used to have in Pre-K and Kindergarten." Jeremy frowned at me in confusion. Instead of telling him, I simply grabbed a scrap piece of paper and grabbed a random pencil scribbling a little on it. Then picked up a special pencil case and selected a slender paintbrush before heading for the ensuite and dampening the brush. I gently glided the wet brush over the colored scribble on the scrap of paper and immediately the color bled together. "Woah! That's so cool. What are they?" Jeremy exclaimed as he picked up the packet of colored pencils.

"Watercolor pencils." I responded, putting both the dry and oil pastels, and the watercolor pencils back into the box along with the paintbrush; to be put away in an appropriate place later with Nik's assistance. "Come on. Let's get something to eat." I said, straightening up from my perch on the couch and stretched. "I still need to tell you something." I reminded him.

Jeremy shrugged, "Okay. Should I be worried?"

"Up to you. But it's not really a big deal." I reassured him, while trying to reassure myself since apart from Elijah, I was the only other person who knew what was going to go down tonight.

* * *

"So, what would like to eat?" I asked Jeremy, as we breezed on into the kitchen. Rebekah was already in there, drinking down a blood bag like a juice box, and barely paused when she saw us. Jeremy immediately turned green.

"Actually, I think I've lost my appetite." He mumbled, turning to head back out.

"I'll try not to take that personally." Rebekah piped up, taking a seat at the counter and ignoring us as she continued with her meal. I smiled at my sister and shook my head, earning a smile back before I turned to Jeremy.

"Not even for Ice-cream sundaes?" I suggested enticingly, causing Jeremy to stop mid-step. This also caught Rebekah's interest. "That's a downright shame, that is." I let a little of my cockney accent seep through as I wondered slowly over to the cupboards to retrieve three glass serving plates and tall spoons.

"May I have one?" Rebekah asked, instantly looking at me with child-like wonder. I grinned, holding up the third plate.

"I already anticipated that you'd be interested." I arranged the plates on the island bench before heading for the freezer to retrieve the vanilla, chocolate and strawberry ice-cream cartons. The fridge for the whipped cream can, and the pantry for the chocolate syrup and jar of maraschino cherries. The fact that I hadn't even heard Jeremy continue to decline the offer of the classic frozen treat, told me that he was eagerly sitting at the counter probably waiting impatiently for me to fork over the dessert.

"So, what did you want to tell me?" Jeremy reminded me, as I scooped three large generous balls of ice-cream onto the slightly curved serving plate before drizzling the chocolate syrup and attacking it with the whipped cream.

"Oh, right. Uh, I think that it would be advisable that you stay in your room for tonight. Elijah, Nik, Rebekah and I are having two guests over for dinner." I said uneasily, as I fished out a maraschino cherry and popped it on top. I slid the plate towards him with one of the tall spoons.

"You are?" Jeremy blurted out, scooping up a bit of his ice-cream.

" _We_ are?" Rebekah emphasized, narrowing her eyes at me as I got to work on her plate.

"Yep, we are. And one of them doesn't know that you're here, Jeremy." I continued. "And we should probably keep it that way." I stressed.

"And they are?" Rebekah prodded.

"Damon and Stefan." I responded, licking off a bit of the chocolate syrup that had dripped onto my hand. Jeremy's eyes immediately widened when Stefan was mentioned, while Rebekah looked peeved.

"Got it! Say no more." Jeremy agreed, and went back to massacring his sundae. However, Rebekah had loads more to say on the subject.

"What the bloody hell for?!" She shrieked, as I passed her the sundae which she momentarily ignored in her pursuit for an answer.

"Elijah's going to give you a more thorough rundown on what's going to occur tonight, but what I do know is that it is supposed to be some sort of truce; whereupon we might hopefully get Esther back." I explained.

Rebekah stabbed at the sundae, "Why can't you tell me?"

"Because I know as much as you do on the subject. Elijah and Nik are currently discussing this as we speak in Nik's study. I was just given the task to inform Jeremy to stay temporarily in his room tonight." I responded, lying a little in some parts. Predictably, Rebekah blurred away; presumably to go and confront her brothers and abandoning her sundae to Jeremy's mercy.

Amused, I watched as Jeremy eyed his nearly finished plate and Rebekah's barely touched plate and slyly edged his hand towards it.

"Do not TOUCH that plate." Jeremy jumped about ten feet into the air and spun round to see a playfully stern Rebekah standing in the kitchen doorway, eyeing him off warningly. She then turned and blurred off again, while I struggled unsuccessfully to stop myself from laughing at the deer-caught-in-headlights expression on poor Jeremy's face.

* * *

 **Mikaelson Mansion  
** **Evening**

It was decided between Jeremy and me that we would order him in a pizza and load him down with snacks, so that he could hole up in his room during this likely to be dicey 'sit-down' between two equally stubborn pairs of brothers, with a bored sister and a nervous girlfriend/sister/friend in attendance.

Henrik, also not wishing to be caught up in the drama either, decided to help distract Jeremy by challenging him to some video games. A suggestion that the boy eagerly accepted. I had just started walking upstairs to switch my shoes for my UGG boot slippers, when the buzzer at the pedestrian entrance at the main gate blared loudly through the house. I quickly answered it to stop the irritating noise from reverberating further in my ears.

"May I help you?" I greeted the unknown caller.

"Yeah, I have a pizza delivery for a Grace Williams?" A bored sounding teen's voice droned over the speaker system. I made a face at the voice, and once again jumped when somebody came up from behind me and spoke.

"Sounds very enthusiastic about his job, doesn't he?" I turned and saw Rebekah, dressed in smart casual with her honey blonde hair freshly curled, looking unimpressed.

"Be nice." I giggled, before I turned back to the speaker box.

"Be right out." I said and opened the front door to dash out to retrieve the pie. I opened the security door and saw a bored looking teenager with skin problems, standing there with a red delivery bag and holding a slab of Dr. Pepper. A beat-up looking car was idling in the driveway behind him. "Hi!" I greeted him.

"Hey. I've got a large Pepperoni pizza and a slab of Dr. Pepper. That'll be $10.50." The teen droned at me, and I reached into my pocket and pulled out a small wad of cash that Nik had handed to me without blinking and peeled off a $20.

"Keep the change." I said, smiling politely as I took the pizza and Dr. Pepper from him. The teen instantly brightened at the cash I had given him.

"Thanks, babe." I immediately shut the gate and turned to head back to the mansion, mouthing 'babe' underneath my breath with disgust and scowled at the teasing smirk on Rebekah's face when I stepped back inside.

"Not a word." I warned my sister, who bit her bottom lip and shrugged nonchalantly as she sauntered away towards the dining room and I hurried upstairs, making a beeline for Jeremy's room. "Pie's up!" I announced, after knocking on the door and stepping into the room.

"Thanks, Grace!" Jeremy thanked me without looking away from the TV screen. "Have Damon and Stefan arrived yet?" He asked then groaned when Henrik 'killed' him. I rolled my eyes and placed the pizza box and Dr. Pepper on a table behind the boys.

"Not yet. Have fun you two." I was about to close the door behind me when something crucial occurred to me. "Uh, if you hear any loud noises downstairs, don't come down." I made them promise. Jeremy opened his mouth to protest, but Henrik answered first.

"No problem." He said.

Both Jeremy and I looked at him suspiciously, before I decided not to dwell on it and finally withdrew. But I knew that Henrik was in for a grilling from Jeremy the second I was gone. I quickly jogged to Nik and my room and swapped my shoes for my UGGs. By the time I reached the top of the stairs, the doorbell had rung, and I drew in a deep breath to calm myself down.

 _'Here we go…'_ I thought to myself as I descended the staircase. Elijah approaches the front door and opens it revealing Stefan and Damon standing outside on the doorstep. To my surprise, Damon looked just as nervous as I felt, and he offered me a barely noticeable smile when he caught my eye.

"Niklaus, our guests have arrived." Elijah calls out to Nik, who saunters casually into the main foyer smiling unassumingly at the brothers.

"Damon. Stefan. Elijah tells me, you seek an audience. Very bold." A devilish smirk spreads across his handsome face, and I winced at the disapproving scowl on Elijah's face, and the look of hatred on Stefan's. "Let's discuss the terms of our agreement like civilized men, shall we?" Nik gestures in the direction of the dining room, and both Damon and Stefan follow Elijah. Nik moves to follow them when he finally spots me standing halfway down the staircase, looking worried. "Grace? Darling, you alright?"

I refocused and smiled warmly at Nik, "Yeah. Sorry, lost in thought." I explained and walked the rest of the way down the staircase and took Nik's outstretched hand, allowing him to escort me into the dining room.

* * *

When Nik and I walked into the dining room, the first thing I noticed was that the long, oval-shaped table had been set and food had already been served. The second thing I noticed was the obvious metaphorical line that had been drawn down the center of the room; with Elijah and an equally nervous Rebekah on one side of the table, and Stefan and Damon on the other side, not talking just sort of … glaring at each other. I immediately broke away from Nik, who scowled a little at that but easily recovered as he walked to the head of the table and sat down, and I headed for Damon.

"Hey, Damon. Thanks for coming." I whispered, and Damon accepted me into his arms and immediately relaxed.

"Boy, this is fun." He quipped and I lightly slapped his arm.

"Don't start, Damon." I scolded him not in the mood for him to be joking around, as I glanced over at a stony-faced Stefan. "Stefan." I greeted him politely and received a very small nod in return.

"Please, take a seat everyone." Nik 'requested' us all, and I headed over to sit on my designated chair between Nik and Rebekah. Nobody else moved.

Elijah sighed, "It's better to indulge him." He suggested.

"I didn't come here to eat, Klaus." Stefan stated, getting straight to the point as two female servants walked into the room carrying elegant wine decanters that held what I sincerely hoped was red wine sloshing around in the glass. "Fact, I didn't want to come here at all. But I was told I had to because you would hear us out." Stefan complained, earning an eye roll from his brother and Rebekah.

Nik shrugged, before sitting back in his chair and steepling his fingers while eyeing off Stefan and Damon. Elijah came to stand beside his chair. "Well, we can sit and eat. Or I can reach down your throats and pull out your insides." I made a face at the mental image Nik's words had painted in my head. "The choice is yours."

Damon and Stefan reluctantly grabbed their seats; with Damon sitting across from a very uncomfortable Rebekah. Then everyone starts to eat and drink, except for a very stubborn Stefan who refuses. One of the servant girls approaches Damon to pour what turned out to be wine into his glass. He smiled graciously at her.

"Thank you, love." He said, and I loudly cleared my throat drawing Damon's attention when he looked at me with concern. I scowled at him and indicated subtly at Rebekah, who was glaring daggers at the girl, with my head as Nik also turned to look at me with mild worry.

"Everything alright, love?" Nik asked, placing his hand over mine.

I nodded, taking a sip from my wine. "I'm fine. I just choked on air." I lied. Nik smiled before directing his attention towards Stefan and raised an eyebrow.

"You lost your appetite?" He asked him, disapprovingly.

"Eat. I thought we agreed that we would leave the grumpy Stefan at home." Damon scowled at Stefan, who begrudgingly picked up his fork and stabbed at the food on his plate. Nik smiled a little condescendingly at them.

"That's the spirit." He chirped. "Isn't it nice? The six of us dining together? Such a treat." Nik then turned his attention on Damon, and his eyes flashed a little. "Is this what you had in mind when you pulled the dagger from my brother?" He asked.

"Well, I know how he felt about you, so I figured the more, the merrier." Damon gave a cocky response before winking at an unamused Elijah. I felt like bashing my forehead against the table.

"Well, Elijah and I have had our share of quarrels over the century. But we always make it through." Nik said, matter of fact. Suddenly, Stefan smirked.

"Kind of like you and Rebekah, right?" He said, causing Rebekah to jerk in surprise, having obviously not expected to be brought into the conversation so suddenly. Nik's pleasant smile faded a little and was replaced with annoyance, indicated by the subtle tightening of his blue-green eyes.

"If you're referring to the fact that Rebekah knows I killed our mother, I've already come clean to Elijah." Nik stated, causing Rebekah to look over at her other older brother questioningly. Elijah nodded, narrowing his eyes at Stefan for being so low.

Damon glared, "Hey, Stef, remember when you killed Dad?" We all watched as Stefan winced at the memory. "Might want to dial down the judgement until dessert." He suggested.

Stefan shrugged, uncaring.

"We're here to make a deal, Damon. Doesn't mean we need to kiss his ass for seven courses." He retorted.

"Fine. I'm just saying we have a long evening ahead of us. Pace yourself." Damon suggested. I groaned and downed the rest of my wine, indicating to one of the servant girls for a top up.

This was going to be a long night…

* * *

Eventually, it was time to get down to business.

"So, why don't we move this evening along and discuss the terms of this proposal?" Elijah suggested, now getting serious. It was also the part of the 'sit-down' that I was dreading the most. Stefan immediately took charge of the conversation.

"That's very simple. Klaus gets his coffin back, in exchange, he and the Original extended family leave Mystic Falls forever." I watched as both Rebekah and Damon seemed to object completely to this idea; if the widening of their eyes and the look of horror on their faces gave any indication. Nik's eyes narrowed. "Then me, Damon and Elena can live happily ever after. No grudges."

Damon scowled at his brother; angry that he had included him in his terms, while Rebekah looked upset that she might be forced to leave town before she could get the chance to experience life or see if she could develop her gradual interest in Damon into a potential romance.

Elijah turned towards his brother, "The deal sounds fair, brother." He stated, firmly. I got up from my seat and went over to comfort Rebekah, who looked like she was on the verge of tears.

"No, it bloody well doesn't!" I stated, wrapping my arms around Rebekah's shoulders. I ignored the warning look Elijah aimed at me as I glanced over at Nik who was eyeing his sister with concern as well, and then at Elijah with frustration.

"I agree." He glares at Stefan and Damon, thoroughly unamused. "I don't think either of you understand. Elena's doppelgänger blood ensures that I will always have more hybrids to fight those that oppose me. I will never leave her behind." Nik gets up and starts to pace. "Let's say I do leave her here, under your protection, what then?" Nik demanded, angrily. "How long before one of you turns her into a vampire? Or worse, how long before she dies caught between your feuding?" That gave both Damon and Stefan pause; although Damon looked less worried than Stefan did.

Nik gave a nasty smirk.

"Gentlemen, the worst thing for Elena Gilbert is the two of you." Nik concluded, triumphantly.

Suddenly, Rebekah breaks away from my comforting embrace and leaves the room; to my dismay, heading straight for the next room where Kol and Finn's coffins were standing by.

"Bekah, wait!" I yelled after her and followed, but Elijah immediately steps into my path, shaking his head gently.

"She'll be okay, Grace. This is all part of the plan." He whispers into my ear, before glancing up at Damon who nodded in understanding.

"I'm gonna get some air." Damon suddenly announced to Stefan, before getting to his feet and heading for the exit.

"Let me deal with this." Elijah suggested to Nik, who merely shrugged as Elijah and Damon left the room, leaving me alone with both Nik and Stefan. There was silence for several minutes, before Nik's triumphant voice pierced the silence.

"All this talk has made me thirsty." He declared and I turned towards them both and noticed Nik glancing over at one of the servant girls, who walks over to him after he indicated to her. "What do you say, Stefan? Can I interest you in a little after-dinner drink?" He asked before biting into the girl's neck and drinking deeply. I gasped in horror and turned away, not wishing to relive the memory of watching Nik, Rebekah and Stefan feasting upon three innocent girls they had liberated back in Chicago.

It wasn't the greatest of memories.

"Excuse me." I mumbled. I quickly got up from my chair and walked from the room, heading towards the room where the coffins were kept.

It was obvious that Nik was in a dangerous mood. Because he only started draining innocent victims when he was feeling particularly angry. It happened many times over the summer when he was getting frustrated that he wasn't getting anywhere fast trying to figure out why he couldn't make any hybrids. In the other room; Elijah, Damon and Rebekah were crowded around Kol's coffin and I watched as Elijah removed the dagger from his brother's chest.

"Now what?" Damon wanted to know, sounding impatient as Elijah walked over to Finn's coffin and removed the dagger from his heart too.

"Patience is a virtue." Elijah stated sternly before he pulled his sister aside and began talking to her in low tones. Judging by the outraged expression on her face, Elijah must've been telling her about the deal I had made with him that he promised he would also tell to both Kol and Finn when they eventually woke up as well.

She obviously wasn't happy about it.

A loud thud caught my attention and I walked back over to the dining room and saw the girl Nik had been feasting on lying dead on the floor, while he had a bit of her blood trickling down the side of his mouth. Stefan was just standing there, looking unimpressed.

"Delicious." Nik commented, referring to the dead girl. "Aged to perfection." He used his thumb to wipe away the blood as I decided that it was safe to re-enter the room and walked over to my seat, retaking it. "Everything okay, love?" I paused, looking over at him in surprise and seeing concern and vulnerability on his face. So, he had noticed me leaving the room after all. But before I could respond, Stefan interrupted.

"Well, I guess the only reason you agreed to this evening, Klaus, is to drive a wedge between me and my brother." Stefan mused, as Nik glared at him for interrupting.

"No, I think you've done that yourself." I answered for Nik, much to both his and Stefan's surprise. "One day you're gonna lose your own brother and you'll only have yourself to blame." I stated coldly, before looking away. I could feel Stefan glaring at me, before all three of us looked up when Damon and Elijah re-entered the room.

Both looked very tense.

"What do you say, Klaus? It's time for you to put something on the table. We've made our offer, now you counter." Damon stated.

"Fine." Nik said. I deflated a little, realizing that Nik had put his mask back on and had returned to his sarcastic personality. "I offer Elena's future happiness. What she needs right now is to be rid of you lot, fall in love with a human—"

"—And continue the Petrova bloodline." Stefan realized where Nik was going with this. "Every few hundred years, and you'll have a new doppelgänger to drain and never run out of hybrids. Is that right, Klaus?"

"Why ask the question, if you know that's exactly what Nik's plans are?" I asked him. Nik gets up and walks over to Stefan before the younger Salvatore could get the bright idea to attack me for my insolence.

"So, what do you say Stefan? Do we have a deal?" He asks as Stefan pauses for a moment, before getting up also and walking towards him. When he is face to face with him, Nik holds out his hand to Stefan, who takes it.

"Nice try, Klaus. But no deal." Stefan responds, then grunts in pain when Nik suddenly breaks his arm, before kicking at his leg and breaking it too. The room suddenly blurs before my eyes, and when it re-focuses, I realized that Elijah had relocated me to a safer place in the room.

"Elijah, what did you…?" I blurted out, but he immediately places a finger against my lips.

"Not now, Grace. Just stay here where you're safe." Elijah said, firmly. I nodded and watched as Nik angrily pushes Stefan's hand into the fireplace, and my nose wrinkles when I could smell burning flesh. Damon rushes over to aid Stefan, but Elijah intercepts him and holds him against the wall.

"What the hell are you doing?" Damon demanded, angrily. Nik ignores Damon's question, still holding Stefan's badly burnt arm in the fire. "Stop!" Nik finally takes notice of him.

"Now, bring me my coffin before I burn your bloody brother alive!" He snarls. Damon nods without hesitation.

"I'll get it." He promises.

Nik glances at Elijah with cold fury in his eyes. "Go with him, brother. You'll keep him honest. When you return, I'll make good on my promise and I'll hand over our family." Elijah nods and quickly leaves, taking Damon with him. I cautiously approached Nik and Stefan, worried about Nik. "Stay where you are, Grace!" Nik yells at me without taking his eyes off Stefan. I immediately stopped walking forwards, just as Stefan just barely stopped himself from screaming out in pain.

"Go ahead and kill me. I know you'll do it when he brings the coffin." Stefan taunts Nik, who immediately pulls Stefan out of the fireplace and looks at him with disgust and the tiniest shred of pity.

"You really have given up, haven't you? Where's the fight? Where's the ripper?" He demanded, before he shoves Stefan who shoves back. Suddenly, Elijah and Damon re-enter the room with the other servant girl that had been serving us all evening. She was carrying a silver tray with a cloche. Nik eyes them with suspicion, while I eyed them with trepidation. "Elijah? Why haven't you left yet?" Nik demanded.

Elijah merely looked back at his brother with a deadpan expression.

"Where are your manners, brother? We forgot dessert." Elijah reaches for the cloche and yanks it off the tray. Nik's eyes widen in horror when he sees two silver daggers lying on the tray.

"What have you done?!" Nik yells at Elijah, who looks back at him coldly.

"What have _you_ done? You see, I've learned not to trust your vulgar promises, Klaus. We're doing this on my terms now." He declared. Just then Kol walks into the room, and my eyes widen in shock as does Nik.

"Kol." Nik breathed, as Kol glowers at his brother with a dark expression.

"Long time, brother." He greets him as Nik backs away in my direction, obviously aiming to escape and take me with him. But he was blocked by Finn who suddenly appeared and grabs a dagger from the tray, stabbing Nik through the hand with it.

I gasped, covering my mouth with both my hands.

"Finn, don't!" Nik begs as he tries once again to run away but runs into Rebekah.

"This is for our mother." Rebekah whispers into his ear, before stabbing him viciously with the second dagger. I screamed in horror, drawing attention to myself. Both Kol and Finn stare at me with complete shock as Rebekah looks at me with regret before roughly pulling the dagger out, causing Nik to grunt in pain and fall back into Kol's arms. Kol recovers from his shock and immediately restrains him but continues staring at me with utter confusion.

"Nik!" I shouted and ran for him. But Elijah rushes forward, immediately restraining me. "Let go of me!" I hissed, struggling to free myself from my brother's arms as he turns to look at a shocked Damon and Stefan.

"You're free to go. This is family business." He tells them. Damon and Stefan nodded without question. Stefan immediately blurred away, but Damon paused looking at me with concern before he too leaves.

* * *

 **A/N: I think we'll stop here. I hope that you've enjoyed the return of Kol and Finn. Please review and stay tuned for the next exciting chapter!**

 **TTFN xx**


	57. Belle Of The Ball

**A/N: Welcome back, and thanks for reading this new and (hopefully) exciting new chapter.**

 **I do not own** _ **The Vampire Diaries.**_ **All characters except for Grace belong to author L.J. Smith.**

 **Please review if you enjoy reading this chapter! However, no flaming will be accepted.**

 **Enjoy xx**

* * *

 **BELLE OF THE BALL**

" _I'm suspicious of people who don't like dogs, but I trust a dog when it doesn't like a person_ _ **." ~Bill Murray.**_

* * *

So here I was trapped in the protective restraints of my second oldest brother's arms which felt like steel vices, while I was watching as my boyfriend slowly healed up from a vicious knife attack 'lovingly' given to him from his baby sister, while being forcibly restrained by his younger brother who was still staring at me with sheer disbelief in his deep brown eyes.

"Okay. Somebody better tell me what the hell's going on here!" Kol immediately blurted out, sounding angry. "Explain to me why Gráinne is standing right over there in Elijah's arms, when I clearly remember seeing her dead bloodied body being carried into those caves by Niklaus all those years ago?!" He demanded, angry tears in his eyes as he pointed at me with his free hand that wasn't holding Nik in a choke hold.

"Calm yourself, Kol. This is a unique and complicated situation." Elijah attempted to maintain order, as he unwrapped his arms from around my waist when he realised that I wasn't going to run at Nik again and took a step back. But the urge to do so was very high. Nik looked at me with reassuring eyes, but I didn't feel very reassured.

"Did you manage to change her into a vampire? Then keep her hidden away like you did with us?" Finn frowned as he asked Nik, without looking away from me.

"I'm not a vampire." I spoke up for myself, irritated that they were talking about me like I wasn't even in the same room as they were. "I've been reincarnated from the girl you've once known." I explained. I shook my head a little and staggered when everything started to go blurry. A warning sign to myself that I was about to regain memories of both Kol and Finn.

"Reincarnated? How is that possible?" Kol asked.

I didn't get the chance to respond, as my eyes suddenly rolled back into my skull and I fell forward. 'Grace!' and 'Gráinne!' were the last words I heard before strong arms caught me and darkness consumed me…

* * *

 **NO P.O.V**

Kol dumped Klaus in a heap onto the floor and blurred over to Grace's side, catching her before Elijah could even lift a finger. Rebekah came over to his side to smooth back her sister's hair, looking anxious as Kol glanced around accusingly at everyone.

"What the hell just happened?" He demanded, as Klaus struggled to his knees, still healing from his knife wound.

"She's regaining her memories." He responded, very worried and wishing that he was the one holding his girlfriend in his arms, rather than his highly unstable and unpredictable brother who currently looked like he wanted to maim someone.

"Her memories?" Finn echoed.

"Yes. This is one of the side effects of Grace's reincarnation. She had no recollection of any of us - except for Niklaus in her dreams - for several years before she returned to Mystic Falls with Henrik." Elijah explained, also worried about Grace every time this happened. Thankfully, this would be the last time that this would occur.

"Henrik?" Finn's eyes widened at the mention of his baby brother's name.

"She doesn't remember us?" Kol looked heartbroken.

"She will when she regains consciousness. Each one of us have gone through the same thing with Grace when she reunited with us." Rebekah reassured him.

"What about Henrik?" Finn reminded them, also grabbing Kol's attention.

"Yes. That was an unexpected gift that Grace had unwittingly given us when she returned here." Elijah confirmed. "Which reminds me, I must go upstairs and inform him that you both have been awakened." He turned and walked from the room. Kol looked down at the unconscious girl in his arms and frowned curiously.

"So, this was the girl who visited me while I was still daggered." He mused, drawing Klaus's attention.

"Excuse me?" Klaus demanded, slowly getting to his feet and approaching Kol, but stopped when Finn suddenly stepped in front of him blocking his way. Kol turned his head towards his brother and smirked.

"You heard me. This young woman visited me while I was still underneath the effects of that dagger." Kol told him. Klaus frowned looking disapprovingly at his girlfriend and Kol's smirk immediately dropped, realising where his brother's thoughts were heading and immediately moved to defend Grace's actions.

"Relax, Nik. She never attempted to free me. She just wanted to talk to me." Kol reassured him, against his better judgement.

"You're far too paranoid, Nik." Rebekah chastised him. "You know that Grace would never betray you. She loves you." She stated, sincerely. "Although I have to wonder why at times, considering the type of person you are." Rebekah muttered.

"You're skating on thin ice, Rebekah." Klaus warned.

"So? What if I am? What are you going to do, dagger me again?" Rebekah challenged him. Klaus bristled and opened his mouth to shout at his sister, but his eyes locked onto Grace and softened, causing him to immediately back off.

"Of course not. I promised Grace that I would never again do that to you all." Klaus declared, earning dubious looks from his siblings.

"Did you just?" Kol looked surprised. "Well, isn't this a new development?"

"Enough, Kol." Finn ordered, sternly. "But he does raise a valid point, brother. How do we know that you won't fall back into old habits, regardless of what you have promised this young girl?"

"Grace. Her name is Grace." Klaus stated, sternly.

"My apologies."

"As for falling back into old habits; well I'm afraid you'll just have to trust me. I lost her once, I'm not going to lose her again due to my own stupidity." Klaus insisted, not taking his eyes away from Grace, who was showing signs of waking up.

"Forgive me, if I find that difficult to believe." Finn retorted, frowning at his brother and folding his arms across his chest.

"Exactly. 'Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice—'" Kol smirked tauntingly.

"Yes, yes. I know that saying, and I get the picture!" Klaus yelled, trying to hold his temper and failing. Rebekah, Kol and Finn all exchanged surprised glances with each other as they witnessed their reclusive, paranoid and dangerous brother suddenly adopting a protective, but no less volatile manner.

And all over this girl who was the reincarnation of their dearly beloved Gráinne. They all immediately reacted when Grace suddenly moaned and shifted around in Kol's arms.

"Ugh… What happened?" She mumbled.

* * *

 **Grace's P.O.V  
** **Evening.**

It was like being hit by a tonne of bricks when those last few memories involving Kol and Finn suddenly knocked me for six. I don't how long I was under for, but my first real memory after regaining all those old ones was Nik and the others shouting and arguing, and that I was also being held carefully in somebody's arms. My first thought was that this person had to either be Elijah or Nik. But the scent filling my nose didn't match either one of them. I mean, it was familiar; but nothing that I could positively confirm without looking to see who it was first.

I heard Nik yelling angrily, and I winced. I must've really freaked him out when I fell unconscious, and I needed to wake up to reassure him that I was okay. I moaned and leaned heavily against the person holding me.

"Ugh… What happened." I asked, my legs feeling a bit like jelly and unable to support my weight just yet.

"You fainted, Grace. It's alright you're safe." Rebekah reassured me to my left and I slowly opened my eyes to register her face. "Hello, sister. Welcome back." My sister smiled at me, and I pulled back holding my head before focusing on the person holding me.

"Kol?" I muttered, watching a delighted smirk spread across his puckish face that many of his victims had foolishly underestimated in the past. Or so Henrik had told me.

"Hello, poppet." He greeted me, and I immediately brightened and squealed with joy as I flung myself into his strong arms. He chuckled and automatically tightened his grip around me. "I've missed you, too." He mumbled loud enough that only I could hear him. My eyes widened and I pulled back to look at him in astonishment.

"You did hear me!" I exclaimed, cupping my mouth in mortification.

Kol chuckled, "Of course I did. You should've believed Elijah when he told you." I flushed red out of embarrassment. Then gulped when I saw the stern frown appear across his face for a split second. "And never, _ever_ scare like that again!" He hissed, obviously reminding me of that fateful night I died. I nodded solemnly, before he pulled me back into his arms for another hug.

I glanced over his shoulder and saw Finn standing there, looking awkward, but genuinely happy to see me.

"Finn." I called out, and he smiled and nodded at me.

"Hello, Grace." He greeted me, and I broke away from Kol and walked over to hug my quiet eldest brother. "You've been missed, sister." He felt the need to remind me, and I grimaced.

"I know. But it's good to be back; completely." I stated.

"Completely?" Rebekah echoed, and I turned to her and nodded.

"Yeah. All my memories have returned. I remember everything." I said, much to everyone's relief and slight confusion (Kol and Finn). Movement out the corner of my eye made me look over Finn's shoulder and I saw a very concerned Nik watching me reunite with his brothers with a melancholy smile on his face.

I brightened almost immediately when I realised that my little fainting spell, had distracted Rebekah, Kol, Finn and Elijah from inflicting their punishment on their brother; so Nik looked relatively unharmed, save a rapidly healing stab wound in his stomach, that Rebekah had given him earlier.

"Nik!" I broke away abruptly from Finn and ran towards him, immediately wrapping my arms around his neck and passionately kissing him. He responded by picking me up, so I had to wrap my legs around his waist and cling to him like a koala to stay attached to him. This time our kiss was noticeably different, and that shocked me. Must've been a side effect from having partial amnesia, as I literally didn't know what hit me.

By the knowing smirk I could feel spreading on Nik's face, it was obvious he noticed the difference also. All we both knew was that kissing wasn't enough anymore, and I was all too ready to show this to him. I pulled away briefly to catch my breath, before he growled in protest and pulled me back into another possessive kiss.

"Do you mind, Nik?" We both froze, realising that Rebekah, Finn and Kol were still in the room and we pulled away to turn and look at Rebekah, who was staring at us looking a little irritated, while Finn was looking a bit uncomfortable. "Could you both do that somewhere else? I don't recall asking for a free show." She bitched, and I flushed out of embarrassment while Nik glared and reluctantly lowered me back to the floor; but left his arm wrapped around my waist.

"Speak for yourself, Bek. It was just starting to become good." Kol taunted us both, deliberately trying to get a rise out of us. I threw him a withering glare. This was something that I didn't miss about Kol.

"Don't be a pig, Kol." Rebekah warned him.

"I second that." I agreed.

A door opened in the distance, and we all turned towards it in time to see a newly revived Esther calmly walking into the room, dressed head to toe in her old-fashioned 10th Century dress. Nik suddenly went rigid; his blue-green eyes wide and fearful as he immediately pushed me behind him for protection.

"Mother?" Rebekah breathed, looking shocked to see her mother alive.

Esther seemed to be completely fixated upon Nik, and I scowled and immediately stepped in front of him to shield him despite his protests.

"No, Grace! Don't!" Nik begged me. But I ignored him, focusing completely on Esther.

"You stay away from him!" I hissed at her, hatefully, drawing confused and suspicious looks from everybody in the room. Esther paused for a moment and focused upon me with a blank expression, before a small smile appeared on her careworn face.

"It is nice to see you again, Grace." Esther's matured European voice greeted my ears.

"Wish I could say the same, Esther. But we'd both know that I'd be lying." I responded, waspishly. I felt Nik's hand gently wrapping around my wrist, and I fought the urge to look back at him.

"A pity that you should feel that way, sweetheart." I bristled at the term of endearment and clenched my fists. "But we should talk about this later. For now, I would like to greet my son." Esther stated, looking directly at Nik standing behind me.

"Over my dead body." I stated, and Esther merely sighed as the others all immediately objected.

"That really won't be necessary." Esther insisted, before raising her hand and clicking once. I instantly felt a strange sensation that strongly resembled somebody hooking my insides and jerking my sideways. I let out a startled scream, before coming face to face with the dining room door.

"NO!" I snarled, realising what she had done and immediately turned and attempted to come back; momentarily ignoring Rebekah, Kol and Finn who looked incredibly shocked and confused by what was happening, even more so by my reaction upon seeing their mother. However, I was immediately stopped again by Elijah who had chosen now to return, with an equally serious Henrik at his side. "Let go of me!" I urged, desperately.

"That's enough, Grace!" Elijah whispered, sternly. I was forced to watch as Esther continued walking towards Nik, now that I wasn't blocking the way. Nik immediately avoids direct eye contact with his mother; but I could tell that he was enraged at the way I had been dismissed. Esther stops before him, no emotion on her face.

"Look at me!" Nik reluctantly but obediently locks angry eyes upon his mother. "Do you know why I'm here?" She asks him. My eyes widened when a single tear trails down Nik's cheek.

"You're here to kill me." Nik stated, sounding almost defeated. Esther gives him a maternal smile and cups his face. I smirked triumphantly and proudly when I noticed that Nik had to stop himself from physically pulling away from his mother's touch.

"Niklaus, you are my son and I am here to forgive you." Nik's eyes widen in shock, as does Rebekah's, Kol's and Finn's. You would be pleased to note, that Elijah's eyes narrowed with mistrust the very second Esther proclaimed that she was here to forgive Nik, not kill him. I wasn't the only one, thank god, who did not believe her for one second; considering that it had been Nik who had murdered her in cold blood. "I want us to be a family again. That includes you too, Grace." Esther declared, turning to look at me before turning to leave the room.

"I do not trust her." I whispered.

"Nor do I." I jerked my head and looked at Elijah with surprise at his confession. It was the very last thing that I expected to hear coming from his lips; and Elijah was all about family and the loyalties that went with family. "We will discuss this later." He promised, as Esther suddenly stopped and turned back to us as though she had forgotten something, she needed to tell us.

"In order to celebrate our reunion as a family, and to start over the right way; I am planning a ball tomorrow night, to introduce ourselves to the town." Esther announced, much to all our astonishment and suspicion.

"A ball?" Henrik blurted out what we were all thinking, causing everybody to look at him. Some for the very first time in a thousand years. Esther immediately beamed at the sight of her baby boy.

"Henrik! You cannot believe how overjoyed I am to see you again, my child." Esther exclaimed, opening her arms in expectation that he'd come running towards her to hug her. This earned her a frown from Henrik, who gave her a withering glare; much to almost everyone's surprise.

"Mother." Henrik greeted her curtly. "You haven't answered my question: why a ball?" He asked, bluntly. Esther's smile almost became an annoyed frown before she recovered, maintaining the calm façade she obviously wanted to project to us all.

Not at all suspicious.

"I've always been partial to the classics. Come all; we shall make our preparations in the morning." Esther then immediately walked from the room, followed closely by Rebekah and Finn, who paused only to glance back at Henrik before leaving.

"Are you okay, Grace?" I glanced at Henrik who was staring after his mother with distain. I immediately leaned back into the welcoming warmth of Nik's embrace, as he came up behind me and hugged me.

"For the time being." I responded unnerved by Esther's reappearance, as the last time I had seen or spoken to her, she had placed a torturing spell upon me that would cause me unimaginable pain if I told Nik that it was his mother who had figured out that my blood was part of the Hybrid Ritual as well as Elena's.

As though sensing my uneasiness, Nik kissed my temple which allowed me to relax and smile. "Esther is up to something, this much is obvious." I stated, confidently.

"I agree." Elijah piped up, walking over to stand beside Henrik, brooding.

"What do you mean? What am I missing here?" Kol demanded.

"Mother seemed to forgive Niklaus a little too quickly. I had been expecting a little more anger from her." Elijah pointed out, which caused Kol's eyes to widen in realisation.

"Yeah, now that you've pointed that out. I did notice that. That's really peculiar." He agreed. I noticed out the corner of my eye, Nik looking really irritated that his brothers were disappointed that he hadn't been punished by their own mother. I turned my head and planted a kiss on his cheek, that caused a smile to spread across his face.

"Thanks, darling." Nik whispered into my ear, lovingly. I grinned back coyly.

"Anytime." I said.

Somebody's throat cleared, and both Nik and I were pulled out of our little bubble to see a partially annoyed and amused Elijah looking at us.

"If you are both through, we're about to retire for the night. We'll figure out what mother is up to in the morning." He told us. Nik and I realised that both Kol and Henrik had already left.

"Sounds like a plan." I agreed.

"Good night, Grace." Elijah bid me pleasant dreams and gave Nik a pointed look, before turning on his heel and leaving. When Elijah was out of sight, I turned in Nik's embrace and smiled.

"I'm gonna check on Jeremy and let him know that we have extra housemates for him to be aware of. Then I'm gonna turn in too." I told him.

"I'll be up in a minute." Nik promised me and leaned down to give me one last kiss before I broke away and headed straight for the staircase.

* * *

On the landing, I wondered unhurried down the corridor towards Jeremy's room. When I got there, I knocked firmly on the wood.

"Just a minute." I heard Jeremy mutter from behind the door and winced when I realised that he had been sleeping. Whoops! The door opened a crack and a bleary-eyed Jeremy glanced out at me with a frown. "Grace? Everything alright?" He yawned, and I felt like kicking myself.

"Yeah, everything's okay. But I can come back tomorrow morning." I told him.

"Nah, it's fine." Jeremy said, and opened the door wider. "Come in." I hesitantly stepped past the threshold. "How'd it go tonight with Damon and Stefan?" Jeremy asked, closing his bedroom door and heading back over to his bed, flopping down onto it.

I hesitated, "Uh—"

"That bad, huh?" Jeremy guessed, sympathetically.

"Sort of. We've gained four extra housemates that you need to be cautious around." I told him. Jeremy made a face.

"Seriously?" He complained.

"Yeah, but don't worry. They won't harm you, unless you piss them off." I reassured him. "Just be wary of Kol." I suggested.

"Who's Kol?" Jeremy yawned.

"Nik's second youngest brother, before Henrik." I responded. "In my former life, he was my 'twin'." I added, earning a weird look from Jeremy.

"Your twin? But I thought you said you're Klaus's girlfriend?" He stated, looking confused.

"I am. When I say that Kol is my 'twin', I meant that we were born on the same day within minutes of each other, and to two different mothers. Kol is older by about five minutes." I explained.

"Oh, right." Jeremy still looked confused.

"Speaking of mothers, Nik's mother is here." I said, no hint of humour on my face. Jeremy frowned.

"But I thought you said she was dead."

"She's supposed to be. If you see her around the house, do not trust what she tells you. We suspect that she is up to something. Okay? This is very important." I urged Jeremy who suddenly looked wary.

"Sure. I'll watch my back." He promised, looking suspicious.

"Good." I suddenly yawned, which caused Jeremy to join in also. "Now, I'm going to bed. You better get back to sleep too." I suggested as I hopped up from the edge of the bed and headed for the door.

Jeremy nodded, "Goodnight, Grace."

"Night, Jer."

* * *

I headed back down the corridor towards bed. I was looking forward to sleeping undisturbed and safe in Nik's arms, but at the same time feeling on guard because of Esther's reappearance back into our lives. I really hoped it wouldn't be a repeat performance of what happened when we dealt with Mikael, but only time would really tell.

The hybrids that Nik had assigned to help maintain the mansion had already been in here and gone as the fireplace was crackling away, emitting a lovely warmth that went right to the bones. While I had been yawning obscenely while filling Jeremy in on what happened this night, I wasn't quite ready to rest yet. So, I wondered over to where I had put my purse for safe-keeping and fished around inside it for my sketchbook and went to my art supplies to grab a new pencil, since I had broken my previous one.

I headed back over to the sanctuary that was the fireplace and turned to the page that had all members of my Original vampire family drawn on there by my own hand. It was time to finally complete the picture, now that I had reunited and regained my memories of both Kol and Finn. I would complete the canvas version of this drawing later when I finally had access to Nik's study where he did his paintings. Presumably to limit the amount of drippings that can sometimes happen when using paint to create a masterpiece.

I grabbed one of the large, soft cushions on one of the couches and set it down in front of the fireplace, so my ass wouldn't get numb sitting there overtime while I completed my sketch.

"Shouldn't you be sleeping, love?" I didn't glance up from my page, when Nik's slightly disapproving voice suddenly spoke up from the bedroom doorway.

I shrugged in response.

"There was something I had to do first." I admitted, even though my eyes were practically watering in my bid to keep them open. Nik chuckled, and the next thing I knew he was joining me on the floor in front of the fireplace, positioning himself so that I was sitting between his legs with my back leaning against his chest. His chin rested on my shoulder as he wrapped his arms around my waist. There was a content silence between us, with only the sound of my pencil scratching away on the paper as it filled in the intricate detailing that I was meticulously focusing my attention on.

"You've finished it then?" Nik indicated towards the drawing where I had just finished filling in Kol's smirking face. I turned my head to look at him over my shoulder and nodded, kissing the end of his nose playfully.

"Finally."

"I really hated how my hair looked back then." Nik grimaced, as he tapped the picture of himself in the drawing with thick, shoulder-length hair.

I raised an eyebrow.

"Since when have _you_ been vain about your appearance?" I questioned him and Nik smirked, playfully.

"Didn't you know I've turned into Kol?" He teased.

"I hope not. I don't think we'd survive with both your egos in the same room." I teased back as I lightly swatted him, which only encouraged him to start tickling me mercilessly in payback. I decided to immediately change the subject before I keeled over from a lack of oxygen due to laughing too hard. "So, what do you think about your mother's plan to have a ball tomorrow night?" I asked, curiously.

Nik's face immediately darkened, "I think it's a waste of time and money to be perfectly honest." He then sighed. "But mother is going to expect that all of us attend, to make a good impression on our family."

I made a face, "You're joking. I mean, she can't be serious."

"Mother has never been known for her sense of humour, sweetheart. Even when I was a boy." Nik stated, casually. "So, I'd safely suggest she's completely serious."

I groaned, "I don't have anything suitable for a bloody ball. I'm not sure I even want to go." I told him truthfully, which caused him to frown.

"Well, if I'm going, you're going too." He stated, firmly. "Besides, I'm pretty sure mother's probably hired people to take care of everything. Plus, I think Rebekah might actually kill you in your sleep if you don't come."

"It sounds more fun." I muttered sourly.

Nik pretended to be disappointed.

"That's a pity then." I looked at him questioningly, then warily when I noticed his smirk. "I was hoping you'd go as my date. We can suffer through this together." Nik attempted to sweeten the deal and I couldn't help but smile at the idea.

"No fair." I whined, before sighing and getting to my feet. "You drive a hard bargain, but I'll let you drag me to this stupid ball." I gave in.

Nik grinned like a Cheshire cat.

"Excellent. I do have a couple of surprises for you, even if you didn't go tomorrow night." Nik told me, and I raised a curious eyebrow.

"Well, then. I'm definitely coming along. If only to see these surprises." I responded, as I extended a hand towards him to help him and Nik automatically accepted it, springing nimbly to his feet and then leading me by the hand towards the bed.

"Good answer." Nik said, tenderly.

* * *

I was roused from my sleep by the sounds of dogs barking off the distance and birds squawking in trees, the wind rushing through the trees outside, the occasional car driving past on the street and Nik's deep breathing behind me as he continued sleeping, cradling me close in his arms undisturbed by the sounds coming from outside.

I sat up slowly, dislodging Nik's arms from around my waist and registered the early morning light filtering in from underneath the heavy curtains drawn across the windows, and the popping and hissing of the fireplace across the room which had slowly died during the night. Blinking like a newborn, I turned my head towards the bedside table and saw the time on the clock radio.

6:30am.

Ugh, great.

I hate waking early, because I already know for a fact that I'm never gonna be able to fall back to sleep. Yawning, I carefully flipped the duvet off my legs, making sure that I didn't let any cold air in and disturb Nik from his sleep, before flipping my legs over the side of the bed and got up to pad towards the bathroom. After I relieved myself, I walked over to the mirror above the sink and took in my slightly puffy eyes with shadows underneath them and splashed them some cold water to partially wake myself up, but to also cool down my slightly flushed skin. I changed into a smoky grey pair of leggings, black T-shirt and a pair of socks before searching through my belongings for my yoga mat, tucked it underneath my arm and headed downstairs for the living room.

Times when I woke up way too early and couldn't go back to sleep; yoga served as good way to both wake myself up and help me unwind against potentially stress inducing activities. Esther's 'housewarming ball' counted as one of those bullshit activities that I was forced to mentally and physically endure tonight. I had never seen Nik look as resentful as he did when he declared to me that if he was forced to attend this farce of a ball tonight, I had to go too.

Fair enough.

But it didn't mean that I had to like it. About an hour into my morning yoga routine was when I finally heard some spark of life within the mansion, in the form of the doorbell going off like an air horn. It nearly caused me to break my neck as I was in the middle of a particularly difficult yoga pose.

"I'll get it!" I heard Henrik shout, and I frowned in annoyance.

"Lower your voice, Henrik." I heard Elijah admonish his brother as he walked into the living room. I knew that he had seen me when his footsteps paused, and he cleared his throat.

"Good morning, Elijah." I greeted my brother after a few minutes when he didn't speak.

"Good morning. I didn't know that you did yoga." He said, sounding surprised. I slowly stood up and stretched, smiling at him.

"Every now and then." I responded. "I'm surprised you even know what yoga is, to be honest. What's the commotion at the front door?" I asked him, indicating with my head and breathing in and out deeply. Elijah came over and took his seat on one of the couches inviting me to sit down with him. I rolled up my mat and set it aside as I came over and sat down beside him, waiting for him to answer my question.

"It appears that mother has hired some tailors and dressmakers to help us prepare for her ball tonight." He responded and I raised an eyebrow.

"Whatever happened to physically going out to a boutique or suit shop and shopping the old-fashioned way?" I asked, cynically.

"Mother prefers to remain anonymous. At least, until tonight's festivities commence." Elijah responded.

"Uh-huh." I said, shaking my head and rolling my eyes.

Just then a group of stylishly dressed attendants came barreling into the room followed closely by Esther who was giving curt instructions to them. Elijah and I were forced to our feet as several of the attendants picked up the couch we were sitting on and the other furniture, and moving them to one side while at the same moment setting up a large circular stool, a privacy screen and a set of three mirrors so that you could see yourself in three different angles.

"Mother is this quite necessary? We already have formal tails." Elijah questioned her, as a female attendant wheeling in a mobile rack with numerous gowns hanging from it in zipped up garment bags, darted by me and set up nearby the three mirrors.

"That are probably out of style and far too old. You'll need to be fitted for some new ones alongside your brothers, and Grace and Rebekah will need to choose a dress so the dressmakers will have time to alter them before tonight." Esther explained, abruptly leaving the room as I gaped after her in sheer disbelief. Especially when an overly glammed up woman came in also carrying all the equipment needed to give professional manicures.

"Why do I get the feeling _that_ was Rebekah's idea?" I muttered at an annoyed looking Elijah, indicating towards the beautician.

"Probably because our sister likes to be pampered and spoiled for occasions such as this. Something that hasn't really changed about her." Kol stated, sauntering into the room and smiling warmly at me. "How are you, darling?" He asked me, coming over and wrapping me in a tight hug before stepping away, leaving only his arm draped around my shoulders.

"Overwhelmed. I'm not used to being told that I'm about to be pampered within an inch of my life." I confessed, feeling revolted by the very idea.

"I know what you mean. Don't worry, we can both suffer through this in silence." Kol told me, looking also irritated by what was about to take place. I reached up and squeezed the hand wrapped around my shoulder.

"I'll hold you to that." I muttered, as one of the attendants suddenly stepped forward and tugged me over to the rack of dresses. I let out a startled yelp that immediately put Kol on edge.

"Hey, easy on the goods." He growled on my behalf and I smiled weakly at him.

"It's fine, Kol. I'll just grin and bare it." I stated, as I reluctantly perused the collection of dresses. But none of them really grabbed my attention. They were pretty, but none of them really me. Finn, Henrik and Rebekah chose that moment to make their entrance, with Finn and Henrik looking just as enthusiastic as Elijah, Kol and I did about all of this.

Rebekah appeared to be the only one who looked in her element.

"Why don't you get your nails done first, Grace?" Rebekah suggested all chatty like, obviously seeing how uncomfortable I looked. I glanced over at the beautician who smiled at me politely and gestured to her seat.

"Yeah, sure." I responded weakly and walked over, taking a seat at the table.

"What colour would you like?" The woman asked me. I racked my brains trying to think of the most neural nail varnish I could think of.

"Uh, French manicure. I guess." I replied and handed the woman one of my hands as she examines my nails with a slightly disapproving frown. "I've been trying to grow them out." I admitted, embarrassed. "I apologise for the state of them." I added, eyeing the dirty fingernails and slightly blackened condition of my fingers from the charcoal I persistently used in my sketching, that no matter how much I scrubbed at them, the colour stubbornly remained.

"Oh, honey. Believe me, I've seen worse." The woman spoke with a voice that strongly reminded me of bubbly blonde with pink bubble-gum. I sincerely hoped that I didn't shudder and glanced over at Kol and Elijah who were watching me with interest while a tailor pinned and cuffed some jet-black tails they had put on. But only Elijah shrugged sympathetically. Kol looked like he was struggling not to laugh; probably at the horrified expression that I was probably sporting on my face right now.

I scowled at him. "Grow up, Kol!" I muttered underneath my breath, and this time Kol really did laugh.

Elijah rolled his eyes.

"Enough, children." He requested, firmly. I looked over at the seat beside me when I saw Rebekah giving haughty instructions to her nail technician before turning to give me a cheerful smile.

"Have you selected a dress yet, sister?" Rebekah asked, casually, and I shook my head already feeling depressed and the bloody ball hadn't even commenced yet.

"Not just now, no." I admitted, glanced back down at 'bubble-gum' who was currently filing and shaping away at my nails. "What about you?" I asked, trying to steer the topic away from me and focus upon Rebekah, much as I didn't want to inflate her ego even further. My wish was granted as Rebekah swiveled her head towards the selections she had picked.

"I've narrowed my choices down to about three. It's hard to decide." Rebekah stated, before turning back towards her manicure.

"Mmm-hmm." I mumbled, only half-interested, then frowned. "We need some music." I decided and glanced at 'bubble-gum'. "Please excuse me for a moment." I said, before reaching into my pocket with the hand that hadn't been made up yet and grabbed my phone to access Spotify. I selected my favourite easy listening playlist and cranked up the volume. I perched my phone on the mantelpiece, angling it so the music could easily come through, before resuming my seat and giving 'bubble-gum' my hand again.

"What sort of music is this?" Finn piped up from where he was getting fitted in his tails and looking a little appalled. Unsurprising, considering that he had spent the last 900 years trapped in a coffin. Music had very obviously changed a lot over that time.

"Easy listening. Specifically, the latest songs from this year." I responded, calmly. Rebekah furrowed her forehead again.

"I still think it sounds like a cable car accident." She complained, sniffling a little.

I rolled my eyes, but let it go as I waited for 'bubble-gum' to finish up with my manicure. It took nearly another thirty minutes for 'bubble-gum' to finish up before I got up and reluctantly walked back over to the collection of garment bags to find a dress; being careful not to ruin all of 'bubble-gum's' hard work. Rebekah's manicure was taking a bit longer since she had requested something a little more extravagant than mine. I glanced around casually at how the rest of my family were fairing with their fittings and had to stifle a giggle.

This was technically Henrik's first formal suit fitting, and he looked extremely uncomfortable with having to stand in one spot while a tailor adjusted his tails. He had to be told repeatedly to stand still by the surprisingly patient tailor. A complete difference in comparison to Kol and Elijah, who were obviously seasoned veterans. This was also Finn's first fitting too, but being older and with more patience, knew instinctively what to do. I was halfheartedly examining a slinky royal blue off-the-shoulder number, when Kol suddenly spoke out to Rebekah.

"Rebekah? Tell me how handsome I am." He demanded, and both Rebekah and I snorted at his arrogance.

"Ah Kol," Rebekah pretended to give her answer some thought before she smirked devilishly at him. "You know I can't be compelled." I heard Finn chuckle softly and turned my head to look over at him struggling and failing to keep an amused grin off his face. He winked at me when he caught me staring and I smiled, shaking my head. Suddenly, the doors to the living room burst open and Nik walks in with a stormy expression on his face as he makes a beeline towards Rebekah.

"You went after Elena?" He said, in a controlled but fierce tone, causing all eyes to swivel in Rebekah's direction. I was surprised it had taken Rebekah this long to retaliate against Elena for her previous offences against her. "What is wrong with you?!" He wanted to know, as Rebekah looked bored.

"Here we go." She mutters, standing up and examining her completed fingernails as she walked over to where she had set aside her selections.

"Have you lost your mind?!" Nik fumed with frustration. Both Elijah and Finn sighed heavily, as Kol suddenly laughed in amusement.

"Oh, this is new. It seems you do have other tricks up your sleeve, Nik. For a moment there I thought you were going to threaten her with a daggering again." Kol taunted him, while also defending Rebekah.

"Oh, go back to staring at yourself." Nik snapped back at Kol, whose taunting smirk dropped, and a dangerous frown took its place.

"And who are you, my father?" Kol challenged him. This response caused Nik to take a threatening step towards Kol who prepared himself for a physical confrontation with him.

"Oi! Knock it off, both of you!" I snapped firmly, standing between them. Nik and Kol eyed me with hard eyes before backing down.

"No, Kol. But you're in my house." Nik had to remind him, and I sighed and closed my eyes in exasperation, raising my hands to my temples to massage away a threatening headache.

He always had to be the bigger man.

"Then perhaps we should go outside." Kol retorted, and both brothers stare each other down before Esther walks in, taking in the tense atmosphere and immediately scowling in disapproval.

"Enough!" She orders, and both immediately respond like they used to a thousand years before. To be honest, it was rather disturbing. Esther turns her attention towards Nik. "Niklaus. Come." She firmly requests, and Nik resentfully follows his mother into another room. Feeling concerned, I immediately abandoned the dress and wondered over to where I had placed my yoga mat and picked it up.

"Where are you going, Grace?" Elijah immediately spoke up, and I jumped like I had been shot.

I turned towards him.

"Nature calls." I responded a little too quickly, before darting from the room.

* * *

The second I made it to the foyer, I paused trying to locate where Nik and Esther might have disappeared off to. A nearby open door down the corridor beside the staircase caught my attention and I carefully eased my way towards it; praising my good fortune that I was only wearing socks and was less likely to be caught out by Nik. As I got closer to the door, I overheard Nik starting to rant at Esther.

"Rebekah is trying to ruin my life. What happened to peace, acceptance, family?" He questioned, sounding stressed.

"You put daggers in their hearts." Esther pointed out. "You want them to go down on their knees and kiss your feet for reuniting them?"

Nik scoffed in disbelief, "So, it's a crime to want our family to be as we were?"

"You need to give it time, Niklaus." Esther attempted to soothe Nik. But it sounded incredibly false to my ears. "I've had a thousand years on the other side to be angry and to heal. I'm here to make sure this family does the same." Now it was my turn to scoff.

"I just don't understand. I killed you, and still you forgive me." Nik stated, and I was pleased that my love was also finding it hard to believe that Esther was as sincere as she was making out.

"It's been my dream for a thousand years that this family could be as one. Forgiveness is not a chore. It's a gift." Oh, please. Dry that one out and you can fertilize the lawn. Please, Nik. Please tell me that you're not falling for this… "Now, are you escorting Grace to the ball this evening?" Esther asked Nik, as I flinched the second my name was spoken.

"Of course, Mother. Why would you suggest otherwise?" Nik asked his mother, suspiciously. "Besides, you're lucky we're even going tonight." He added, resentfully.

"Excellent. It is going to be a magical evening." Esther gushed enthusiastically.

I raised an eyebrow, hoping that that wasn't a euphemism for something else. I quickly turned and headed back down the corridor the way I came and headed upstairs towards my shared bedroom. I stepped distractedly through the door and threw the yoga mat in the direction of the couches.

Something red caught my attention, and I turned towards the vivid colour instinctively noticing something lying with obvious care on Nik's bed. My mouth fell open with shock when I realised that it was a dress; a very expensive looking blood red dress. It was an elegant strapless corseted A-line with a bell-shaped skirt in layers of wine-red tulle and blood red silk and bunched onto the right hip. It was also tastefully embroidered in crystal beading across the bodice and on the tulle.

It was indeed a stunning dress, but I was confused about where it could've come from. Until I thought back to my conversation with Nik in front of the fireplace the night before. I recall mentioning to him that I didn't have anything appropriate for a ball and knowing Nik; he must've taken this seriously. I didn't know whether I should kiss him or punch him for buying me such an ostentatious gift. I noticed belatedly that there was a note attached to the dress and I reached out to gently unpin it from the silk.

 _'Save me a dance. Love, Nik x'_ I read and let out a stunned laugh.

I carefully picked up the dress and hung it on the door frame of the walk-in closet before making my way back downstairs, almost walking into an annoyed looking Rebekah in the process.

"Where have you been? You haven't even picked out your dress yet." Rebekah scolded me and moved to wrap an arm around my shoulder to 'escort' me back downstairs. I easily sidestepped her.

"No need. Nik's already taken care of that for me." I explained, still shocked by the generous gift. Rebekah looked taken aback.

"I beg your pardon?" She blurted out.

"You heard me. Nik found me a dress for tonight, it's hanging right in our room right now." I said, turning and heading back with a suspicious Rebekah right on my heels. I walked back into the bedroom and gestured towards the beautiful dress that Rebekah looked at with wide eyes.

"It's beautiful." Rebekah begrudgingly admitted. "Nik has excellent taste, who knew?" She questioned rhetorically before turning and studying my hair. "Now what are we going to do with that rat's nest you call hair?" Rebekah said, slightly insulting me.

* * *

Rebekah concluded that it was probably best that I relocated into her bedroom so that she could personally oversee my makeover. AKA making me her personal barbie doll for tonight. Which was probably not a bad idea, since I only knew basic make-up and Rebekah very obviously had several lifetimes worth of knowledge in the field of hair and beauty.

She shoved me in the direction of her personal bathroom and practically ordered me to bathe while she got everything prepared to make me over. I decided that it was safer just to go along with it; I didn't want to deal with a pouty Rebekah for the duration of the afternoon as we both busied ourselves with dressing. I was quick but thorough and was just stepping into my black lacy underwear and matching strapless bra when Rebekah's voice suddenly burst in from behind the closed door.

"Don't forget to moisturise!" She instructed rather bossily. I raised an eyebrow, wondering why _that_ was so important before sighing underneath my breath. "I _heard_ that!" She shouted at me, grumpily.

"So did everyone in Mystic Falls!" I retorted back pointedly.

I glanced around for the elusive moisturiser Rebekah was so adamant about and located a surprisingly large plastic tub of expensive looking moisturiser that must've set Rebekah back a small fortune, especially if she used this stuff on a regular basis. I swear this family is going to give a complex if they continue flashing the cash about. I reached for the container and unscrewed the top, instantly getting hit by a subtle perfume and gingerly dipped my fingers into the cream and rubbing myself down thoroughly with it. When I was done, the bathroom door was abruptly swung open and something large, soft and white was flung at my face.

"Slip into this. Quick as you can, our guests are arriving soon!" Rebekah urged me, and I stood up and realised that I was holding a terry cloth robe which I obediently pulled on and securely tied shut as I stepped from the bathroom, nervously wondering what Rebekah had in store for me next. I saw Rebekah standing impatiently beside her dressing table and chair, waiting for me to take a seat.

"Don't go overboard, sister." I asked politely, causing Rebekah to look a little hurt.

"Have a little faith, darling." Rebekah encouraged me and I relaxed a bit before taking a seat and swiveling around to stare at my reflection in the mirror. On the dressing table was a large collection of Jurlique make-up and china dishes holding expensive jewellery. "Let's just pin back your hair for now, so I can get at your face." She stated, and I immediately felt her carding her hands through my hair and pinning it quickly back, so it was out of my face. Picking up a bottle of liquid foundation and a sponge, Rebekah spun me around on the chair and told me to close my eyes. "Don't open them until I say so." She instructed me. The next few minutes flew by before Rebekah finally told me to open and I looked into the mirror.

"Wow." I said, surprised. "This is great." I turned towards my sister and smiled gratefully. "Thank you." I said, getting up from the chair and hugging her.

"You're welcome, Grace." Rebekah smiled back before stepping away and heading over to where she had hung my dress. "Let's get your dress on." I nodded and dropped the robe where I stood, unintentionally giving Rebekah an eyeful. She gave me an appreciative eye sweep from head to toe. "Hmmm. My brother is a very lucky man." She observed and I blinked at her in complete astonishment, having not expected that kind of comment from her.

"Rebekah?"

She smirked at me, "What? I can appreciate a beautiful woman, just as much as I can a beautiful man." She winked at me and my face flamed out in mortification. Rebekah lowered the dress so I could step into it, before we shimmied it up and Rebekah tied it in place. Then she stooped down and helped push my feet into some elegant silver strappy shoes. "Now let's fix that hair."

Once again, I found myself being pushed onto Rebekah's chair and watched with deep fascination as my sister expertly brushed, pinned, twisted and sprayed my long chestnut brown hair into an elegant French Roll accessorising with a beautiful diamond butterfly hairpiece and leaving two strands of my hair loose either side of my face. There was a knock at Rebekah's bedroom door. "Come in if you must." Rebekah called out, and I rolled my eyes as Henrik stepped into the room; already dressed (and looking uncomfortable) in his brand new black formal tails. His well-groomed dark brown hair had been expertly slicked back with a sharp smelling gel.

"Henrik, what's the matter?" I asked him. Henrik took one look at me and smiled before holding out a large flat rectangular velvet box to me. "What's this?" I asked, taking the box and looking at it with confusion.

"Nik asked me to give that to you. Something about it looking nice with your new dress?" He responded, and both Rebekah and I frowned before I eased open the box and saw a single teardrop diamond strung on an intricate but good quality chain with matching teardrop earrings. Rebekah looked across between delighted and slightly jealous.

"That will compliment your dress very well." She stated, pulling the necklace free and pausing when she noticed Nik's silver wolf's tooth necklace still strung around my throat. She reached for it, but I stopped her.

"I'll get it. I'll just loop it around my wrist." I stated as I undid the clasp and then looped the leather cord round and around my wrist and secured it closed.

Rebekah grinned happily.

"You look beautiful, sister." She complimented me as I stood up, feeling awkward and walked over to Rebekah's full-length mirror. "Too bad it's all going to be wasted on my brother." She stated, resentfully.

I let out a long-suffering sigh.

"Rebekah. Enough." I said firmly, turning to face her. "This whole night is going to be tough enough without you bringing Nik down. Besides neither one of us wanted to come to this ball anyway." I stated.

"Then why are you?" Rebekah frowned.

"Your mother is making us go." I confirmed, bitterly.

"I'll meet you down at the party. Just gonna chat with Jeremy until then." Henrik announced jumping in before Rebekah could start ranting and raving, and made his way towards the door. Rebekah waved a dismissive hand at her brother, but my eyes widened in horrified realisation.

"Shit! I nearly forgot!" I followed a surprised Henrik to the door. "I'll be right back, Bekah." I called back to her. She merely rolled her eyes and nodded before heading into the bathroom herself to bathe.

* * *

Picking up my skirts, I followed a confused Henrik down the corridor towards Jeremy's room. Almost walking straight into Elijah, dressed also in his formal tails, in our pursuit.

"Oh! Sorry, Elijah." I apologised hastily.

"It's quite alright." Elijah responded, calmly. "Here's your phone, by the way." He presented my phone to me and I smiled and took it back.

"Thanks." I said, gratefully.

Then Elijah took a good look at me. "You look absolutely stunning, sister." He smiled brilliantly at me as I blushed.

"Thank you, Elijah." I said, before something suddenly occurred to me. "You wouldn't happen to be able to help me with something, would you?" I asked him, hopefully. Elijah frowned with concern.

"If it's within my power, of course I would." He responded. "Is everything okay?" He fell into step beside me as I continued walking towards Jeremy's room.

"Perfectly fine. It just occurred to me that Jeremy is likely to be stuck up here in his room tonight, and for obvious reasons he cannot show his face. However, I have a plan that if it's possible, can allow him to attend without being noticed by Elena, Bonnie or anybody else who believes that he should be in Denver right now." I babbled.

Elijah looked a little confused and doubtful. "I see."

We made it to Jeremy's room, and I knocked insistently enough to make Elijah place a calming hand on my shoulder.

"Jeremy, are you there?" I asked him, and I turned to Elijah for confirmation that the teen was in there. He nodded, just as the bedroom door opened, and Jeremy stuck out his head.

"Grace? Elijah? Henrik?" He mumbled, looking confused.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Gilbert. Might we have a moment of your time?" Elijah inquired politely on my behalf. Jeremy nodded and stood aside as the three of us walked into the slightly untidy bedroom.

"Why are you all dressed up in formal wear?" Jeremy questioned us, as he took a seat on his bed.

"There is a ball happening tonight." Elijah responded.

"The entire town has been invited including your sister, Bonnie and the Salvatore's." I added.

Jeremy frowned, getting to his feet and stretching.

"I get it. You want me to stay up here for the duration of this 'ball'." Jeremy guessed, but he looked a little put out. Something that I was trying to avoid.

"Actually, no. That's not what I've come up here to talk to you about." I corrected him. "With Elijah's permission, I was actually going to suggest that you come along as well." I said, causing both Henrik and Jeremy to look at me in alarm while Elijah continued to look a little confused.

"Of course. Jeremy would be welcome to attend. Why shouldn't he be allowed to go?" Elijah asked, frowning.

"Because as far as Elena, Bonnie and Stefan know; I'm technically supposed to be in Denver, Colorado." Jeremy reminded me, looking at me like I was nuts.

"Whatever for?" Elijah asked.

"Elena wants to selfishly protect me from everything supernatural in Mystic Falls, and asked Damon to compel me into leaving here for a supposedly better life with some relatives in Denver rather than letting me make my own decisions." Jeremy explained, still looking rather bitter about that.

"I see. Well, I cannot see why my presence was required here, Grace." Elijah said, frowning at me.

"To ask your permission for some help from any of your witches." I responded simply. "Would it be possible to cast a 'notice-me-not' spell upon Jeremy which would allow him to go to the ball and have some fun without his family and friends knowing he is there?" I asked him, and Elijah furrowed his head, thinking my idea over.

"Give me a moment to make few calls." Elijah eventually said, before stepping from the room and pulling out his phone from his pocket. Jeremy looked at me with surprise.

"You're doing this for me? Why?" He asked, slightly suspicious.

"You can't keep yourself shut up inside this mansion forever, Jeremy. You're gonna have to come outside eventually." I pointed out. "Besides, Henrik's gotta have somebody to talk to while at this party." I indicated towards a cheerful looking Henrik who seemed to relax once he understood my intentions. Elijah stepped back into Jeremy's bedroom after several minutes with a blank expression on his face.

"A witch of mine, who owes me a favour, shall be here shortly." He announced before turning towards Jeremy. "So, I suggest you'd better start getting ready." He stated, brusquely.

Jeremy hesitated. "Uh, I don't have any formal wear here." He admitted awkwardly.

"That shouldn't be a problem. Emma?" I called out, and there was a soft knock at the door that Elijah quickly answered.

"Oh! Uh, master. Did somebody call me?" Emma immediately went submissive.

"I did." I said, and Emma perked up a little. I turned towards Jeremy. "Where do you keep your formal clothes?" I asked him.

"Uh, my closet at home?" He responded, confused.

"Are you able to sneak in and out of the Gilbert's home without being noticed and grab Jeremy's formal wear for him?" I asked Emma, politely. The hybrid nodded, and abruptly blurred from the room. "Bring it back here when you come back!" I added to the retreating Emma. "When she gets back, get ready as fast as you can." I instructed the teen who nodded, looking bewildered.

* * *

By the time the evening finally sets in, Elijah's witch had come and gone; producing a special necklace that allowed Jeremy, once he put it on, to project a false image of himself as a stranger. And he could hide behind that disguise so he could walk among the people he knew without being detected. Something that delighted Jeremy completely.

Right now, he was showered, dressed in a formal suit his parents probably forced him to get just in case, and was projecting the image of a ginger-haired teen with green eyes. Or at least, that's the image the Mikaelsons and I saw whenever Jeremy stood in front of a mirror.

Apparently, the spell had the side-effect that only the people who knew he was under a spell, would be able to see his real appearance.

"This is so cool!" Jeremy gushed, excitedly. "Thanks so much!" He said to both Elijah and me, shaking Elijah's hand.

"You're welcome. Just don't bring attention towards yourself and you should be fine." Elijah warned him, firmly. Jeremy nodded before heading downstairs to join the party, which was only just starting. Rebekah rolled her eyes, as she fixed a loose strand of her hair into place. My sister had eventually settled upon an emerald green mermaid dress and pinned her hair to the side so that it draped over her shoulder in a blonde mass of curls. "Shall we?" Elijah offered his sister the crook of his arm which Rebekah immediately took, and both siblings descended the staircase, looking confident and completely underwhelmed by the entire commotion.

I, on the other hand, was a complete nervous wreck. I had never attended a soiree like this before, but I just thanked everything that was holy that I could remember the dance lessons Gráinne's parents had drilled into her head a thousand years ago. The last thing I really needed was to suffer a klutz attack and face plant on the ground. Drawing in a few deep breaths to calm myself down, I peered around the corner and down on the main foyer floor.

A live band was playing classical music in the ballroom, and here and there well-dressed guests were arriving in groups, or standing around talking and sipping champagne. I spied Damon, dressed to the nines in a formal suit, walking over to Carol Lockwood and handing her a glass of champagne. They begin some small talk until I noticed Kol walk over and kiss Carol's hand.

I rolled my eyes when she blushed.

 _Ewww… Kol, you have standards…_ I thought, a little revolted, and as though hearing my thoughts; Kol suddenly turns and locks eyes upon me, smiling warmly. He ignores Damon's hand when he offers it to him to shake and mutters something at him, before heading straight for the staircase.

My eyes widen in a panic and I hide behind the wall.

"Now now, Grace. Come downstairs and join us." Kol scolded me and held out his arm for me to take. I reluctantly reached out and took it, allowing him to escort me down the stairs. "You look exquisite, darling."

I leaned over and kissed his cheek, affectionately. "Thank you, Kol. I'm sorry for being a coward. I've never been to a ball before." I admitted.

"That's rather obvious, darling. You were, after all, hiding." Kol scoffed, not unkindly. We reached the bottom floor, and I realised belatedly that nearly everyone was staring at me. "Uh, uh. None of that. Where's my brave sister gone?" Kol scolded me, and I straightened up.

"Gagged and tied up in a closet." I deadpanned almost immediately. This caused Kol to snort in amusement.

"Ah, there she is." Kol said, jovially. "Shall we mingle with the commoners?"

I threw him a strange look, "If we have to."

Kol and I immediately turned and headed for the ballroom where the rest of the guests were mingling. We almost quite literally walked right into the Salvatore brothers who were escorting a distracted looking Elena into the room. Although when her eyes focused on me, they immediately become hostile.

I offered them all a regal smile, "Good evening, Gentlemen. I hope you enjoy yourselves tonight." I bid them welcome.

"Hello, Grace." Stefan replied stiffly, while Damon gave me a genuine smile back.

"You look beautiful." He complimented me, kissing my knuckles like the Southern Gentleman he used to be. Kol watched all of this with a cautious curiosity on his face. His eyebrow rose when Elena suddenly tightens her grip on both brothers' arms and forcibly walked them away from us.

"Rude much?" He breaks away momentarily and takes two champagne glasses from a passing waiter. "I take it _that_ was the doppelgänger?" Kol asked me, handing me one of the glasses.

"Unless Katarina somehow managed to resurrect herself. Then yes, that was Nik's doppelgänger." I confirmed, taking a sip from my glass.

"Insecure little bitch, isn't she?" Kol looked unimpressed.

I shrugged.

"And then some."

Kol instantly looked interested, "Really now?" A nasty little smirk crept across his handsome puckish face. I giggled into my hand.

"Now, Kol. We mustn't play with our prey." I scolded him playfully. He looked at me with shock and delight.

"This kitten's got claws." He said with glee.

"You ain't seen nothing yet." I promised, clinking glasses with my brother as we dissolved into laughter.

"What sort of mischief are the both of you up to now?" A familiar voice spoke up from behind us. Kol immediately rolled his eyes and took a sip from his champagne as we both turned to face Nik, who looked really dashing in his tails.

"Spoil our fun, why don't you?" Kol muttered, as he immediately drains his glass and kisses me chastely on the cheek. "I'll talk with you later." He walks away as I turned to face Nik, smiling warmly.

"Hello, love. You look gorgeous." Nik greeted me, taking my hand and raising it to his lips as his blue-green eyes smoldered happily.

I smiled back, blushing. "Thank you, Nik. And thank you for the dress. It's beautiful." I gestured to my gown, smoothing out any wrinkles.

"You're welcome. Would you like another drink?" He asked, gesturing to my empty glass. I glanced down at it and nodded.

"Please. But maybe something a little stronger?" I requested, feeling more relaxed than I had before.

 _Thank you, Kol…_ I thought gratefully, as Nik took my champagne glass and headed for the bar. While I waited for him to return, I glanced around at the mingling couples and paused when I spotted Finn approaching Elena over near some French double doors that lead out onto a balcony. They seemed to be talking urgently with each other.

 _Oh, shit…_

"Uh, if everyone could gather, please." Elijah's loud voice calls out to everybody and we all head towards the staircase in the foyer. I position myself in the background, while the rest of my family stand on the staircase looking down at their guests. Henrik stands in front of Finn who wraps an arm around his shoulders, and he waves enthusiastically at me when he catches my eye. I waved back then faltered when I noticed Esther walking slowly down the staircase from the upper floor.

"Wonder what Finn was talking to Elena about?" I turned and looked at Jeremy who had sidled up beside me, still in disguise and frowning curiously at Finn.

"No idea. But whatever it is, it can't be good." I responded as Elijah raises his hands for silence. Jeremy and I focused on him immediately.

"Welcome, thank you for joining us." Neither Jeremy nor I notice Damon and Stefan coming to stand not too faraway from us. "You know, whenever my mother brings our family together like this, it's tradition for us to commence the evening with a dance." Jeremy groaned, and I lightly nudged him with my elbow and giggled.

"Do you see who I see?" I glanced over at Damon, who was staring up at Esther who was watching her children and their guests with a blank expression on her face.

Stefan nodded. "Oh, yeah."

"Tonight's pick is a centuries-old waltz, so if all of you could please find yourselves a partner, please join us in the ballroom." Elijah instructs us all, before stepping down from the staircase and walking over to a pretty middle-aged woman in a tasteful lilac ballgown to ask her for a dance.

"Have fun." Jeremy bid me as he started to walk over to Bonnie Bennett of all people who seemed charmed by him, the moment he asked her for her hand. I smiled, happy for him even though he could so much better than the judgmental and arrogant Bennett witch. I refocused upon Esther who turned and retreated upstairs, and noticed Elena going to follow her. Thankfully, Damon blocks her way.

"May I have this dance, Sister?" I glance up in surprise as Kol offers me his hand. I smiled at him and curtsied like I was from the 1800s.

"You may, dear brother." I replied and placed my hand in his. "I just hope that I remember the steps." I fretted a little, chewing my bottom lip.

"I wouldn't worry, it's like falling off a log." Kol brushed aside my fears as he guided me onto the dance floor where everybody else was standing with their dance partners.

"That's what I'm afraid of. I was terrible at this a thousand years ago, and I daresay I haven't improved." I joked back.

Kol snorted with laughter once again, probably remembering this also, as I noticed Nik standing in line beside us with Caroline Forbes of all people, who looked less than happy paired up with my boyfriend, and was probably also glaring over at Matt Donovan who was paired together with Rebekah. He winked at me when he noticed me staring and I smiled back and smiled politely at Caroline when I caught her eye. Thankfully, Caroline smiled back, indicating that there was no ill-will between us, then returned her attention back over at Matt and Rebekah.

* * *

The music started, and the crowd began dancing after we curtsied and bowed to each other. The music, oddly enough, was modern for a centuries-old waltz and I immediately recognised it as _'So Close'_ sung by Jon McLaughlin from the 2007 live-action Disney movie _Enchanted._

I frowned, "Uh, Kol. Do you know who oversaw the music tonight?" I asked, curiously.

"Mother designated that chore to Rebekah, I think." Kol responded, frowning at the randomness of the question. "Why?"

"No reason. Just surprised at the choice." I responded, honestly and questioned when Rebekah had the chance to see _Enchanted_.

Kol and I marched along the floor together in parallel lines, with left hands holding left hands, and right hands holding right. We let go our hands, then turned to face the other line of dancers and nodded to Nik and Caroline in greeting.

The facing partners marched towards each other, passing through the gaps between the facing pairs and lining up again facing in the same direction. Kol spun me under his arm then pulled me in closer as I placed my left hand on his shoulder, and he places his left hand around my waist. We clasped our right hands together as Kol began to weave us through the crowd, fading into a more traditional waltz: step, step, step, lift. Step, step, step, lift.

"I don't know what you've been worried about, Grace. You're dancing excellently." Kol remarked, and I grinned at the compliment.

"Shush! Don't jinx it!" I joked back, and Kol chuckled as we continued the same step, step, step, lift around the room until we extended our arms while still holding hands as faraway from each other as possible. Kol then pulled me back in and let me spin under his arm. Only this time, we were required to switch partners. I immediately started to panic, but Kol leaned in and whispered reassuringly into my ear.

"Relax, Grace. Just let your partner lead." He told me, before letting go of my hand and I spun straight into Nik's arms.

"Hello, darling." He smiled at me, and I relaxed in relief and smiled warmly up at him. "Did you enjoy dancing with Kol?" He asked.

"It's bringing back some good memories." I admitted, rolling my eyes when I overheard Kol laughing from across the room. "Are you enjoying your evening?" I asked him, and he nodded.

"Surprisingly, yes." He responded as we continued the step, step, step, lift move around the room. "It's improved a lot more now that I'm dancing with you." He added, staring deep into my eyes. Pretty soon the dance was over, and I bobbed down into a curtsy and he bowed. "Shall we get that drink now?" He asked, escorting me from the dance floor.

"Absolutely." I agreed. "Let's make that a double."

Nik chuckled.

* * *

 **A/N: I've got a happy surprise for you lot in the next chapter. I've just got to revisit some of my old chapters to get the info first, since it has been awhile since I last wrote it.**

 **Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and please give detailed reviews about which was your favourite part. The next chapter will be out soon.**

 **TTFN xx**


	58. Love Me Tender

**A/N: I hope you like the surprise I have for you in this chapter. It's been a long time coming, that's for sure.**

 **I do not own** _ **The Vampire Diaries.**_ **All characters except for Grace belong to author L.J. Smith.**

 **Please review if you enjoy reading this chapter! No flames, please!**

 **Enjoy xx**

* * *

 **LOVE ME TENDER**

" _I want you to know that I am yours today, tomorrow and forever.  
I never knew what true love was until I met you." __**~Unknown.**_

* * *

 **Mikaelson Mansion  
** **Esther's Ball  
** **Night.**

All and all, Esther's ball appeared to be a huge success. Everybody was having fun and nothing nefarious seemed to be brewing in the shadows ready to throw the metaphorical spanner into the works.

But the night was still young, and I was far from ruling out that Esther had something up her sleeve. I had the nagging feeling that I wasn't alone in my thinking. It just seemed too good to be true that Esther's motives were purely celebratory and an honest desire to see her estranged, dysfunctional family together and whole like they used to be, before they became vampires and the Original Hybrid.

It was clear that Esther had somehow recruited Elena into her plans as well, since the girl kept continuously searching for a way to get up those stairs and meet up with her. But every time she thwarted by Damon. Last that I saw of Elena she was storming off in the direction of the ballroom with an irritated Damon glaring coldly at her back as she went, and a suspiciously blank Stefan observing from across the room.

"Penny for your thoughts?" I was jolted from my brooding thoughts and suspicions when Nik calmly muttered into my ear. I turned and smiled at him, trying not to give away how unsettled I suddenly felt.

"I'm fine." I said, a little too quickly. Nik takes my hand and leads me away from the guests and outside onto the balcony, frowning gently at me. The cool night air felt wonderful on my slightly overheated skin.

"You were a lousy liar a thousand years ago, sweetheart, and now, you're worse." He tells me, and I stiffen out of embarrassment and start to turn away. However, Nik reached up and turned my head back to look him in the eye. I hated the concerned and serious expression on his face as he continued to stubbornly frown at me, not budging until I told him the truth. "What's the matter?" He asked, and I sighed in resignation.

"I just have a feeling that something bad's about to go down, and it's connected with Elena somehow." I explained, and Nik's frown deepened.

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" He muttered, glancing back into the ballroom; presumably searching around for Elena.

"Because Elena is a vapid, nasty little attention-seeker. She's either directly or indirectly involved in any little problem that arises in this cesspool of a town. Whenever anything bad goes down, she's usually the reason for things going to hell." I responded bitterly, even though Nik's question was rhetorical. I raised an eyebrow at the amused expression on his face. "What?"

"You really don't like Elena. Do you?" Nik's eyes were laughing and playful, and I couldn't help but smile slightly.

"She reminds me day after day of both Tatia and Katerina. I swear, Petrova Doppelgängers must be cursed to have the same bloody personalities." I bitched.

Nik shrugged, "I didn't notice anything different with Tatia."

"That's because she was trying to get into your pants, sweetie; and at the time, you were like any other red-blooded human male." I said, a little condescendingly. "Thank god you are the faithful sort. You looked extremely uncomfortable and annoyed whenever Tatia was around and started shamelessly flirting with you." I stated, poking him in the chest as I told him this. Nik smirked, catching my finger before I could jab him again and chuckled as he raised it to his mouth and kissed it.

"You have a good memory, my love." He told me, and I smiled warmly at him.

" _Now_ I do." I joked, before moving in and laying my head against his shoulder. I really hated those memories of that bitch. "I'm not going to lose you or our family, or give _you_ up without a fight." I whispered, loud enough that only he and any other vampire nearby could hear me. Nik sighed heavily, wrapping me up into his arms and kissing my head. He obviously hated the fact that every instinct that he possessed told him that something bad was probably going to go down. Even more so when we had absolutely no clue what the plan was.

"I think it would be a good idea to keep a sharp eye on Elena. Just in case your inkling proves to be accurate." Nik surmised. I nodded against his shoulder.

"Sounds like a plan." I agreed, before stepping away from him and taking a seat on the stone banister of the balcony.

"Are you feeling any better now?" Nik asked, still frowning. I nodded, smiling warmly at him.

"Of course. Just feeling a little hot; I'm going to stay out here to cool off a little." I told him.

Nik smiled, "Okay, then." He leaned down and kissed my forehead before straightening up and heading back inside. "Don't stay out here too long. I've still got those surprises to show you." He reminded me, and I nodded.

"Looking forward to it, Nik." I said.

He retreated inside and blended into the crowd of guests, while I stood up from my perch and headed for the staircase to take a short walk in the garden. I was impressed by how the landscapers Nik had hired, had designed this part of the mansion and breathed in the lovely smell of the mown grass, fresh greenery and the fragrant flowers that had been planted here. I tilted my head up to see stars in the cloudless night sky, and for a moment it helped to distract me from brooding about what Esther was planning or if I was suddenly becoming just as paranoid as Nik had become.

"If Esther is secretly on our side—" I froze, recognizing Elena's raspy voice almost immediately and frowned. I picked up my skirts and wondered over to where I could hear her voice. "—we need to know. But I can't get to her with two bodyguards." I followed Elena's voice towards the entrance to the private meadow and saw that she was talking rather urgently with Stefan, of all people. I was unexpectedly hit with a bout of déjà-vu of when I had first witnessed Stefan having a tense conversation with Katherine at the Mayor's wake. Up until she stabbed him with an iron stem for rejecting her.

 _Wow! How long ago was that…?_ I thought, as I hid myself behind a tree faraway enough that I could still hear the conversation without being noticed by either one of them. I peeked past the tree trunk and saw Stefan looking confused with what his ex was going on about.

"Why are you telling me this?" He demanded, and I craned my head eagerly to make sure I didn't miss anything that might be construed as important information. Elena let out a frustrated sigh.

"Because Damon won't let me anywhere near her. Which is weird, because he seemed all for taking down Klaus and his family before. Now it's like he's had a change of heart." She frowned, not noticing Stefan stiffening for some reason when Damon was mentioned. But I was grinning from ear to ear, because now I knew why Damon had been persistently blocking Elena from going and talking with Esther for whatever reason.

He was finally backing down from mucking up Nik's plans, and I had a feeling it had something to do with his newfound discovery that Rebekah liked him. He must reciprocate the feelings, because I happened to glance over at him during the waltz earlier and discovered that he and Rebekah had been dancing together; and neither of them appeared to particularly mind this.

 _You're the best, Damon!_ I cheered him on triumphantly in my head as Elena scowled at Stefan, looking hurt and betrayed as she continued with her rant.

"And all you care about is killing Klaus, more than you care about anything. So—" She cuts herself off when she notices Stefan reacting to this and glancing down at his feet, looking indecisive. "What? Am I wrong?" She asks him, hopeful. Stefan glances up, still looking serious; much to Elena's disappointment. That is until he suddenly said:

"No, you're not wrong." Elena sags. "What do you need me to do?" He requests, getting straight to the point as Elena pushes aside the hurt in her eyes and looks at him with a steely determination that fills me with dread.

"Make sure that I can get into that room with Esther. Alone." She instructs, sternly.

Stefan looked doubtful, "You sure you can do this?"

"I can do this." Elena insisted, and picks up her skirts as she turns to walk away. But she suddenly stops and turned to face him once again. "When we were together, you used to let me make my own decisions." She smiled a little at him. "You trusted me. After all this time, at least that hasn't changed." Stefan didn't smile, but he nodded in acknowledgement before watching Elena go. I waited until both were out of sight before I quickly turned and headed back the way I came.

Whatever Esther wanted Elena for could not be anything good, and I needed more information about what that bitch was planning with Elena; and the only way to get that information was to follow Elena when she eventually went to Esther. However, my plans were slightly derailed when I got to the top of the staircase and saw a melancholy Caroline standing alone by herself beside the stone banister, staring down at the stables.

"Caroline?" She jumped, having obviously not expected somebody out here, and turned to face me. Her face was flushed, and her eyes looked slightly red and puffy. She had been crying, poor thing. "Are you okay?" I asked, concerned.

"I'm fine." Caroline was quick to respond as she wiped her eyes and attempted to compose herself. "Just needed some air. It's kind of hot in there." She said, and I nodded; relieved that I wasn't being a delicate little petal and that other people were feeling the heat too. "What are you doing out here?"

I shrugged, "Same as you. I've just been on a walk." I was still concerned about her and did not buy her answer. And neither was I about to drop the subject about why she was crying. Mostly because I had a vague idea why she was, but I needed her to confirm this, so I didn't make a foolish faux pas. "You look like you need someone to talk to? Would I be correct in saying-?"

"Look, I just told you that I was fine okay!? Just leave me alone. I don't need your help." Caroline cut me off and snapped at me angrily. "Shouldn't you be heading back to your mutant boyfriend?" I sighed heavily and turned to head for the closed French doors as Caroline showed me her back once again.

"Nik and I are not valcroed to the hip. But fine, I get the message. You want to be alone." I reached for the doorknob and pushed it down. However, I didn't open it just yet. I wanted to set the blonde baby vamp straight. "I can see that you're hurting Caroline, and that's okay we're all allowed to feel vulnerable at times. But don't take it out on somebody who's trying to help you." I opened the door, then hesitated. "If it's any consolation to you honey, I know exactly how you're feeling right now." I stated with a finality before attempting to step through the threshold.

"Yeah, right. How exactly am I feeling then?" Caroline spat, aiming to wound.

"I lost both my parents while I was away at College. I never got to say goodbye to them." I responded, smiling sadly at Caroline who instantly looked ashamed. "I'll leave you to it." I was just about home free when Caroline suddenly spoke up.

"How did you know?" Her voice sounded small and lost. I re-opened the door and saw her standing front on; her eyes wide and vulnerable, and I winced wondering if that was what I looked like when I finally learned that my parents were no longer alive.

"You'll have to be a bit more specific, hon." I said as Caroline scowled a little.

"How did you know that's why I've been crying?" Caroline reiterated, remarkably managing to hold onto her temper. I stepped back outside and closed the door behind me to preserve what privacy Caroline and I had as I came over to her and took a seat on the stone banister.

"Your father's death has been one of the main focuses in this town, apart from Nik and his family." I explained, much to Caroline's mortification. "But I have the feeling that's not the only thing that's been bringing you down. Am I right?" I asked her, gently.

"Am I that obvious?" Caroline wiped her eyes, slightly smearing her mascara.

"A bit." I shrugged, patting the space beside me on the banister. "What else has been bothering you?" I encouraged her to open. Caroline hesitated before visibly giving in and sitting heavily beside me.

"I suck at relationships, and I guess I'm just a bit jealous that you've got Klaus and I can't even hold onto Matt or get Tyler to stick around long enough to help me grieve for my dad." Caroline confessed.

"That explains why you were openly hostile when you suggested I go and find Nik earlier." I concluded. Caroline winced, and looked a bit guilty.

"Sorry."

"Don't be sorry. It's natural to lash out when we're pissed off and hurting. Just choose your target more wisely next time." I reassured her before getting to my feet and offering my hand. "Come on! Let's get you cleaned up." I said, brightly.

Caroline's eyes widened in horror, "Oh shit! How bad is it?" She fretted, covering her face with her gloved hands. I giggled and pulled her hands away, holding one of them in my left hand.

"Nothing serious. Your mascara is the only casualty." I reassured her as I tugged her to her feet. Caroline grimaced and rolled her eyes.

"Oh, great. I probably look like a panda." She whined and this time it was my turn to roll my eyes.

"Don't be so melodramatic." I scolded, as I opened the French door and stood back to let Caroline go through first. "I swear, you and Nik could be contenders for the gold medal in overreaction." I muttered, ignoring Caroline's protesting spluttering as I half-led, half-dragged her towards the guest bathroom which surprisingly did not have a huge line of guests waiting to use it. We managed to get inside and amazingly there was nobody inside, so I locked the door to help Caroline preserve her 'dignity' and fix her face. But also, so the poor girl could get the chance to relax a little and hopefully open a little further to elaborate on both her problems.

I wasn't disappointed.

"Did you ever find out how your parents died?" Caroline suddenly blurted out as she dabbed away the smudged mascara from around her eyes with a wet paper towel. "Or is that still a sore subject?" She asked, awkwardly. I smiled at her reassuringly.

"It's fine. I don't mind talking about it. It happened a few years ago, and while it still smarts a little it gets easier to talk about it after a while." I explained.

Caroline's face fell a little, "I hope so…" She whispered.

"My mum had stage IV breast cancer." I confessed, holding onto Nik's silver wolf tooth for the comfort he couldn't physically provide himself. "But while her death was inevitable and expected, it didn't mean that it didn't hurt any less when she eventually did pass on." I began my sad story. Caroline immediately looked contrite. "My dad apparently took her death the hardest. You see they were so in love with each other; never had a fight that they couldn't resolve within 24 hours or ever forgot to tell each other whenever they could that they loved each other. It was like they were still newlyweds, even though at the time they had been almost 33-years married." I told her, with a sad little smile on my face.

"That so sweet!" Caroline gushed getting starry-eyed at the idea. "What happened to your dad?" Her dreamy little smile slowly falling from her face.

"He died of a broken heart not even three days after mum died. I found out a couple of days after that." I replied, sighing a little.

"Oh, God. I'm so sorry." Caroline apologized and I smiled at her.

"It's all good. I'm better now than I was then. I was even granted the opportunity to complete my degree via correspondence since I was so close to graduating. It was the first time a dean had been that generous for a student." I continued, pushing up from where I was leaning against the sink and started to pace. "Since then, I've been traveling around and living like a nomad. At least, up until I came here to Mystic Falls and found Nik and my family again."

Caroline frowned at the mention of Nik but seemed to brush aside the question that was on the tip of her tongue to ask a different one.

"What are you studying?" She asked, genuinely curious.

"I _was_ studying Fine Arts with a minor in Creative Writing. I graduated a few months ago and I should be getting my diploma in the mail any day now." I said, proudly.

"Don't you want to go back and walk in your graduation ceremony?" Caroline looked a little crestfallen when I shook my head.

"I'm not really interested. I've got my degree in something that I love, why go through the pomp and circumstance?" I questioned. "Besides, I wouldn't have been able to make it. Connecticut is a long way away from here." I pointed out. "What's your other question?"

Caroline looked shocked, "How did you know I had another question?"

"Because you frowned almost immediately after I mentioned Nik and his siblings. Don't keep me in suspense." I stated, slightly impatiently.

"How long have you been in a relationship with Klaus? Since you told me that you only just recently 'found' him again." Caroline asked me, looking a bit skeptical. I stopped pacing and paused to look her in the eye with a smile on my face.

"Well, that's easy. Nik and I are childhood sweethearts. You could say that our relationship is a bit of a love match." I explained, matter of fact.

" _Childhood sweethearts_?!" Caroline looked at me dubiously. "Seriously?"

"Of course. We grew up together and found each other again when I was killed then reincarnated." I insisted. Caroline looked at me doubtfully, so I tried a different angle to help her understand. "Look, I've been in this situation before with people who didn't believe me. And I've managed to prove it to them, so I can do the same with you." I offered, casually.

"How?" Caroline demanded.

"I can let you take a peek into my memories." I explained.

"Who have you let do that?"

"Elena, Jeremy and this one doesn't count because he jumped right in to view my memories while I was vulnerable and asleep, but Damon too." I answered.

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Caroline quipped.

"Because you're not a moron." I said, then sighed. "Look, do you want the answers to your question or not, Caroline?" I asked her, impatiently.

Caroline hesitated, "Fine. Let's just get this over with." She said. "What do I have to do?"

"Just do what you would normally do to compel someone, but instead you'll appear in a specific part of my memory. I'll be there to guide you every step of the way." I explained. "It's one of the perks of being a Medium." I muttered sarcastically as I offered my hands – palm up – to Caroline.

She eyed them with a perplexed frown before eventually taking them and taking a deliberate hard unblinking stare into my eyes. Almost instantly my eyes snapped shut.

* * *

 _ **Grace's Memories  
**_ _ **A thousand years ago.**_

 _"Where are we?" My eyes re-opened when I heard Caroline's slightly worried voice in my ear. I glanced around our surroundings, trying to pinpoint exactly where we were. A light breeze blew through the trees, disturbing our hair and carrying with it the smell of fresh unpolluted air with hints of hickory oak, maple and mountain laurel, as well as a strong, but pleasant whiff of a campfire burning away off to our direct left._

 _I've always loved the smell of campfire smoke. It unlocked memories for me of nights when the Mikaelson siblings and I would all crowd around a large campfire with our friends, and swap stories of what happened during the day. Sometimes those stories had us all laughing and sometimes had us all soberly listening in and lending a shoulder to cry on if their day turned out to be not so great._

 _"Not quite sure yet. Nothing looks familiar." I responded absently, before taking off in the direction of where I smelt the smoky campfire scent. Caroline jogged to keep up easily behind me._

 _"Seriously?" She groaned._

 _"Be patient." I responded, distractedly. Then froze when I heard children's laughter off in the distance. I smiled, sighing with relief. "Come on." I called back to Caroline who grumbled but managed to fall into step beside me._

" _This better be worth it." She groused as we soon come across a boy with dark brown hair probably not much older than perhaps eight-years old, playing with two younger boys. Both were obviously his younger brothers: a little chap, also with dark brown hair and surprisingly sharp, intelligent brown eyes who looked about five-years old, was chasing after an adorable little boy with long unruly dirty blonde hair and a chubby cherub face with blue-green eyes, who looked about two-years old. Both older boys were making sure the toddler stayed out of trouble as he was stumbling around, exploring and picking up random objects like any typical toddler was liable to do at that age, while being closely watched by his older brothers._

 _I grinned, recognizing them almost immediately and walked closer to them to continue observing, even though none of them would be able to see Caroline and me._

 _"I think it will be." I promised as Caroline eyed the trio with interest._

 _"Do you know them?" Caroline asked me, curiously._

 _I nodded, "That's Finn, Elijah and the toddler trying to catch that butterfly, is Nik." I explained and smirked when Caroline's eyes widened in surprise._

 _"That cute little boy is Klaus? Oh, my gosh!" She gushed, obviously forgetting for a split second that the little boy who was giggling innocently before our eyes, was the same 'young' man that had danced a centuries-old waltz with her earlier that she highly disliked. "But where are you? I thought that this was your memory?" I opened my mouth to respond to her query, but both of us immediately flinched when a harsh, deep voice suddenly pierced the air._

 _"FINNIK!" The eight-year old suddenly went ramrod straight and turned to look in the eye a tall, muscular man in his late-20s early-30s with wavy shoulder-length blonde hair who was stomping towards him with what seemed like a permanent scowl on his face._

 _"Yes, Father?" He responded promptly, causing me to react out of shock when I realized who this man was._

 _"Grab your brothers and come back to village. Quickly!" He snapped before he turned and immediately stomped away without another word, leaving a slightly shaken Finn to gesture towards Elijah to pick up Nik and follow him down the trail that presumably led back to the village. Caroline's mouth fell open._

 _"Who the hell was that jerk?" She asked, looking appalled as we quickly raced after Finn, Elijah and Nik._

 _"That would be Mikael." I told her, soberly._

 _"THAT'S Mikael?"_

 _"Yep." I confirmed, scowling in resentment. Caroline scoffed in disbelief._

 _"No wonder Klaus was so determined to kill him at homecoming. His father was such a dick towards his kids!" She observed with disgust._

 _"Nik isn't his kid, as it turned out." I told her, causing Caroline to snap her head at me out of surprise. "But they won't discover this until AFTER they've been turned into vampires." I stated._

 _"So, where are they going?" Caroline asked, curiously._

 _"My best guess would be their house." I said. We followed the boys deeper into the thickening woods, over fallen logs covered with slippery moss and boulders in not much better condition, before finding ourselves standing in the thick of thatched huts with the villagers milling around, going about their business. In the heart of the village stood the enormous White Oak Tree and surrounded by tiny purple vervain flowers. Caroline wrinkled her nose with mild distaste as she glances round at everything._

 _"Wow. This is … quaint." She eventually said, insincerely._

 _"_ This _was home, once-upon-a-time." I corrected her, smiling nostalgically as I took in my former home. "Welcome to Mystic Falls: Viking-style." I introduced Caroline formally, as her eyes widened in shock. That was when I spotted Finn and Elijah almost disappearing into the crowd, and I seized Caroline's arm to tug her in the same direction. "Come on. Or we're going to lose 'em." I told her._

 _We eventually arrived at the Mikaelson's home where Mikael was waiting impatiently for something (or someone) and another very familiar man was standing nearby looking more anxious than impatient Mikael did. I immediately recognized the second man and let out a surprised gasp._

 _"What?" Caroline was alert and searching for the danger. I shook my head to calmly reassure her as I continued focusing upon the second man. Caroline finally took notice. "Who's the guy standing next to Mikael?"_

 _"My father." I responded, quietly._

 _"Your dad?" Caroline parroted looking surprised as she glanced between us for some resemblance presumably._

 _"Yes. My dad from this first life." I elaborated. Then our heads turned towards the hut when suddenly we heard a baby crying at the top of their lungs. Both Mikael and my father's eyes widened in anticipation just as a dark-skinned woman that I recognized as a younger looking Ayana stepped from the hut my father had been pacing in front of and looked at Mikael with a congratulatory smile._

 _"Mikael, you've been blessed with another son. Congratulations." Ayana announced, then a few seconds later there was another baby's cry. Ayana's eyes widened. "Excuse me for a moment." She withdrew into the hut, while my father approached Mikael and clapped a hand on a mildly happy Mikael's shoulder._

 _"A son. You must be honored, Mikael." My father praised him._

 _"Thank you. Let's hope that fate has smiled upon you as well." Mikael acknowledged as Caroline's eyes widened and turned to look at me._

 _"I think it's safe to suggest that this memory is the night of my birth and Kol's birth." I explained to a shocked Caroline. "Our parents were close family friends. As the Mikaelsons and I grew up, we frequented each other's huts to socialize or help each other with our chores." Then my face fell slightly, making Caroline frown a little with concern. "And in some cases, Nik and his siblings would sometimes retreat to my hut to escape Mikael whenever he would have one of his famous violent and often physical tempers." I added, much to Caroline's alarm._

 _Ayana stepped once again from the hut, this time opening the door wide as she turned towards my father with a beaming smile on her face. "You have a beautiful, healthy daughter. Congratulations." My father wept a few happy tears, which he tried to discreetly wipe away before Mikael could see them before following him, Finn, Elijah and Nik into the hut so that they could greet Kol and me for the first time._

 _Caroline and I followed too. The inside of the Mikaelsons' hut was just as I remembered it: large with an equally big fireplace that had a fire crackling away in it and another open doorway that lead into an adjoining room, that I recalled lead towards the shared bedchambers._

 _The floor was dirt with straw strewn around to help keep the moisture away and to help insulate during the winter months. There were some basic but good quality wooden tables, chairs and benches. Some decent sized windows with wooden shutters which were currently closed to preserve what dignity and privacy Esther and my mother required during their labors, heavy wooden chests used to store blankets, spare clothing, cloaks, stoles, irreplaceable home-wares and even weapons; some of which adorned the walls as decoration and also for easy access should they feel threatened at all._

 _Both Esther and my mother were propped up against the wall and lying on animal furs, looking exhausted but proud as punch as they held their newborns in their arms; quietly cooing at them to soothe their cries. Some blankets had been thrown over their legs to preserve their dignity, and both looked up at their respective husbands the very second, they, Finn, Elijah and little Nik appeared in the room._

" _You didn't have very much, did you?" Caroline observed, still looking mildly appalled by the living conditions; and I couldn't help but roll my eyes at her slightly snobbish reaction to what living rough used to look like a thousand years ago._

" _It was a harsh life, Caroline. We had to make do with what we had. Besides, in comparison to other families, Nik's family and my family were considered very wealthy. Other families wouldn't have a lot of this." I explained, as I watched my father rush over to greet my mother and me, and Mikael approaching Esther with Finn, who looked mildly interested that he was once again an elder brother to another mouth to feed, Elijah who was excited to be an older brother once again, and a curious but ultimately confused Nik frowning down at Kol as though wondering why his mother was holding a small pink wriggling thing in her arms._

" _Congratulations." Mikael grunted at his wife with a small smile on his face as he gazed down at his newborn son. "Have you decided on a name yet?" He asked, a little indifferently._

" _Kol." Esther responded, smiling proudly before turning to her other sons. "Meet your new brother, my sons." She said, allowing them to come over and crowd around her so they could see their new sibling. A loud wail coming from over where my parents were gazing awestruck down at me, like any other new parents with their newborn; attracted Nik's attention. He immediately lost interest with examining Kol and stumbled over to investigate._

" _NIKLAUS!" Mikael suddenly bellowed fiercely, causing_ _ **everybody**_ _including Caroline and I, to jump._

" _God! What that fucking necessary?!" Caroline raged, glaring at Mikael even though the man could not see us, then looked over at Nik with sympathy as the poor little boy immediately burst into tears out of sheer fright. Which of course, triggered both Kol and baby me to wail as well. I let out a weary sigh._

" _To Mikael, yes, that was necessary." I confirmed as Esther immediately scowled at her husband with disdain._

" _Mikael, control yourself!" She admonished him, before looking down at Elijah and softening her face a little. "Elijah, go take care of your brother. You may go and see our friends' new child as well." Esther gave her permission as Elijah nodded solemnly and ran over to wrap a sobbing Nik in a hug and attempted to soothe him. He then escorted his brother by his little pudgy hand over to where my mother was cradling me._

 _I wondered over as well; as I was curious to see how this memory turned out, since I obviously didn't remember it._ _It was very heartwarming to see how loving Elijah was being towards Nik, who it seemed copped Mikael's wrath even at this tender age. I was relieved, because despite their differences back in 2012 the loving nature that five-year old Elijah was using to take care of Nik_ _ **now**_ _, was being displayed despite how cleverly he was trying to hide it._

" _Hello, boys!" My mother chirped happily, before patting the space beside her for Elijah and Nik to take a seat. Elijah then promptly sat down and pulled a quietly sniffling Nik into his lap as my mother shifted slightly and carefully placed baby me onto Nik's lap, causing the little boy to immediately stop crying and glance down dubiously at me. "Support her head, Elijah." My mother instructed, and Elijah immediately placed his small hand underneath my head. "Her name is Gráinne." She told both boys who were still blinking down at me in astonishment. "Will you both help me take care of her, as well as your own little brother?" She asked, and Elijah grinned._

" _Yes, ma'am." He responded, as Nik smiled and wrapped both arms around baby me to give her a hug. Then my eyes widened when he placed a sloppy kiss on my forehead._

* * *

 _Caroline gasped as the memory faded, and I looked up to see the blonde vampire looking stunned._

 _"Wow. Who knew Klaus could be so sweet?" She commented, and I raised a hand into the air._

 _"Uh, I knew. Also, Rebekah." I reminded her. "And first, Nik was only two at that stage. All children have sweet temperaments at that age, and only change after witnessing how their parents behave in polite society." I explained, earning a strange look from Caroline for probably sounding like a walking encyclopedia. "For example, Nik has his moments when he can be a sweetheart, and then other times he has the temperament of a king Cobra." I thought, distastefully._

 _Caroline paled._

 _"Yeah, I kind of worked that part out for myself." She responded, shuddering a little. I chuckled, earning a slightly annoyed glance from Caroline which quietly changed to trepidation when another memory began to surface. "What's happening now?" She asked, nervously._

 _"Relax, hon. It's just another memory. Hopefully these won't be as detailed as that first one." I silently hoped._

* * *

 _When the memory focused, we were standing in the warm sunlight, surrounded by trees and nature. Caroline glanced around with interest._

 _"Where are we now?" She asked me, taking a seat upon a fallen log. I was about to respond when a twig snapped and we immediately turned towards the sound, alert. It was a very familiar dirty blonde-haired boy of about nine-years old with angry blue-green eyes walking towards us,_ _looking very despondent._ _He was wearing loose brown trousers, a red-orange long-sleeved tunic top with a brown belt tied around his waist and some well-worn traveling boots. We watched as he looked around for a few minutes, searching for something before making a decision and then went to sit at the base of a nearby tree. He buried his face into his drawn up knees. "Is that Klaus?" Caroline asked, and I nodded silently, biting my own bottom lip as I eyed his split bottom lip and slightly roughed up appearance. "What happened to him?"_

 _"He had another altercation with Mikael." I replied, walking over to crouch in front of him, and wishing that I could reach out and wipe away the tears I was almost certain were falling down his cheeks. "Nik and the rest of us had a laundry list of chores that we had to complete each and every new day, before we could go and play. Nik didn't finish his, and he paid the price when Mikael found out." I stated, much to Caroline's horror._

 _"Niklaus!" I flinched when my familiar voice rang out in the distance, and all three of us turned or looked up to see a six-year old Gráinne_ _come running into view. Gr_ _áinne was_ _dressed with her hair in a loose ponytail, except for her bangs which had been braided and tied back, and she wore a white cotton dress with a mahogany tunic, and some slightly scuffed brown traveling boots. She looked worried as she glanced about looking for her friend. "Where are you?" She hollered._

 _"When I had learned what had happened via Elijah, I ran off to find him; despite Elijah's suggestion that I should let him be. So, I ran off in the direction Elijah said that Nik had disappeared off in until I eventually found him." I continued explaining. Then Caroline and I watched as Gráinne finally spotted Nik and came over to him._

 _"There you are! Why did you run away?" She asked him, innocently. Nik didn't look up from his knees._

 _"Just go away, Gráinne. Leave me alone." Nik mumbled, hunching into himself even more. Gráinne frowned and came over to kneel beside him._

 _"Why should I do that? I thought we were friends?" She retorted. That comment made Nik look up at her in confusion._

 _"Of course we are. Stop being stupid." He scowled at her, which of course made Gráinne react negatively._

 _"I am not stupid! Stop being mean, I'm trying to make you feel better." She pouted, and Nik finally snapped._

 _"What part of leave me alone don't you understand?!" He growled and instead of being afraid, Gráinne merely smiled. She hobbled over to him, wrapping her arms around a surprised Nik's neck._

 _"Stubborn little shit, aren't you?" Caroline sounded amused and I glanced over my shoulder to see her, sitting with her face in her hand as she balanced her elbow on her knee._

 _I shrugged, "Somethings never change."_

 _"Don't be sad, Niklaus. I'll always be here to comfort you, and so will Elijah, Kol, Finn, Bekah and Henrik." Gráinne promised him, and I smiled remembering that promise. "Things will get better, you'll see." Nik still looked surprised and a little unsure, but eventually he smiled and relaxed into the hug Gráinne was giving him._

* * *

 _The memory faded, causing Caroline to frown in protest._

 _"Hey! What happened after that? That was just getting good!" She stated, getting to her feet and stomping over to me._

 _"Nik and I spent a few hours together, just talking and playing or play-fighting. Anything to help him feel better and distract him about the fact that Mikael seemed to really have it in for him for whatever reason. Then Elijah was sent out to go find us to bring us back to the village for dinner and family time before we had to turn in for the night so we could restart the cycle all over again … minus Mikael's bullying." I said, grinning. "We both were practically inseparable and you could usually find us together. On occasion, even Rebekah socialized with us. Except when Nik was required to begin training to become a warrior and both Rebekah and I started to learn how to become proper housewives."_

 _Caroline made a face at the mental image, but at the same time also looked extremely fascinated with the impromptu history lesson I was showing her._

" _This is almost as good as Alaric's history class." She mused, and I grinned; flattered. I had successfully distracted Caroline from her angst in the process of helping her to understand my romance with Nik._

" _That's nice of you to say. Thank you." I replied, graciously. Caroline shrugged._

" _So, what else happened?" She asked, a little impatiently. I smiled and shook my head._

" _When Nik was seventeen and I was fifteen, we decided to start courting each other." I continued, and Caroline frowned looking confused._

" _What's 'courting'?"_

 _I looked at her incredulously. "For somebody who is constantly bemoaning that she can't hold down a boyfriend, or who is constantly going on about romance, I'm surprised you haven't come across this term by now." I commented. Caroline scowled at me._

" _So, sue me. What does it mean?" She insisted, sounding crabby._

"‛ _Courting' is an old-fashioned term for dating." I explained. "It's a pretty redundant term nowadays. Which is a shame, because people have become extremely jaded towards the idea of romance. Taking the time to get to know a person before eventually deciding that the time was right to seal the deal and devote themselves to each other forever, seems to apparently take too much effort." I ranted, sadly. "Now it's mostly all about 'one night stands' or 'spontaneous marriages between drunken couples', only for it all to end in divorce days later."_

" _That's kind of depressing. And you seem to have put a weird amount of thought into that." Caroline looked at me shrewdly, and I shrugged choosing to plead the fifth on the topic. "But I think can I understand what you're getting at." Caroline conceded. "So! What happened next? Did you and Klaus get engaged?" She gave me a teasing little wink, while a nostalgic smile spread across my face that caused Caroline to raise an eyebrow._

" _Yeah, we did. Eventually." I admitted, feeling coy. "Nik and I courted each other for the next four years, and during the fourth year of our courtship, Rebekah and I were invited to attend the wedding of a close friend of ours called Aemilia, who was due to be married to her suitor who was about ten years her senior." I said, giggling at the revolted face Caroline was making._

" _Ewww! Was that even legal?" She asked._

" _Very. Women, especially Viking women, back a thousand years ago were married as young as 12-years old, then it was expected of them to run a household once they were married." I told her._

" _Why? What ever happened to having a normal childhood?" Caroline complained, and I gathered my patience; remembering that she was born into the 20_ _th_ _century and was used to completely different customs when it came to marriage._

" _Define normal." I asked, then powered on before Caroline could respond. "Women were married that young because of t_ _he high mortality rates. People were married that early so that they could procreate and produce as many children as they could to boost the population. Most people back then were lucky to reach their fiftieth birthday or even get the chance to see their first grandchild. It was just the way things were done during the Middle Ages." I explained as patiently as I could._

" _So, you and Klaus married late then?" Caroline asked, cautiously._

" _Not exactly. I was considered a spinster at the age of nineteen, but Nik still had plenty of time to be married; he just chose not to." I said._

" _So, it's a sexist thing?" Caroline mused, bitterly. I shrugged, preferring not to respond. "What did you mean 'not exactly'?" She was quick to ask, and I winced realizing we were close to revealing the reason why we weren't married yet._

" _The entire village was invited to Aemilia's wedding. The bride was quite happy with the arrangement, despite the obvious age difference and the reception was celebrated on a nearby meadow, not far from where the long ceremony was held." I narrated, and Caroline groaned when another memory appeared._

" _Again?"_

* * *

 _I frowned at her with disapproval as we were immediately greeted with the lively sounds of upbeat medieval-style music consisting of drums, flutes, tambourines etc. as well as joyful laughter, boisterous shouting and singing, everything that was required for a typical happy wedding reception._

 _"Hey, don't complain. You wanted to know more about my relationship with Nik. You're going to just have to persevere." I scolded her, as we walked towards where the festivities were kicking off. It was just as I had remembered it; a makeshift dance floor full of couples and groups of friends dancing merrily together. "Now, Caroline." I called out to her as she came up to stand beside me, looking mildly interested in the party unfolding before her. "Tell me that you wouldn't enjoy attending a party like this one." I baited her, as I heard a familiar squeal of carefree delight and looked over to see Rebekah dancing with a friend in the thick of it._

 _Caroline paused and took in the party, before a tentative smile appeared on her face. "Yeah, I guess I could get into something like this." She eventually conceded. Satisfied (and probably just a little smug) I continued observing for the second time, the events that led towards Nik proposing marriage to me._

 _"Gather round, girls. Gather round!" Aemilia yelled out to the crowd of unwed girls, and Caroline immediately brightened moving to stand among the crowd before belatedly remembering that she was not able to be seen, and instantly stopped herself, pouting._

 _"Don't worry, Caroline. You'll get your chance someday. All is not completely lost." I reassured her, as we turned back to watch (or re-watch in my case) the bouquet toss. As Aemilia turned her back and readied herself to hurl the flower grenade into the crowd which unfortunately, I noticed (and grimaced as I remembered) included a reluctant Gráinne; Caroline suddenly spoke up._

 _"So, who ended up catching the bouquet?" She asked curiously as Aemilia counted to three and threw the flowers over her head and nailed Gráinne in the face with the colorful spray. I flushed with mortification as Caroline smirked. "Never mind. Nice catch." She teased, playfully. I scratched the back of my head as I watched as Gráinne was helped to her feet, spitting petals from her mouth._

 _"It wasn't one of my better moments, I must admit." I said, before leading Caroline out of the crowd and towards the woods._

 _"Where are we going?" Caroline looked at me curiously, noting my red face. "Oh, come on. It wasn't that bad." She tried to unnecessarily buck me up, and I rolled my eyes and hastily brushed aside the sympathy._

 _"I'm not that thin-skinned Caroline, I'm merely following the events of my memory." I explained. "After my 'triumphant' catching of the bouquet—"_

"— _unorthodox, but yeah." Caroline interrupted to insert her two cents._

" _I desired some time to myself." I scowled at her, unamused, before continuing. "So, I decided to take a walk through the trees." I pointed towards Gráinne who was walking unhurriedly along the trail, before taking a seat upon a log and staring at the setting sun off in the distance. Suddenly, Nik appeared, and Caroline frowned curiously._

 _"What's he doing here?" She asked._

 _"I'm not going to spoil the surprise." I told her. "But I recalled feeling concerned because Nik looked unusually nervous, despite the smirk on his face and how casually he was walking." I stated, and Caroline turned to study Nik too; obviously trying to work out what was about to happen next. I knew the second when she figured it out, when a huge beaming smile and an excited squeal pierced the air._

 _"Oh, my God! I so can't wait to see this!" Caroline, ever the romantic, announced and dashed forward to get a closer look at the proposal that was about to take place. I stayed behind, already knowing what Nik will say to me, and that I would accept. But I couldn't help but wonder if Nik was still wanting to get married to me. "Oh, come on, Grace! You can't miss this!" Caroline shrieked excitedly into my ear and practically dragged me over, pushing me down beside Gráinne as I came face to face once again with Nik. His blue-green eyes were filled with such warmth, that I couldn't believe that I had forgotten them at this moment. I glanced over at my past life's face and saw the joyful tears gathering underneath her eyelids and realized that I had tears forming in mine also. A brief glance at Caroline confirmed that she was also on the brink of tears too._

 _"Gráinne …" I immediately snapped my head back in Nik's direction and saw him reaching forward to take her (my) hand in his. "_ _You are my best friend, my love, my life, my everything." I jerked in surprise when Caroline suddenly seized my hand in hers and held it with an iron grip, as she waited with bated breath to hear what Nik had to say next._

 _"Ow…" I muttered, scowling at her._

 _She ignored me._

 _"I've loved you for as long as I can remember, and no matter how long I live; I'll never love anybody else as much as I love you." I looked back at Nik and felt myself melting all over again. "Will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?" Nik finished his proposal, and at the same moment; Caroline let out an ear-piercing fan-girl squeal and nearly broke my hand in her excitement. But I barely noticed, as I was remembering how I was feeling at this moment._

 _"Yes." Both Gráinne and I whispered in perfect unison, as I watched Nik sliding the engagement ring he had made for me all those years ago onto Gráinne's finger, and I couldn't help but look down sadly at my own ring finger and wondered exactly what had happened to it when I died. I looked back up in time to see Gráinne and Nik passionately kissing each other, and I bit my bottom lip and turned away, unable to watch as the memory slowly faded away…_

* * *

 **Mikaelson Mansion  
** **Esther's Ball  
** **Night.**

What felt like hours in my memories, was a split second. Exactly how it was when Jeremy and I took a trip a few weeks back. The second Caroline got over the slight dizziness and realised that we had returned; she immediately resumed geeking out over Nik's proposal.

"Oh, my God! That was the most romantic thing I had ever witnessed EVER!" She gushed, bouncing on the spot like a hyped-up toddler. "You're such a lucky bitch, Grace!" She told me, before groping for my left hand, expecting to see that beautiful engagement ring Nik had made for me and stopped short when all she saw was a bare finger. "Huh? But-but where is it?" She looked at me with confusion, and I hastily snatched back my hand, and looked away. Caroline was immediately concerned by my reaction. "Grace, what is it? What happened to your gorgeous engagement ring?" She asked, gently. I hesitated before reluctantly giving the blonde vamp an explanation.

"A few weeks after Nik and I officially got engaged, Henrik, the youngest Mikaelson brother was mauled to death by a werewolf during the full moon when we were supposed to be hiding out in the caves for our own safety. Nik witnessed this and blamed himself that he was unable to save him or the fact that he believed that he should've tried harder to stop Henrik from leaving the caves." I told her.

Caroline looked horrified.

"Oh, shit! You mean that kid out there who looks like a mini-Elijah was killed?" I nodded. "Then how the hell is he here if he's supposed to be dead?" She asked, looking confused.

"He's a ghost." I replied.

"No, seriously. Is he a vampire too?" Caroline frowned at me, unamused. I scowled back, wishing that this whole entire conversation wasn't so complicated.

"No. I just explained to you that Henrik is a ghost. Don't you remember when Mystic Falls was suddenly inundated with the ghosts of the dearly departed?" I attempted to jog her memory.

"Is that when Henrik returned?" Caroline looked shocked.

I shook my head, "No. He's been with me ever since I was reborn into this life 21-years ago. He only became solid during that single event." I explained.

"This is too weird." Caroline decided, then frowned. "Wait. What do you mean 'reborn'? What aren't you telling me?" Caroline suddenly took on an accusatory tone.

"I'm getting to the point, I promise." I told her. "Henrik's death turned out to be the beginning of the end for the Mikaelson's and, as it turned out, me." I said.

"I don't like the sound of that. What's this got to do with your relationship with Klaus?" Caroline asked, tentatively.

"Everything as it turned out. Soon after Henrik died, Nik and his siblings barred themselves from the rest of the village, for our safety. I became extremely worried, because I didn't see any of them except for Esther, and it was because they had just become the world's first ever vampires. When I finally saw them again, Nik was very standoffish; still very loving and eager to get married, but he kept me at arm's length."

Caroline frowned, "Why?"

"Why do you think?" I frowned at her. "What was the first thing that you thought of when you transitioned into a vampire?"

"I was thirsty. All I could think about was—" She cut herself off when she realized what I was getting at. "Oh."

I nodded, "One night during the next full moon, we were all camping out in the caves with the rest of the village. Nik, Elijah, Esther and Mikael were taking a very long time to join us inside the cave. I remember that both Rebekah and I were feeling anxious, considering what had happened to Henrik; so, I got up to go and investigate why they were taking so long. That was the last time I ever saw Rebekah, Kol and Finn until last year when I moved here to Mystic Falls and started reuniting with them one by one." I said.

"What happened outside of the caves?" Caroline was almost whispering at this point. "Why was it the last time you ever saw them?"

"I discovered Esther and Mikael casting the Hybrid Curse upon Nik in a clearing not too far from the caves. Elijah was assisting them, albeit reluctantly." I explained.

"What?!" Caroline exclaimed.

"I foolishly barreled in to stop them from cursing Nik, but he yelled at me to run. It was already too late for me to stop the curse from being cast, but I just painted a target on my back and now I had to run for my life." I said, causing Caroline to pale.

"Oh, God. What happened?" She whispered, fearfully.

"Mikael was after me, and I had to flee for my life because I knew he was going to kill me. Nik managed to break free from the restraints Mikael and Elijah had tied him up with, and he found me and attempted to protect me. But Mikael found us, and had Elijah restrain Nik while he dealt with me. Right in front of Nik, Mikael stabbed me to death with his sword." I looked away, feeling ashamed.

"You died?" Caroline looked horrified, and I nodded. "Oh, God. I never thought I would say this, but poor Klaus." She looked sincere, and I was grateful. "What happened to your ring?"

I shrugged. "I don't know."

There was an uncomfortable silence as Caroline let the information, I had just shared with her sink in. She looked completely devastated. Eventually, she stepped away from the mirrors and walked towards the restroom door, unlocking it with a flick of her wrist. But she paused before disappearing through it.

"Thanks for telling me about your relationship with Klaus, Grace. I think I have a better understanding about him now. Maybe he's not such a bad guy after all." Caroline smiled, as I smiled back at her approvingly.

"No, he really isn't. Unless you provoke him otherwise." I stated. "Thanks for listening." Caroline smiled once again and opened the door. "Wait!" She turned and looked at me, questioningly. "Why did you want to know about our relationship in the first place?" I asked, curiously. Why this question hadn't occurred to me earlier, I'd never know.

"I thought that Klaus had compelled you to be his personal blood bag and sex slave." Caroline reluctantly confessed.

Okay … I wasn't expecting _that_ answer.

"What?!" I whisper-shouted, feeling suddenly sick at the idea.

"I know I'm sorry. I feel stupid for thinking that now that I know that it's not true. But honestly, I was just trying to help you, Grace. I swear!" Caroline pleaded.

"What on earth made you think that?" I demanded, feeling slightly insulted.

"Before you came to Mystic Falls, I was compelled by Damon to be his 'Renfield to his Dracula' but with benefits. It was back when _he_ first returned to Mystic Falls and was a completely evil jackass and before I got turned into a vampire." Caroline looked completely humiliated, and I didn't blame her.

"That's so sick and twisted. What the hell Damon?!" I muttered, disgustedly. "I'm so sorry that you had to go through that." I added. Caroline gave a very weak smile.

"Thanks. But don't judge him too harshly. He's more than made up for his faults. Even more so since you've 'returned' to Mystic Falls. I mean, he's still an arrogant dick but he's changed." Caroline surprisingly defended Damon, and I couldn't help but feel surprised by this.

"Thanks, Caroline." I said, sincerely.

"Sure. See you around, Grace." Caroline said, before disappearing out of the door.

* * *

After being painted a vivid little picture in my head of Damon's twisted and dark little fantasies, courtesy of Caroline, I spent a little extra time in the bathroom trying to clear my head. I eventually emerged from the bathroom and intended on rejoining the ball and enjoying what was left of it with Nik, hopefully in peace.

That was when I spotted Elena surreptitiously looking over her shoulder as she climbed up the staircase towards where I knew Esther's private study was. I immediately followed, eager to find out what Esther was up to. I trailed Elena to the second level of the mansion and noticed both Finn and Esther in her study. I was disappointed that Finn happened to be involved in this. But I supposed I shouldn't really have been surprised, if what both Nik and Rebekah had been telling me was in fact true; that Finn was never able to cope or adjust with being forcibly changed into a vampire.

It turned out that Finn's daggering had been a unanimous decision between all the siblings to protect Finn from himself.

The plan had been to press my ear up against the door so I could listen in on the conversation between Elena and Esther. But the second that Finn left, and the door was closed behind him, I heard nothing.

Weird.

I was left with no choice but to retreat downstairs and rejoin the party. Confused, and a little frustrated I headed back to the staircase and made my way down to the foyer with the intention of getting a stiff drink. Instead, I almost bumped into Nik who brightened the second he saw me.

"There you are, Grace. Where'd you get off to?" He asked, a little curiously. I smiled back, absently noting that he seemed a bit nervous for some reason.

"I bumped into Caroline a few minutes ago. She was a bit upset and I was helping her maintain her dignity." When he looked blank, I circled my finger around the circumference of my face. "Freshen up, fix her makeup?" I elaborated and Nik nodded.

"Is she alright now?" He asked, concerned.

"Yeah." I replied, pleased that he hadn't dismissed her like he probably would've previously. "Plus, I believe she may have acquired a little bit of illumination as well." I told him. Nik raised an eyebrow as he took my hand and started guiding me through the mingling crowd of guests.

"Illumination? About what?" He asked.

"I cleared up some things that seemed to be bothering her. It seemed she needed somebody to talk to about her problems and I was the best candidate for the job." I responded, trying to be as vague as possible so Nik didn't suspect that Caroline's problem, had in fact been skepticism over our blossoming thousand-year old romance. It was then that I realized Nik was leading me towards his study. My eyes widened in surprise. "Why are we going in here?" I asked, curiously.

Nik gave me a secret smile, "One of your surprises is in here." He told me, and I instantly brightened. Partly because I was finally going to be getting a glimpse inside a room that I had been temporarily banned from since I first officially moved in. But also, because, I was excited to see exactly what surprise Nik had been hiding from me. Placing his hand on the small of my back, Nik reached forward and pushed down on the doorknob, gently pushing open the door and gesturing towards it. "After you, love." He said, smiling indulgently. I stepped forward through the threshold into the room. My mouth fell open in awe when I got my first glimpse into Nik's study.

It looked just like any other typical study: it had a large fireplace with fire crackling away, and some of Nik's personal knick-knacks were lining the mantelpiece. An enormous polished oak desk stood underneath a large window with heavy taupe curtains, with papers and other important documents were strewn across it in an organized mess. There were more Persian rugs lying on top of the burnished wood stained floor, and there was a large leather-backed chair was tucked in behind the desk. In front of the fireplace; a couple of large comfortable brown high-backed armchairs that stood waiting to be sat upon. It looked like a fantastic place to lose yourself in a good book, or just to doze off in front of the warmth of the fireplace. There was a mobile wet bar close by, and some large bookcases stood against the wall opposite Nik's desk, stuffed with every piece of literature he had ever collected over the centuries.

Most of them probably all 1st editions too.

It was a generous size, with the same color scheme as the rest of the mansion décor. The only difference was the large collection of beautiful paintings that lined the walls. Most I recognized, others… not so much. I frowned in confusion and turned to look at my strangely silent boyfriend who was studying me closely and had closed the door behind him so that it was slightly ajar, in case people were looking for us.

"I thought you said this was also your art studio as well, Nik?" I questioned, puzzled. I noticed out the corner of my eye that there was an easel standing beside Nik's desk with a white sheet over the top of it preserving and hiding whatever was underneath.

"It is. But most of the time it serves its purpose as my study." Nik explained. "When I do require some time to myself, I simply shift aside some of the furniture and lay down some drop sheets."

"That's brilliant." I grinned, before glancing about the room; wondering what it was that he was trying to show me. "So, what did you want to show me?" I asked, walking over to lean against the desk and waiting expectantly for him to get to the point.

"One of my passions." Nik promptly responded, walking over to the wet bar and pouring us some drinks. I smiled and shook my head.

"I already know that you're a gifted artist, Nik, because of the masterpieces on your walls." I gestured to the paintings all around us. "I've also seen the art collection in the hallway leading to our bedroom. What do you really want to show me?" I insisted as he came over and handed me my glass and I took a dainty sip. Nik takes a sip from his scotch as he walks over to the easel with the covered painting.

"Just this." He whips over the white cloth with a flourish, revealing the artwork underneath. "I hope you like it, darling." He said, sincerely and my eyes widened as I set aside my glass and straightened up from my lean against the desk to approach the easel in complete shock.

"Oh, Nik!" I breathed. "It's wonderful!" The painting that Nik obviously put a lot of time and effort into, was a portrait of, well, me, but from our time as Vikings.

"Do you really like it?" Nik asked me, sounding nervous as I looked at him like he was insane.

"Like it? I love it! Thank you so much!" I walked over to him and wrapped him up in a hug that would've busted his ribs if Nik had not have been a powerful hybrid.

The painting was a head to thigh portrait of how I used to look like as Gráinne; with the same ridiculously long waist-length brown hair that had been pulled back into an improvised ponytail and accessorized with wildflowers. Much like how Rebekah used to do with her own hair and sometimes mine whenever she was feeling particularly bored. I couldn't help but shake my head when I remembered how much time and effort a young Viking woman would put into her hair, just to be noticed by a potential suitor.

I had no need to attract anybody. Mostly because none of the other eligible bachelors in the village at the time were game enough to go up against Nik (or even Kol and occasionally Elijah), who could be extremely overprotective and territorial when it came to both myself and Rebekah. Well, that. And because, unknown to myself, Nik had already laid claim upon my heart.

I noticed to my amusement that Nik had chosen to paint me wearing my favorite blood-red dress; the one with the skin-tight sleeves and sweetheart neckline, and a brilliant smile was spread across my peach colored face.

"You're more than welcome, darling." Nik mumbled tenderly, returning my very warm embrace. He seemed extremely reluctant to let go when I suddenly pulled back to look him in the face.

"Where do you want to hang it?" I quickly asked, enjoying the pleased smile that lit up Nik's face when he saw how enthusiastic I was reacting to his painting.

"I was thinking somewhere in our room." Nik hinted, and I nodded in agreement.

"Good idea. I think I know the perfect spot too!" I said, turning back to continue looking at Nik's painting. Nik chuckled and reached once again for my hand, leading to me towards the door while I blinked at him in confusion. Where the hell were we going now?

"I look forward to discovering that on a later date, but right now, I still need to show you your second surprise. Shall we?" He tugged gently on my hand and I nodded uncertainly. We left the study and weaved our way through the crowd and back out of the French doors towards the courtyard.

* * *

"We're going for a walk in the gardens?" I took a guess. But Nik immediately shook his head.

"Not quite. But we do have to walk through them to get to where I'm aiming for." Nik explained, and I couldn't help but feel intrigued; if not slightly suspicious. I also could swear that I could feel somebody's eyes on the back of my head, and I glanced around searching for the culprit, feeling paranoid. "Something the matter, Grace?" Nik had obviously noticed how distracted I was, and I glanced back and smiled at him.

"Not at all. I'm just really curious about what surprises you have in store for me now." I admitted, truthfully.

"I am confident that you will love this surprise just as much as the first one, love." Nik reassured me.

"I'll hold you to that." I warned him, playfully. The entire time, Nik did not let go of my hand as we traveled through the gardens. It was though he was expecting that I was suddenly going to turn tail and run away from him in the next few seconds. Eventually, we stepped into the private meadow and the curiosity continued to climb. "What are we doing out here in the meadow?" I asked him, as Nik turned to face me and took my other hand in his.

"I thought it would be nice to spend a little time alone together underneath the stars." He said, sounding a little secretive and I started to get just a bit nervous, because it appeared that this was going to be just a bit more than a simple stroll in the meadow at night.

"Doing what?" I asked. Suddenly, the music from inside the mansion changed and began playing a very familiar song; a song that I never thought that any of the siblings or even Esther would've liked listening to. Nik gave me a warm smile.

"May I have this dance?" He asked, giving the customary bow.

"Yes, of course." I accepted automatically, before Nik spun me on the spot then pulled me into his arms and we started swaying side to side.

" _ **Love me tender, love me sweet. Never let me go. You have made my life complete, and I love you so."**_ The deep, crooning voice of Elvis Presley suddenly sang out, and despite how oddly romantic this was, I still couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

"I didn't know you were an Elvis Presley fan." I commented, and Nik chuckled.

"Of course, I am. He was an absolutely bloody brilliant singer in his time, and a very nice bloke." He said, as we continued slow dancing.

" _ **Love me tender, love me true. All my dreams fulfilled."**_ My eyes nearly fell out of my head.

"Whoa. You actually met him, face-to-face?" I exclaimed. He nodded. "When was this?"

"1956 I believe it was." Nik replied after thinking for a few minutes. "The same year he filmed _Love Me Tender_ and recorded the song." He added, smiling at the memory.

" _ **For my darling I love you. And I always will."**_ Elvis continued singing, and I laid my head against Nik's shoulder, shutting my eyes as he continued leading us through the improvised steps of our spontaneous dance underneath the star-filled skies. _**"Love me tender, love me long. Take me to your heart. For it's there that I belong and will never part."**_ Nik spun me around again and playfully dipped me over, laughing with me as we straightened up and resumed turning slowly on the spot in time with the song. _**"Love me tender, love me true. All my dreams fulfilled. For my darling I love you and I always will."**_

"What inspired you to do this, Nik?" I couldn't help but ask, as the song started entering its final two verses.

" _ **Love me tender, love me dear. Tell me you are mine. I'll be yours through all the years. 'Till the end of time."**_ He was silent for several minutes, presumably just listening to the verses or searching for the answer to my question. _**"Love me tender, love me true. All my dreams fulfilled. For my darling I love you. And I always will."**_ The song ended, and Nik still hadn't replied to my question. I grew worried.

"Nik?" I prodded gently.

He smiled, throwing me off guard. "I felt it would add a nice touch to my surprise." He explained, absently.

"What? The song, or the dancing?" I was still confused.

"The song." Nik said, once again taking my hand and leading back towards the gardens. "I honestly thought the lyrics were a dead giveaway." Then he shrugged. "All well, the message must've been too subtle." I really wanted to ask him what the hell he was talking about but realized that staying silent and just going along with it would give me the answer I was seeking soon enough. We walked to the part of the Mikaelson's garden where we were surrounded by a sea of fragrant magnolias, and Nik lead me over to a nearby stone garden bench. Without another word I sat down on it and waited for Nik to get to the point.

"Nik, you seem nervous. Are you alright?" I asked him as I watched him reach inside his pocket and fiddled with something.

"I'm fine. Just trying to figure out the best way to word this." He responded.

"Word what?"

"But then I realized," He ignored my question. "The old words should suffice." He said, his blue-green eyes smoldering. "I believe the saying nowadays is: _'If it ain't broke, don't fix it.'_ " Then he got down on one knee. My eyes widened, and my heart suddenly skipped a beat. "So, like I once said to you, a thousand years ago: Grace," Nik took my left hand in his, and it was literally like we both had stepped back in time. "You _are_ my best friend, my love, my life, my everything. You already know that I've loved you for as long as I can remember, and will continue to do so **no matter** how long I live, and I'll never love anybody else as much as I love you."

Tears were already streaming down my face while he was saying this, and I gasped when Nik produced the very same engagement ring: the silver band with the Lapis Lazuli shaped heart, and our names and the words 'love' and 'forever' chiseled there in Viking script that he had forged a thousand years ago, from his pocket.

"You kept this, all these years?" I whispered, as Nik nodded and slid the restored ring onto my finger.

"Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?" He repeated, verbatim. I immediately cupped my face into my hands and started sobbing. "Grace?" Nik, immediately concerned, came closer to me, then stumbled to restore his balance when I launched myself into his arms à la Drew Barrymore in the movie _Ever After: a Cinderella Story,_ when she did the same thing to Dougray Scott, and laid such a kiss on him that I think I caught him off guard. However, he immediately recovered and picked me up, spinning us around on the spot as we laughed happily. "I'll take that as a 'yes', shall I?" He chuckled before leaning back in for another kiss.

* * *

 **A/N: I hope I did that last part justice. Let me know your thoughts by reviewing! The next chapter will be out soon!**

 **TTFN ;)**


	59. Something Wicked This Way Comes

**A/N: Be excited! It's a new chapter for** _ **A Thousand Years!**_ **I hoped everybody enjoyed the last chapter, it really kicked my ass when I was trying to figure out where I was going with it.**

 **I don't own** _ **The Vampire Diaries.**_ **All characters except for Grace belong to author L.J. Smith. This story belongs to me.**

 **Please review constructively, but please do not flame me or my story. Huge thanks to everybody who has persevered so far with the story, and left reviews to show your appreciation and encouragement. Please keep them coming!**

 **On with the show!**

* * *

 **SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES**

" _Fair is foul, and foul is fair."  
_ _ **~The Witches (William Shakespeare: Macbeth [1606])**_

* * *

 **Mikaelson Mansion  
** **Esther's Ball  
** **Night**

In my opinion, 'surprised' was probably not really an accurate way to describe how I was feeling at that moment. No. 'stunned' would probably be closer to the truth. Or even the term 'floating on air' could be hitting the mark. Nik and I were finally back to where we had left off a thousand years ago: Happy, and engaged. Too bad our happiness was all about to be shot down in flames the very second, we walked back into the foyer; hand in hand and completely unaware of the shit that was about to go down.

 _Ting ting ting._

All heads swiveled over to the staircase where Esther was standing, holding a glass of red-tinged champagne in her hand. Her eyes were scanning the room, and both Nik and I stiffened and frowned a little when they locked on us and a joyful smile spread across her face.

"What is she up to?" I mumbled underneath my breath to Nik who squeezed my hand reassuringly as he responded just as warily.

"I don't know." He replied, glancing around the room for one of his siblings. We both spotted Elijah, looking blank-faced as he stared at his mother's reaction to our presence also. When Nik gave him a questioning look, he shrugged much to Nik's frustration.

"Good evening, Ladies and Gentlemen." Esther projected to all her guests with the perfect hostess smile on her face. "Waiters are coming around with champagne." White gloved waiters carrying trays of the same red-tinged champagne immediately entered the room and started handing them out to the guests, including Nik and myself, and the rest of his siblings. "I invite you all to join me in raising a glass. It provides me with no greater joy than to see my family back together as one." Esther announced before locking eyes on both Nik and I again. "And I mean this quite literally. For just this evening, something very special has just recently occurred."

I felt the blood vanish from my face, while Nik immediately frowned when we both realized what she meant and what she intended to do in front of the guests. So, it _had_ been Esther's eyes that I could feel penetrating the back of my head earlier.

"Oh, God. She wouldn't." I pleaded.

"Believe me, love; she would." Nik stated angrily, as the guests started muttering among themselves about what the Mikaelson's 'special event' could be.

"Would my children please come up here with me on the staircase?" Nik raised his eyebrow before raising my hand and kissing the back of it.

"Just breathe, sweetheart. We'll get through this." He promised me. I nodded as he released my hand and waded through the crowd to come stand with Finn, Elijah, Kol, Rebekah and Henrik on the staircase, who were looking puzzled, while he was looking mutinous.

"What's going on?" I glanced over at Jeremy who looked at me with concern. He must've noticed how pale I had gotten the very second Esther had mentioned the special announcement and came over to investigate. "You look like you've seen a ghost." He commented. I wished I could laugh at that comment, considering that I really could see ghosts whether I wanted to or not, but I was too horrified to care.

"I wish to extend a heartfelt congratulations to my son, Niklaus, on his engagement to Miss. Grace Williams." Esther said. Finn, Elijah, Kol, Rebekah and Henrik's eyes immediately swiveled over to me just as somebody grabbed my left hand and let out an excited shriek.

"Oh, my God! You got it back!" It was Caroline and I immediately started to panic, hearing my heartbeat thudding in my ears. "Congratulations!" She yelled, before wrapping me up in a bear hug that I struggled uselessly to get out of. Caroline took one look at my face and immediately looked concerned, especially because I wasn't jumping up and down and basically acting like any other girl who just recently got engaged to the love of her life, and ready to dissolve into excited babbling with her girlfriends.

If that seriously was what Caroline was expecting of me, then she really didn't know me and needed to get with the program.

"What's wrong, Grace? Aren't you happy about this?" She looked genuinely confused by my reaction as I gently extracted my hand from her grasp.

"Very happy. But Nik and I wanted to keep our engagement just within the family for the moment." I told her over the rising sounds of applause around me. My eyes narrowed. "Esther is bang out of order." I added and watched Caroline glancing in the direction of the staircase and visibly cringing.

"Yeah. Klaus looks pissed off." She observed and I glanced up to see that my fiancé looked ready to pounce and was being subtly restrained by Elijah and surprisingly Kol, although Elijah didn't look exactly pleased either and he was looking at Esther with suspicious eyes.

"Please come on up here, Grace." Esther called out to me and a hand suddenly took mine. I glanced up at the person, with the intention of telling him or her to not touch me and to bugger off. But faltered when I saw that it was a very serious faced Damon.

"Damon? What are you-?"

"I just wanted to come over and congratulate the soon-to-be bride in person." He explained in a loud clear voice as he smiled at me but looked a little worried as well. "Just go along with it. I'll try and help you figure out what's going on." Damon muttered in my ear before tucking my hand into the crook of his elbow and pulled me towards the staircase.

As we walked, all that seemed to be going through my head were the words 'dead woman walking'. When we reached the bottom of the staircase, Damon quickly handed me over to Nik who pulled me toward him and backed up to where Elijah and Kol were standing looking down at me sympathetically. I managed to smile demurely at the guests before trying to half-hide behind Nik as I wished that this whole night was over and that I was anywhere but here. Pretty sure Nik was thinking similar thoughts as well.

Esther, obviously oblivious to the embarrassment she had caused, raised her champagne glass in a salute.

"I'd like to thank you all for being part of this spectacular evening. Cheers!" She takes a sip from her glass and the rest of the guests follow suit. I sighed and raised the glass to my lips, and I was about to sip when an odd but familiar smell camped out in my nostrils. An almost metallic smell that I could just barely make out behind the alcohol. Frowning, I took a sip and immediately spat it back into the glass when I realized what it was.

"Sweetheart? What is it?" Nik whispered to me urgently.

"Oh, my God. Don't drink it!" I warned him, and consequently Elijah and Kol who were about to sip as well.

"Why? What is it, poppet?" Kol whispered also.

"Blood! There's blood in the champagne!" I whispered back urgently. All three brothers looked down at their drinks in horror. Kol immediately reached over and tapped Rebekah on the shoulder. She turned and looked at him questioningly, as he relays what I had just discovered to her. Rebekah looks at her glass with disgust. All five of us look at Esther, suspiciously.

"What's the plan?" Rebekah questioned, sternly.

"For now, we do nothing." Elijah responded, much to our shock. "Clearly there is a reason why mother polluted our champagne with blood. So, our best course of action is to go along with it and make her believe that we have drunk the champagne." Elijah suggested.

"We'll figure out the finer details later." Nik agreed. Rebekah glanced down at Finn.

"Should we let Finn know?" She asked.

"No. I wouldn't count on him to help us; he's been by mother's side all night." Elijah explained. "I fear he might be involved with what mother has been planning."

"Besides," Kol scoffed. "He was one of the few who drank their champagne quickly after mother finished embarrassing our brother and poor Grace." He said with disgust. The four of them immediately raise their glasses to their lips and made a show of drinking the red-tinged liquid, and the entire time Esther was watching us.

Rebekah looked at me with worried eyes.

"Are you okay now, Grace?" She asked, concerned.

I smiled a little, "I'm fine. More annoyed than anything." I confessed. Rebekah frowned at her mother who was quickly retreating upstairs and out of sight. Nik wrapped both arms around my waist and pulled me close to kiss my temple.

Still obviously angry.

"Where are you going?" I asked Elijah who was making his way back down the staircase, looking like a man on a mission.

"To have a word with Elena. I have the feeling she was lying to me when I first confronted her tonight after her conversation with mother." He disappeared into the thinning crowd and I noticed that Kol had disappeared as well.

I shook my head.

 _Vampires…_ I thought, exasperatedly.

"We should rejoin the guests." Rebekah suggested as she descended the staircase and went to mingle. Nik and I followed cautiously and politely smiled or nodded at well-wishers who came over to congratulate us on our engagement.

"I feel a sense of déjà-vu coming on." I joked, earning a chuckle from Nik when he realized what I meant. When we were first engaged, we didn't get a moments peace for about a week. Which was typical for a small Viking village where everybody knew everyone's personal business.

Suddenly we hear somebody yelling out from extreme pain and it was coming from the balcony outside. Nik and I looked at each other in confusion before hurrying outside towards the balcony to investigate what was going on. However, before we could even step outside; we saw Damon standing behind a visibly injured Matt Donovan who was cradling his crushed hand. Damon was glaring at Kol, who looked unusually dangerous and just a wee bit smug for some reason.

"Easy on the hand. Guy's a quarterback." Damon told Kol before rushing at him and pushing him off the balcony. He immediately jumps after him.

"Damon!" I yelled out in protest and rushed after them, as I heard Nik sigh in frustration behind me.

"Figures. What the hell did you do now, Kol?" He muttered, following me at a leisurely pace. At the bottom of the stone staircase I turned the corner and gasped when I saw Damon beating the ever-living hell out of a bristling Kol.

"Stop it! The both of you!" I yelled, rushing over to them.

"Keep back, Grace. Nik won't forgive me if you get hurt!" Kol warns me, and I bristled at _him_.

"Well, we wouldn't be in this position if you hadn't broken Matt's hand, now would we?" I retorted. Kol rolled his eyes, taking them off Damon for a split second to look at me with mild disgust.

"Geez, crucify somebody for just having a little bit of fun. Is that really a crime now?" He bitched, before Damon suddenly catches him off guard and snaps his neck.

"Yes. Yes, it is." Damon drawls, sarcastically.

I gawk in horror, "What the fuck, Damon!?" I rushed over, crouching at Kol's side, just as Stefan comes running out of a door and takes one look at the scene before scowling at his brother in annoyance.

"Damon! Are you crazy?" He wanted to know, as Nik calmly walks up behind me and the rest of the Mikaelsons and Elena suddenly appear overhead from the opened door to see what the commotion was. Damon looks bored as he looks up at the balcony and shakes his head.

"Maybe a little." He agrees, before pointedly frowning at somebody up above. Smart money would be on Elena. "Far be it from me to cause a problem." He added, snidely.

"Actually, I think it was probably the most appropriate action to take at the time." Nik suddenly pipes up, much to the surprise of everybody on the scene. Damon didn't smile.

"You're welcome." He grunted at Nik who rolled his eyes at this defiant response, before Damon looked at me with concern.

"Thanks, Damon. But I think you'd better go before Kol wakes up." I suggested, earning a scowl from Damon. "Don't look at me like that. It's for your own safety. Unless you want Kol to rip off both your arms, string you up and play 'whack the piñata'." I stated, and Damon relaxed the frown from his face when he realized that I was trying to help him. He nodded.

"Congratulations to you both." He said to us, before taking one last look at somebody up above, then turning his back and walking away.

Nik and I glanced down at Kol's temporarily dead body.

"So, now what?" I asked, smoothing back Kol's hair from his face. Nik craned his head. He was listening for something only his advanced hearing could pick up.

"The party is winding down. Now, we pick up Kol and put the fool into his room so he can recover in private. Then, I guess the rest of the night is ours." He shrugged, as he stooped down and scooped Kol's body up into his arms and over his shoulder. I followed him back up the stairs and into the mansion.

"So, we're not going to come up with a plan to figure out what your mother is up to and how to stop it?" I asked, a little concerned that that wasn't his main priority.

Nik shook his head, "No. To tell you the truth, I'd rather spend the rest of _my_ night with my fiancée, whom I had just re-proposed to this night and haven't gotten the chance to let it sink in yet." He told me, smirking.

I smiled back and shook my head at him.

"You're an idiot." I told him fondly, before leaning in and kissing him. "I'll see you upstairs." I promised before walking back into the mansion, leaving Nik to deposit Kol into his bedroom upstairs. I was walking towards the kitchen to ask the hybrid servant working in there to make me a cuppa when I spotted Rebekah standing at the front double doors, looking indecisive. "Bekah?" She looked up at me. "You okay?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Rebekah asked, a little defensive.

"Because you look like you're struggling to stop yourself from doing something that might get you into trouble?" I pointed out, and she sighed in defeat.

"It's kind of my fault that Matt got hurt." She admitted and I raised an eyebrow at the confession.

"How is it your fault?" I asked.

"I originally invited Matt to the ball so I could kill him." She said, and I looked at her with horror.

"Why would you do that?" I demanded, appalled.

"To make Elena suffer." I glowered at her, unimpressed. "But I changed my mind at the last minute because Matt was being nice and a gentleman towards me, and I couldn't bring myself to destroy that." Rebekah admitted, and I relaxed a little.

At least that cleared up part of the confusion.

"What does that have to do with Kol's actions?" I asked, hoping that she would continue to clear things up.

"I told Kol my plans. He must've taken it upon himself to finish the job when I backed down at the last minute. Bloody moron." Rebekah stated, with disgust. I bit my bottom lip, worried about my 'twin's' sanity.

"Has Kol always been like that?" I asked her, unsure that I wanted to know the answer.

Rebekah winced.

"No, this is Kol on a good day." She confessed, and I shuddered.

"Jesus! I'd hate to see him on a bad day." I said, uncomfortably.

I continued inspecting my sister, who still looked hesitant about something involving the blonde quarterback. I realized that all Rebekah needed was a little nudge out of the door and some encouragement; since it was obvious that she wanted to make amends with Matt for her brother's bloodthirsty attack on him. "Why don't you go and clear the air with Matt." I suggested, gently.

"Excuse me?" Rebekah looked taken aback.

"You heard me. You probably won't get a good night's sleep unless you do so." I pointed out.

"You really think I should?" Rebekah hesitated.

" _Carpe Diem._ Who knows, this gesture might turn out in your favor. And if it doesn't, at least your conscience will be clear." I reminded her. "What have you got to lose?" Rebekah paused for a few moments, letting my advice sink in before eventually smiling and opening the front door.

"Thanks, Grace. I'll see you in the morning." Rebekah promised and I smiled back.

"Go get him." I encouraged her, before continuing towards the kitchen when the front door closed behind her. Half-way towards the kitchen, I changed my mind and instead headed for bed.

I was _so_ over this night…

* * *

 **Next Morning**

I sat curled up on the couch downstairs in the Mikaelson's living room in a pair of comfy blue jeans with ripped knees, a bottle green wool cashmere sweater and some thick woolen socks; circling my hands around a large steaming mug of tea as I sat, deep in thought about what happened earlier this morning when Nik and I woke up.

A coy smile spread across my face as I recalled exactly what happened…

* * *

 _ **(Flashback)**_

 _I stirred, groaning when I glanced over at Nik's clock radio and realized that yet again, I had woken up way too early. Yawning, I sat up and flipped my legs over the side of the bed with the intention of getting up to greet the day. However, I didn't get very far as a strong arm suddenly wrapped around my waist pulling me back down onto the bed. I let out a startled '_ eep!' _as I landed on my back with a surprised grunt and stared up, bewildered, into Nik's smirking and playful, but still slightly sleepy face._

 _"Nik?" I blurted out, before smiling in relief._

 _"Where do you think you're going?" He chided, playfully. I laughed, sitting up against the headboard as Nik re-positioned himself so that he was kneeling between my splayed knees and leaning over me._

 _"It's morning. Time to get up." I clarified, putting my hands flat on his T-shirt covered chest, preparing to gently push against him so I could get up again. He shook his head, tightening his arm around my waist and gently pulling me closer as I instinctively wrapped my arms around his neck._

 _"I think not." He murmured, leaning down to kiss me and nuzzle at my neck. This sent a wave of shivers down my spine and I felt him smirking into my neck as he continued teasing me with slow, calculated kisses. To my surprise and delight, he continued traveling south; kissing as he went._

 _"So, the light reflecting into the room is a figment of my imagination?" I teased, feeling slightly breathless as I attempted to get closer to him, while at the same time pressing_ him _closer; enjoying the attention he was paying towards my body._

 _Nik chuckles, "Completely."_

 _He sits up and smiles at me tenderly._

 _I truly love the 21_ _st_ _century. It would've been forbidden for Nik and me to do anything like this during the 10_ _th_ _century until_ after _we were married. Thank god the rules have changed, and couples can be a bit more adventurous with their affections for each other. Not to be shunned or have people whispering behind their backs and given filthy, disapproving looks by the prudes._

 _A mischievous smirk of my own spreads across my face._

 _"Well, in that case—" I immediately flipped us over so that I was straddling a surprised Nik's waist and stared down at him. He recovered almost immediately, looking up at me with pure delight on his face as he caressed my thighs and attempted to sit up to wrap his arms around my waist. I put my hand up to stop him. "I better make the most of it, before I 'wake up' for real."_ _He chuckled as I captured his lips with mine._

 _"I love you." Nik whispered, pulling back a little to look at me with a vulnerable expression on his face._

 _I carded my hands through his hair, before pressing my forehead against his._

 _"I love you too, Nik." I whispered back before resuming our kiss._

 _ **(End of Flashback)**_

* * *

The sound of the front door opening jerked me back to the present, and I frowned getting up off the couch and walking towards the entrance. I lean up against the door frame; out of sight, to see who was letting themselves into the mansion. I saw Rebekah, still dressed in her emerald green mermaid ballgown, attempting to creep back into the house to avoid waking everybody else up. She quietly closed the door behind her and headed for the staircase. I observed that her previously perfectly curled honey blonde hair was now hanging loose and losing its curl, and had been unceremoniously shoved into a sloppy ponytail; something that Rebekah wouldn't dare leave the house in.

 _Hmmm? What do we have here?_ I wondered privately as I sipped at my tea and watched as my sister glanced about to see if the coast was clear, before taking to the staircase and hurrying up them for the sanctuary of her bedroom. Curiously, I quietly and calmly followed her; sipping from my tea as I padded up the staircase, and down the corridor towards the bedrooms. I approached Rebekah's bedroom and knocked politely on the door.

"Go away, Kol!" I heard Rebekah shout through the door.

I paused, slightly taken aback; wondering how many times Kol had done this in the past for his sister to suddenly stop him in his tracks before even setting foot into the room. I knocked again, this time a little more insistently. Immediately, the door was wrenched open and an annoyed Rebekah appeared, ready to shout in my face before she faltered upon seeing me, looking at her with amusement.

"Good morning, Rebekah. Are you well?" I asked, casually. Without warning, she grabs me by the wrist and drags me into her room and slams the door behind her. "You can make as much noise as you want, Bek. Your brothers aren't here." I pointed out, observing her obvious nervousness as I took another sip from my tea and waited for an explanation. When none was forthcoming, I decided to ask for one. "So, what's with the walk of shame?" I asked casually.

"Walk of shame?" Rebekah looked at me quizzically. "What on earth is that?" She demanded, as she quickly reached back to unzip her dress and shimmy out of it, revealing her strapless black lace bra and (something I wasn't prepared for) French knickers.

"Oh, yeah. Of course, you wouldn't know that term." I mentally face-planted, kicking myself for my idiocy. "It's a term to describe a person walking from another person's house to your place wearing the same clothes that they had been wearing the night before." I explained, taking a seat upon her bed and sitting cross-legged. "Typically, and popularly used when said person is returning from a night of sex, and it is obvious that _that_ has occurred because of wrinkled clothing, disheveled hair and/or smudged makeup due to heavy making out." I added, smirking when my sister's dark blue eyes widened, and she turned away out of disgust.

"That sounds vulgar." Rebekah commented, resuming to disrobe.

"But still true, and sometimes amusing to watch." I pointed out, cheerfully. "Many of my friends at College performed the walk of shame, often regretting their conquests over very large mugs of black coffee." I reminisced, nostalgically.

"I'm so glad I can entertain you, sister." Rebekah stated, sarcastically.

"So, I take it that Matt accepted your apology then?" I grinned over the rim of my mug as I winked mischievously at her. Rebekah scowled at me, pulling her hair out of the ponytail.

"No. He did not." She said, embarrassed and looking guilty. My grin faded slightly, replaced with a look of confusion.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Who was the lucky man then?" I asked, taking another sip from my tea.

"Damon Salvatore."

I did a spit take, "WHAT!?" I coughed and spluttered as Rebekah smirked back, mischievously. "Since when?" I demanded, clearing my throat as Rebekah changed underwear and pulled on a pair of tight white skinny jeans, a black and white blouse and some white strappy sandals.

"Last night, at that Mystic Grill establishment." Rebekah responded, with a bit of disinterest; although I could see a small smile playing about her lips as she recounted last night's 'recreational' activities. That sparked my immediate interest.

"This I gotta hear." I immediately piped up.

"No. I don't think I shall elaborate." Rebekah retorted, light-halfheartedly.

"What? Why?" I demanded, crestfallen.

"Because you were being mean. I don't take kindly to being teased." My sister smirked. I sighed, hopping off the bed and walking over to where Rebekah was sitting at her dressing table brushing her hair and re-applying her make up.

"Bekah, I was just ribbing you. That's what sisters and very good friends do to each other." I told her, setting aside my mug and wrapping my arms around her shoulders.

"I don't kiss and tell." Rebekah insisted, and I glanced in the mirror, rolling my eyes when I realized that she was trying and failing rather spectacularly to keep a straight face.

"Alright fine. I'll strike a bargain with you." I changed tactics.

"Listening."

I pulled away from her and moved to lean against the dressing table so I could see Rebekah's face properly. She raised an eyebrow, waiting to hear what I had to say.

"You tell me what happened last night…" I said.

"Yes?"

I brandished my left hand at her, and her eyes zeroed in on my engagement ring. They grew as wide as dinner plates.

"And I'll tell you how I got _this_ back." I bargained, and a huge smile spread across Rebekah's face as she took my left hand in hers to examine the ancient ring.

"He did it? Nik bloody well did it!" She muttered, looking at me then at the ring and back again. I looked at her in confusion.

"Well, do we have a deal?" I asked, taking my mug with my right hand as Rebekah still had my left hand in her possession. She looked at me, before shrugging and letting go of my hand.

"Fine. But you've got to go first." Rebekah insisted, acting haughty, and I nodded smiling at her fondly, knowing that she was excited that I was getting a second shot at becoming her sister-in-law officially.

"Fair enough." I agreed without an argument, before proceeding to spend a good ten minutes regaling her with how Nik decided to romantically re-propose marriage to me. Rebekah made a face when I mentioned Nik's use of Elvis Presley's song _Love Me Tender_ to assist himself with asking for my hand.

"Who is this Elvis Presley person?" She asked, frowning.

My mouth fell open.

"Are you serious right now?" I stated, with disbelief. Rebekah just looked at me blankly, causing me to pull my phone from my back pocket to access Google and look up the King of Rock n' Roll in the images page. I selected the appropriate picture and handed my phone to Rebekah who took it and glanced down at the photograph of a younger version of Elvis from the '50s _before_ he beefed up and lost his svelte body.

"Oh. Yummy…" Rebekah smiled a little then glanced up at me. "What happened to him? Is he still around?" She asked, looking a bit hopeful. I frowned, taking back my phone and accessed a picture of Elvis in his later years _before_ his death in the 1970s. I passed it back to Rebekah who eagerly glanced down at my phone and recoiled in horror. "Bloody hell! What happened to him?" She asked.

I shrugged, replacing my phone back into my pocket.

"This is the dark side of fame. What can _sometimes_ happen to you." I replied, uneasily.

Rebekah frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"Elvis sort of went off the deep end." I explained, reluctantly. "He turned to drugs, alcohol and fatty foods in abundance. Died in his mansion in Memphis, Tennessee in 1977." I told a disappointed Rebekah, leaving out _how_ he died to spare her the details. "Oh, don't worry. He had a fantastic life … it just got too much for him in the end." I reassured her. Rebekah brightened a little. "Okay, now it's your turn. Tell me what happened last night. Just don't go into excruciating detail about what went down with Damon." I pleaded, shuddering at the mental picture that appeared in my head.

Rebekah sighed and shook her head as she started on her explanation.

* * *

 _ **(Flashback: NO P.O.V)**_

 _ **Last Night  
**_ _ **Mystic Grill.  
**_ _ **Late.**_

 _Rebekah, on the advice of Grace, nervously arrived at the Mystic Grill where she was sure Matt was likely to be and pushed open the doors, making her way inside and glancing around for the blonde quarterback. It didn't take long for the Original to spot her target who was sitting at the bar, drinking a coffee and looking thoroughly miserable. His right hand had been wrapped in a bandage, and Rebekah winced sympathetically when she saw it; cursing Kol for going behind her back when she had specifically told him to leave Matt alone at the ball, after giving up on her plans of killing him to prove a point towards Elena Gilbert._

 _"Hi. What are you doing?" She tentatively asks Matt, who visibly stiffens the second he hears her voice._

 _He reaches for the sugar and stirs some into his cup._

 _"Well, let's see," Matt's voice dripped with anger and hurt, and Rebekah instantly felt even more guilt than she had already been experiencing before she set foot into the restaurant. "I went to a dance and got my hand crushed. I found out that I don't have health insurance, so I just needed a moment to myself." He responded, bitterly._

 _Rebekah bit her bottom lip._

 _"Well, I thought, maybe I'd buy you an apology drink?" She asked him, cautiously. Matt once again stiffened._

 _"Maybe, you could just leave me alone." He retorted, taking a sip from the coffee._

 _Rebekah flinched. "Look, I'm-I'm really sorry about Kol. He's a lunatic—" She attempted to redeem herself in Matt's eyes, but unfortunately, he didn't want a bar of it. Matt immediately swivels round to face Rebekah with the hurt reflected clearly on his handsome face._

" _Look, Rebekah. You're really fun and pretty and all." Rebekah smiled, hope reflecting in her eyes. "But I_ really _need you to leave me alone." He insisted, before getting up from the bar and leaving the restaurant after leaving what he owed on the bar top._

 _Rebekah sat alone at the bar for several minutes, before making the decision to get up and leave when another presence suddenly takes a seat on the stool beside her. She frowns, turning her head towards the intruder and immediately stiffens when she realizes who it was._

" _Burn." It was Damon, who had very obviously witnessed Rebekah's humiliation at the hands of a down-on-his-luck high school quarterback. She glares at him, unamused as he sets down a nearly empty bottle of bourbon on the counter-top. Rebekah regards at him with disgust. "Rejected by the captain of the football team. Welcome to adolescence." He drawls, drinking down the last of the bottle._

" _Shut up, Damon." Rebekah snapped, not in the mood for Damon's smart mouth to bring her down even worse than she already was. "I knew I should've killed him. Mother wouldn't let me." To Rebekah, Matt Donavan was just another in a long line of men who had let her down and disappointed her._

 _She was getting sick of it._

 _Damon snorted as he reached over the counter and snagged another bourbon bottle, "Pretty sure Grace would be disappointed in you too if you had succeeded." He pointed out, as he cracks open the bottle and pours himself and Rebekah a shot each. She eyes it for a second before giving in and taking the shot. "Besides … you would have broken him in a second."_

 _Rebekah swallows and eyes him, feeling mildly offended while Damon smirks suggestively at her._

" _Are you suggesting that I can't be gentle?" She asked him as he refills her glass and Rebekah immediately shoots it._

" _No. I'm just saying that you should find someone a little more … durable." He shrugged, nonchalantly. "That's all." Damon ignores the shot glass and drinks straight from the bottle just as Rebekah eyes him contemplatively, questioning what Damon's motives were and why he was suddenly taking an interest into her well-being. She honestly believed that this cheeky, arrogant baby vampire was only there to mock her after Matt's rejection._

 _Now she wasn't entirely sure…_

" _And who would that be…?" Rebekah took the bait Damon was very obviously dangling underneath her nose, and he stopped sculling the bourbon and looked at her suggestively._

* * *

 **Mikaelson Mansion  
** **Rebekah's bedroom  
** **Morning.**

 **(Grace's P.O.V)**

All I could do was just stare at my sister in total disbelief in what I was hearing fall from her full painted lips.

"Seriously? God, Damon…" I moaned, hiding my face in my hands as Rebekah looked at me, a little hurt. "That's just typical of him to pick up a girl – not to mention my sister – when she was down and out." I looked up at her, pleadingly. "Please, tell me you turned him down flat and didn't fall for his obviously drunken bullshit." I urged her. Rebekah avoided direct eye contact and I groaned in exasperation. " _Bekah…!_ "

"I'll have you know, Grace. Damon was surprisingly sweet and understanding about the whole thing." Rebekah defended her actions, and surprisingly defended Damon. I couldn't help but feel a small shred of triumph underneath the mortification that their relationship was just taking shape. Here's hoping that Damon didn't stick his foot in it and royally offended Rebekah.

He would be ancient history if he did.

"So, I take it you 'spent the night' at the Boarding House then?" I guessed, using air quotes in the right places. Rebekah smirked playfully.

"And then some…" She confirmed.

"Ugh…"

* * *

 _ **(Flashback cont.…)**_

 _ **Salvatore Boarding House  
**_ _ **Night**_

 _ **(No P.O.V)**_

 _Damon and Rebekah burst into the Boarding House, locked in a heated make out session as they crashed and bumped their way into walls, shelves, tables etc. on their way towards the staircase that led upstairs to Damon's bedroom. Once they finally made it, they immediately start to rip at each other's clothes to get them off, and Rebekah moans out when Damon pays a little extra attention by kissing her neck._

 _Stefan, who walks into the Boarding House several minutes later, pauses when he can hear the commotion going on in Damon's bedroom. Listening in for a few minutes, he suddenly realizes what is happening and makes a revolted face before sighing and rolling his eyes. Feigning deafness, he makes his way up to his bedroom, which thankfully for him, is on the other side of the house and he disappears inside it for the night praising everything that is sane that he and Damon had the sense to make their bedrooms soundproof when they closed their bedroom doors._

* * *

 _ **Dawn  
(roughly the same time Grace and Klaus 'wake up')**_

 _Stefan, Damon and Rebekah are still in bed at the Boarding House. But only Stefan is awake, and he is nonchalantly writing in his diary. He barely reacts when his phone suddenly buzzes, except to pick up his phone to see who is trying to get into contact with him. He immediately rejects the call when he notices that it is Elena._

 _In Damon's bedroom, he is just stirring and rolls over to grab his phone when it suddenly starts ringing to avoid waking up Rebekah who had also stirred when the phone started ringing, but she deliberately feigns sleep to listen in on his conversation. Rebekah still didn't entirely trust Damon, despite how understanding and nice he had been the night before. She was suspicious of his motives._

 _"What?" Damon barks into the phone, understandably annoyed at the caller who had rudely disrupted their sleep._

"Hey, I-I called you ten times last night. We need to talk." _Rebekah frowned when she heard Elena's voice come over the line, and only stopped herself in time from rolling over, snatching Damon's phone from him and telling Elena to 'bugger off'._

 _"Sorry, I've been busy." Damon responded, not sounding at all sorry while Rebekah smirked; remembering what happened the night before and privately admitting how much she did enjoy having somebody's undivided attention … even if that person just happened to be Damon Salvatore. Elena huffed, and both Damon and Rebekah could picture the petulant little bitch frowning that she wasn't getting the answers she wanted._

And people have the audacity to call me a 'brat'? _Rebekah thought, sourly._

"If you're mad at me, Damon, you need to get over it." _Elena had the cheek to suggest to him. He snorted, derisively._

 _"Oh, believe me. I'm definitely over it." He reassured her, coldly._

 _Damon hung up on Elena before she could open her mouth to retort and tosses his phone back on his bedside table as he lays back down in his bed. Rebekah immediately felt Damon's eyes on her, as sleep finally took her over again._

* * *

 _ **Late Morning**_

 _A few hours passed with some more undisturbed sleep for both Damon and Rebekah. But eventually, both had to get up so their respective families – not that Stefan would give a shit – wouldn't develop angst. Rebekah strode downstairs in her emerald mermaid dress whilst pulling back her hair into a ponytail. A topless Damon followed close behind as he escorted Rebekah to the front door._

 _"So, let's not make a big deal out of this." Rebekah suggested, as she tucked a stray lock of her hair behind her ear._

 _Damon scoffed at the thought, "My thoughts exactly."_

 _"Besides," Rebekah paused mid-step and turned to look at him with a straight face, trying to prove that none of what happened between them mattered, when it did. "I expect you'll come calling soon enough." She predicted, not holding her breath that he would._

 _She wasn't that lucky._

 _Damon chuckled a little, putting his hand on the front doorknob as Rebekah braced herself for yet another rejection from another man._

 _"Probably sooner than you think." He replied, and Rebekah blinked at him in complete astonishment. Then, surprising even herself, she stepped towards him and planted a chaste kiss on Damon's cheek._

 _"Thank you. I'd like that and thank you for a lovely night." She complimented him, smiling a little. Damon smirked at her words, reaching up to tuck the same loose hair behind Rebekah's ear._

 _"It was wasn't it?" He smirked, being cocky. Rebekah immediately scowled and grabbed a fistful of Damon's hair as a warning._

 _Damon winced out of pain and glowered at her._

 _"Don't push your luck." She hissed, before letting go of his hair and turning back to the front door._ _Damon opens it revealing Elena standing outside with her hand raised and poised to knock._

 _Rebekah immediately smiles sweetly (but nastily) at a shocked Elena and walks off without another word._

* * *

 **Mikaelson Mansion  
** **Rebekah's bedroom  
** **Morning (Grace's P.O.V)**

During Rebekah's explanation of what she had gotten up to after we went our separate ways for the night, I was amused to notice that a happy little smile had been gradually growing on her face as she reminisced. Which told me quite clearly that she had enjoyed being in Damon's company last night, even though she would never openly admit that out loud. And that she had also especially loved screwing with Elena this morning when she finally left the Boarding House to come home.

However, bringing this to light and exposing Rebekah to the truth was likely to cause my sister to immediately shut down. So instead, I took on a different route; preferring to let her come to her own conclusions by acknowledging that for once in her existence, my sister had let down her hair and spent the night in the company of a man she was interested in; without her nosy, overprotective brothers interfering.

"I'm glad that you had fun last night, Bekah." I told her, smiling happily. "And thank you for not going into explicit detail about what you did with Damon. I do not think I would be able to erase that image from my head otherwise." I added, shuddering a little.

"What kind of person do you think I am, Grace? Honestly." Rebekah looked slightly annoyed, as she finally got off her vanity bench and took my hand in hers. "Come. I believe my brothers have returned from wherever they had gone off to this morning." Rebekah told me, and I nodded following her out of the door. We almost collided with Jeremy and Henrik in our haste to get downstairs.

"Hey guys! Did you enjoy yourself last night?" I asked, brightly.

Jeremy shrugged while Henrik grinned; obviously happy that he had gotten the opportunity to attend a gathering like last nights with his family in over a thousand years.

"Absolutely!" Henrik chirped, earning a fond smile from Rebekah. But Jeremy had a very different response.

"Yeah, I guess. I mean, it wasn't really my scene; but it was great to get out of my room for once without being exposed to Elena and the rest of the gang." He responded, causing Rebekah to look mildly surprised.

"But I would've thought that you'd be used to gatherings like last night. Doesn't this town frequently host formal and informal events?" She asked him.

Jeremy made a face, "Yeah, no. I go to beer parties in the old cemetery or in the woods, and most of the high school dances. But the formal events? That's something that Elena does. Caroline is usually the one who organizes these stupid events and we're just supposed to attend them whether we want to or not." He explained, taking Rebekah aback because of his negative attitude.

"I see." She eventually said, obviously unsure how to respond to that.

"But hey, apparently you're getting hitched?" Jeremy directed this comment to me, changing the subject. "Congratulations!" He told me when I nodded in confirmation, smiling warmly at him.

"Thanks, mate." I said sincerely. Henrik looked a little distant and both Rebekah and I became concerned. "Something's wrong, Henrik?" I prodded, and he nodded slowly.

"Yeah, he's been like that all morning." Jeremy frowned, also looking a bit concerned. Henrik waved a dismissive hand before responding.

"I'm just trying to work out why Mother was acting so out of character last night." He replied, before looking to Rebekah for some possible explanation. "Did you notice, Rebekah?" He asked, relaxing a little when she nodded.

"Inquiring minds want to know, Henrik. Especially after she was so rude revealing something as personal as Nik and Grace's engagement to a group of strangers like that. But I think Elijah's probably the best person to ask. Let's go and find him." She suggested, wrapping an arm around his shoulders like she used to, as we turned and continued walking down the corridor to the staircase.

Downstairs, the four of us walked into the living room, immediately spotting both Kol and Nik in there. Nik was slouching casually on one of the couches, sketching, while Kol appeared to be reading from a heavy looking leather tome with a lot of interest. That is, until he looked up and spotted us; especially Rebekah who instantly grimaced when she saw the devious expression on his face. Elijah appeared to still be absent.

"Well, well, well." Kol piped up, grinning slyly at both Rebekah and me and ignoring Jeremy and Henrik for the time being. "There are our girls!" He immediately blurred over and engulfed me into a rib-crushing hug that caused me to stumble slightly because I wasn't ready for it. "How are you, darling?" He asked me, kissing my cheek and not a hint of teasing in his tone.

"A little restless." I admitted, uneasily. "But I suppose that might have something to do with your mother." Kol frowned, apparently agreeing with me.

"I'm not really surprised, pet. But don't worry, we'll get to the bottom of that soon enough." He reassured me, before turning his attention towards Rebekah, who was trying to walk further into the living room, taking advantage of Kol's interaction with me to do so. However, Kol immediately blurs in front of her, blocking her way. I giggled at the annoyed expression on Rebekah's face as I glanced over at Nik who smiles warmly at me and holds out a hand for me to take, which I did and curled up on Nik's lap after he set aside his sketching.

"Get out of my way, Kol." Rebekah orders and attempts to move around him, only to growl in frustration when he simply darts back into her path and resumes taunting his baby sister.

"Out all night. What a scandal!" Kol observes in a sing-song voice. "I trust you did better than that commoner. Matt, was it?"

Kol looks over at me for clarification.

I frowned at him, "I'd rather you not bring me into this, Kol." I warned him, as Rebekah finally makes it around him and wonders over to an armchair, sinking down on it.

"If you don't shut your mouth, the next thing to come out of it will be your teeth." She threatens him, and both she and I looked at Nik in outrage when he chuckled in amusement.

" _Nik…"_ I warned him, as Rebekah pounces like an angry lioness.

"Don't start, Nik!" She hisses.

Nik raises his hands into the air in the iconic sign of surrender.

"I didn't say anything." He insisted, as he picks up his sketching and resumes scratching away and I appraise it with interest.

"This is excellent, Nik. What was the inspiration?" I asked him, curiously.

He shrugged, nonchalantly.

"Nothing really. Just felt like drawing it." He replied, and I smiled and made myself comfortable on his lap to continue watching him draw.

Across the room, Kol had gone back to reading from the tome after successfully pissing off Rebekah, and Jeremy and Henrik were sitting on the other couch, playing games on Jeremy's phone. Or rather, _Jeremy_ was playing games; Henrik was spectating while offering encouragement or playfully jeering at him when Jeremy lost or was beaten by the computer.

Eventually though, Kol started becoming noticeably restless and was occasionally throwing looks of annoyance over at the oblivious boys. Finally, he stood up.

"I'm bored. Our sister is a strumpet, but at least she's having fun." Both Rebekah and I looked at Kol, offended. While Nik just looked at him with boredom and sighed, setting aside his sketchbook once again and wrapping his arms around my waist. "I need entertainment."

"So? What are you waiting for then?" Nik asked, getting a little annoyed with him now. "Go on, have at it. Nobody's stopping you." He reminded Kol, who spread a devilish grin across his face.

Kol made a show of 'hesitating', "Yeah, but. It's not fun to go alone." He looked at his brother slyly, which caused Nik to look at him cautiously. "Join me, Nik! It's the least you can do after sticking a dagger in my heart." He wheedled, and Nik rolled his eyes.

"That's a low blow, Kol." I stated, disapprovingly. I jerked in surprise when Nik tapped me lightly on the bum to get me up off his lap, and I acquiesced out of astonishment.

"Why not?" Nik shrugged, and my mouth fell open out of disbelief. He limberly got to his feet and stretched, exposing a little bit of his abs at the same time when his Henley rode up. "I didn't have nearly enough to drink last night, what with you trying to murder Rebekah's date." He stated, as Kol grinned with triumph. I looked at Nik, feeling crestfallen and hurt, which he immediately took notice of. "Relax, love. I'm just going for the blood. I'd never be unfaithful to you." He promised fiercely, and I relaxed a little; feeling a little relief but also slight revulsion when my overactive imagination started giving me a film reel pertaining to what Nik and Kol could potentially be about to embark on.

"Yes, please go." Rebekah agreed, as she removed one of her shoes. "This house has enough men rolling around in it." She said, missing when Kol smirked.

"Just like you, Bekah." He chirped, brightly.

Nik hissed in displeasure, glaring furiously at Kol while I immediately rounded on him in outrage, and both Jeremy and Henrik winced looking at Kol with the pitying stare best reserved for a condemned man.

"Kol! That is totally out of order!" I yelled at him, as Rebekah hurls her shoe at her brother. Nik strode over and smacked the back of Kol's head, then grabbed a fist full of his shirt, physically dragging him to the entrance to the living room.

"Next time, curb your impulse Kol!" Nik growled, as Rebekah shouted after them both.

"Good riddance, both of you!" She snarled. Jeremy looked a bit afraid as turned to talk sotto voce at Henrik.

"Are your siblings always like this?" He asked, a little nervously. Henrik nodded, barely fazed by their behavior.

To him this was standard.

"You get used to it." He replied, nonchalantly. Jeremy looked a little horrified but chose to move on from the subject as Elijah enters the room looking disturbed and holding some burnt sage in his hand. Rebekah and I immediately turned towards him.

"Elijah." I greeted him, feeling concerned by his reaction to the burnt herb. His dark brown eyes swiveled in my direction and he nodded in greeting.

"Good morning, Grace. Rebekah." He spoke up, formally. Rebekah was immediately all business.

"What did you find?" She asked him, albeit a little reluctantly.

"Burnt sage." Elijah responded, and Jeremy; surprisingly, frowned in confusion.

"What was she doing a privacy spell for?" He asked, earning looks of astonishment from all of us. "Bonnie told me a little about herb lore." He explained, sheepishly. Elijah nodded, seemingly satisfied with Jeremy's answer. "But seriously, do you have an idea why your mom would want to cast a privacy spell?" Jeremy asked, insistently.

Both Elijah and Rebekah exchanged troubled glances between them.

"We have no idea." I spoke up. "But whatever the reason might be, it definitely involves Elena." Elijah nodded in agreement.

"Elena? Are you serious?" Jeremy blurted out dubiously to sober faces. However, Rebekah seemed to be reluctant to accept that Esther could be up to no good. She shook her head stubbornly.

"You know mother fancies such things, Elijah. Why don't we try and ask Finn?" She attempted to appeal to him. Elijah frowned.

"No, Rebekah. Like I stated last night, I don't trust Finn." He sighs wearily. "He hates what we are, he always has."

"That's not true." Rebekah denied. "And as for mother, even though she embarrassed Nik and Grace, she returned for one reason: to make our family whole again. Now that Henrik and Grace have returned to us also, we can make that a reality." She insisted but Elijah, Henrik and me still had our doubts. "She loves us. _All_ of us. What trouble are you looking to find?" Rebekah demanded.

"I'm not trying to seek out trouble." Elijah insisted, quietly.

"Trouble has already found us, Bekah, when I realized blood had been mixed into our champagne last night." I pointed out, solemnly.

"Wait, what?" Jeremy looked taken aback. We all looked at him. "Is that why the champagne looked all red?" He looked horrified.

"Unfortunately." Elijah confirmed, as Rebekah's face fell out of despair.

Jeremy turned a sickly green.

"You don't think that that was Elena's blood mixed in with the champagne, do you?" Jeremy looked at us, hopefully.

"We're not completely certain. But it seems about 98% likely that it is. Since your sister did disappear momentarily to go and speak with Esther last night." I told him, and he deflated almost immediately.

"And the other 2%?" Jeremy asked. Elijah sighed, also feeling the strain of the situation like we were.

"It's an honest mistake and Elena is completely innocent in this entire debacle." Elijah said, looking grim.

I attempted to hide a sneer.

"Where has Esther gone anyway? Do you know?" I piped up, looking at Elijah curiously. My older brother shrugged.

"I have not seen her since she scolded me over the scene Kol and Rebekah created last night, and I promised that I would take care of it." He responded, and Rebekah looked alarmed. "Relax, sister. Nothing's going to happen." He reassured her, calmly.

"But what _is_ going to happen next?" I asked him, eager to get to the bottom of the entire situation before it could get out of control and blood could be spilled out of vengeance. Elijah's face hardened out of anger and disappointment.

"What I said I was going to do last night. Confront Elena about her lies and try to coax the truth out of her." He said, turning to head for the front door. I stepped after him, feeling determined.

"May I tag along?" I asked him and Elijah paused mid-step, turning back to look at me calculatingly.

"I do not think that would be wise. Elena is already suspicious and quite hostile towards you. I doubt that she would be very forthcoming if you were there with me." Elijah declined.

I nodded, "I know. But I wasn't planning on standing by your side when you did confront her. I was aiming to follow at a distance away where I could still hear the both of you but wouldn't be noticed by Elena." I explained. Elijah still looked unconvinced. "Please, Elijah. I want to know why she is willing to help your mother and then lie about it."

Elijah looked irritated, but eventually nodded. "Just keep out of sight." He instructed and I immediately went to follow him. "And I recommend wearing shoes for this exercise." He added, looking pointedly at my sock covered feet. I blushed sheepishly and moved fast for the staircase, already sensing that Elijah was on the brink of a bad mood.

"I'm coming too." Jeremy declared, and this time Elijah did look annoyed.

"You're supposed to be in Denver, Jer. It would be very fishy if you suddenly made a random reappearance back to town _just_ to spy on your sister." I pointed out, wanting to spare the teenager Elijah's ire.

Jeremy's face hardened, "I'll risk it. But I'm gonna find out what my sister is up to and why she is willing to donate her blood to help Henrik's mom in some crazy scheme." He insisted, stubbornly. "Besides, you guys have been awesome; taking me in and telling me all about the supernatural. I wanna help." He pleaded, and both Elijah and Rebekah exchanged glances between them, touched by Jeremy's unexpected loyalty.

"Very well. But the same rules apply if you do come along." Elijah warned him. Jeremy instantly brightened and walked towards Elijah to shake his head.

"Thanks, man." He said, graciously. Elijah almost smiled and nodded in acknowledgement before looking at me sternly.

"Hurry up, Grace." I nodded and quickly dashed towards Nik's bedroom and stepped into my converse hi-tops. Grabbing my purse and my phone, I quickly ran back downstairs.

"I'll be back soon!" I called back to wherever Rebekah and Henrik (who opted out to spend some time with his sister) were likely to be lurking and headed out the door. Elijah and Jeremy were in the middle of a conversation in front of my car. "Look's like I'm driving then?" I surmised and Elijah shook his head.

"I'll be driving myself."

I nodded, gently pushing Jeremy towards my car.

"Where are we going?" Jeremy asked curiously as Elijah unlocks his car and sticks one leg inside in his attempt to get in. Jeremy slides into my car on the passenger side.

"Your house." Elijah replied simply. "Is that likely to be where your sister would be?" He asked him, calmly.

"That's probably your best bet." Jeremy agreed. Elijah nodded once more before getting in without another word and driving off. I put the car into gear and drove in the direction of Jeremy's house, following Elijah.

* * *

 **Gilbert Residence  
** **Day.**

Neither Jeremy nor I spoke a word during our journey back into town and on route to the Gilbert Residence. Not that Jeremy was a particularly loquacious teen, but it was obviously that he was feeling uneasy about this entire situation. When we got close to the house, Jeremy suddenly spoke up.

"Look! Elijah's parked outside my house." I drove up and parked across the road from the house, knowing that Elena had no idea what kind of car I owned. Or if she did, she wasn't likely to remember because of her indifference to me. Jeremy and I watched as Elijah casually approached the front door and knocked.

Jeremy grinned.

"What's so funny?" I asked him, not taking my eyes off Elijah.

"Nothing. All this stake out needs now is junk food and binoculars." He joked and I rolled my eyes at his weird sense of humor.

"We're not the FBI, Jer." I replied, amused. Suddenly the front door opened, revealing a surprised then nervous looking Elena who greeted Elijah cautiously.

"Yeah, that's not at all suspicious." Jeremy drawled sarcastically, obviously having noticed Elena's reaction when she saw Elijah standing on her doorstep. I chuckled, then sighed when Jeremy suddenly ducked out of sight when Elena and Elijah started walking down the footpath towards Elijah's car.

"Sit up. She can't see you, so stop being silly." I scolded him. Jeremy scowled at me, but sat up, nevertheless. "Besides, I thought you didn't care if Elena spotted you. Hiding means you actually give a shit." I pointed out.

Jeremy shrugged.

"I'm not in the mood to be interrogated by Elena. Hiding seemed to be the best move." He admitted, and I nodded.

"Fair enough." I turned my car back on when Elijah suddenly pulled away from the curb and started driving off. "Let's go!" I told him, and Jeremy nodded looking like he was enjoying every minute of this 'road trip'.

* * *

 **Somewhere in the Woods.  
** **Day.**

Jeremy and I followed Elijah as he drove himself and Elena towards who knew where. Eventually, he parked his car at the base of an almost hidden trail and cut the engine. We waited until he and Elena got out of the car and disappeared along the trail before I drove up a bit closer and parked close by Elijah's car. Still a bit out of sight, in case Elena was coming back with him.

"What the hell are we doing here?" Jeremy questioned, curiously and a little suspiciously as we both got out of the car and hurried to 'catch up' with Elena and Elijah.

"Beats me. I have no memory of this place. It must be some place Elijah only knew about a thousand years ago. I thought you'd might recognize it." I replied, nonchalantly. I trusted that Elijah wasn't likely to be leading us somewhere dangerous. But given his present mood, I wouldn't put it passed him to want to scare the hell out of Elena to get the right information out of her.

"No idea. I've never gone out this far before." Jeremy admitted. "What's Elijah up to?"

"He's probably going to teach Elena a lesson. He won't hurt her unless he's provoked by the wrong people." I reassured him, knowing that even though Jeremy didn't really trust his sister anymore, he still loved her and didn't want anything bad to happen to her if he could help it. I suddenly pulled Jeremy up against a tree when I immediately heard Elijah's voice up ahead.

"Forgot how much I missed this land." Elijah stated, his voice light and unassuming. But if you knew him well enough, you'd know that underneath all the pleasantries; he was angry and disappointed. A bad combination as far as Elijah was concerned.

"I can't even imagine what it must have been like a thousand years ago." Elena commented, glancing about with interest; probably wondering like Jeremy and I were, why Elijah had brought her here. Elijah nodded, still taking a stroll down memory lane, but also deciding to lend a bit of a history lesson to accompany his musings.

"Your school was built over an Indian village. Where I saw my first werewolf." Jeremy's eyes widened and he mouthed 'wow' underneath his breath, while Elena looked shocked by this little fun fact herself. "The town square was where the natives would gather to worship. Matter of fact, near that, there was a field where wild horses used to graze."

Elena was fascinated, "That's incredible."

Elijah almost smiled. If it wasn't for the fact that he was here on a purpose, and that he was angry with her; he probably would've elaborated further.

"Cut to the chase, 'Lijah." I mumbled impatiently and flinched when he discreetly turned when Elena wasn't looking and threw me a warning stare in our direction.

Jeremy winced.

"I think he heard you." He stated the obvious and I glared at him.

"Come." Elijah requested as Elena nodded and followed him obediently along the trail. Jeremy and I following also.

"Do you know this place too?" Elena asked.

"I do." Elijah nodded, "Below us is a cavern I used to play in as a boy." Both Jeremy and Elena frowned while I glanced at Elijah's back in confusion. "It connects to a system of tunnels that stretch across the entire area. Perhaps it's nature's way of providing us with shelter against the savagery of the full moon." Elena suddenly started looking nervous. Her heartbeat must've been really thudding hard in her chest, and by the disappointed expression I could see on Elijah's face; he had obviously noticed it. "My mother said there must be a balance."

"Elijah, I should probably go home." She started walking back where they had just come from, but Elijah immediately stepped into her path, his face hard and very stern. Jeremy gulped at the expression.

"I admire you, Elena." Elijah made sure that he said this very clearly so that for all of us, including Jeremy and I as bystanders, there would be no misunderstanding. "You remind me of qualities I valued long before my mother turned us." He frowned at her. "It's not in your nature to be deceitful," both Jeremy and I snorted at that. "And yet when I asked about your meeting with my mother the other night, you lied to my face."

He didn't raise his voice.

That was probably the scariest part of this entire confrontation. Because when Elijah spoke like this, you'd have to be a fool to not know that you were in deep shit.

Elena made a stricken face, "That's not true. I told you that all your mother wanted was a new start." She explained.

"I can hear your heartbeat." Elijah sighed, "It jumps when you're being dishonest with me. You lied to me at the ball; you are lying to me now. Tell me the truth." He demanded angrily.

Elena deflated visibly, "I never wanted this to happen."

"So why do I find that very hard to believe?" I muttered underneath my breath, as Jeremy grunted and I glanced over to see him looking disappointed also. Elijah raised an eyebrow at Elena's words.

"What, Elena?" He asked, confused. She drew in a deep breath to calm herself down.

"We were told that whatever was going to be in that coffin was going to kill Klaus." I clenched my hand out of fury, and nearly jumped when I felt Jeremy take my hand and squeezing it, presumably to stop me from doing something that I might regret. "When we found out that it was your mother … we didn't know what to think." Elena confessed as Elijah paused for a few minutes, thinking things over.

"Since her return she says she only wants this family whole again." He stated, prompting Elena to continue telling him the truth.

"When she asked to see me, I… I thought that maybe she could help. That she would find a way to kill Klaus." Then she hesitated and stared at her feet, looking anxious. "It's not just Klaus that she wants to kill." She revealed, and both Elijah and I stiffened out of horror when we realized Elena's implications, while Jeremy just looked confused; as well as worried if the looks he was throwing at me were to be believed.

"She wants to kill us all, doesn't she?" Elijah realized, sounding stunned. "She wants to undo the evil she created."

Jeremy swore underneath his breath. He saw the creation of the first vampires a thousand years ago, firsthand through my abilities as a medium, and I was pleased that he knew the seriousness of what Elijah had just uncovered.

Elena nodded, "I'm so sorry, Elijah. I wish there was something I could do to help." I clenched my fists, tight enough that my knuckles turned snow white in my apoplexy when Elena basically confirmed her involvement in Esther's scheme.

"You should've thought about that before, you selfish little cow." I whispered lividly. "You're just too blinkered about your own wants and desires to know that your actions _always_ have consequences. Thank god none of the Mikaelson's – apart from Finn and Henrik, for different reasons – actually drank that champagne."

"They didn't?" Jeremy looked at me with surprise.

"Nope. The only one of them that drank that tainted stuff was Finn, and both he and Esther are in for a rude awakening, if his siblings can't convince him otherwise." I told him. Jeremy nodded uncertainly and glanced back over to Elena and Elijah were standing, and paled.

"I don't like the look on Elijah's face." He said.

I looked over and saw a very calm but calculating Elijah contemplating Elena's words.

"You know, one thing I've learned on my time on this Earth … be careful what you wish for." He warned Elena, who looked confused then scared when Elijah suddenly cracked open a hole into the Earth with one simple, but powerful blow from his foot then grabbed her before she could escape.

"What is he about to do to my sister?!" Jeremy protested, and I had to grab him before he could run out and blow his cover. But even I was questioning what Elijah's motives we were as watched as he jumped down into the hole with Elena in tow.

* * *

 **A/N: Thanks for reading. Next chapter will be out soon!**


	60. Retribution

**A/N: Welcome back! As you know, the world's gone to shit due to the bloody Coronavirus, so I hope you're excited to read the next chapter! Especially if you are currently under quarantine or lock down in another country.**

 **At least writing doesn't require leaving the house. Thank god for small miracles. :D**

 **I don't own** _ **The Vampire Diaries.**_ **All characters except for Grace belong to author L.J Smith. This story belongs to me.**

 **Please review, but no flaming! And just for fun and out of curiosity, please let me know in your reviews which country you are from. It's amazing what information you want to know when you're bored and forced to stay inside by your country's government.**

 **Enjoy ;)**

* * *

 **RETRIBUTION**

" _You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I lived through this horror, I can take the next thing that comes along.' You must do the thing you think you cannot do."_ _ **~Eleanor Roosevelt.**_

* * *

 **Somewhere in the woods.  
** **Day.**

The very second after Elijah – who was carrying a struggling and scared Elena – jumped into a pit he had created by stomping into the hard earth with his boot; Jeremy and I emerged from our hiding spot behind the tree; both of us looking alarmed and confused by my brother's actions. Jeremy turned and looked at me accusingly.

"What is he going to do with my sister!?" Jeremy demanded, hurrying over to the hole and looking down into the black depths. But in his haste, he started losing his balance and began pinwheeling his arms to stop himself falling headfirst into the pit. I quickly seized a handful of Jeremy's hoodie and yanked him back before he could slip and fall into the hole.

"I'm sure Elijah has his reasons why he's taken Elena down there." I attempted to reassure Jeremy, who looked back at me and frowned after roughly pulling his hoodie out of my grasp.

"Like what?" He asked, skeptically. I hesitated, trying to figure out how to calm down the panicking boy, but backed off when Elijah jumped back of out of the hole, brushing himself down and casually fixing up the cuffs of his suit jacket.

"What the hell was that?" Jeremy immediately demanded before I could stop him. "Why did you take my sister down there?" He asked.

Elijah eyed Jeremy indifferently, "It was necessary so we can get the information we require about my mother and her desire to eliminate us."

"Yeah, so we heard." I stated, frowning.

"I'm going to send Rebekah to keep an eye on your sister until we figure out what is going on." Elijah explained to Jeremy, whose eyes widened when Rebekah was mentioned.

"Seriously? Rebekah hates Elena, she's more likely to kill her than guard her." Jeremy protested, as Elijah moved away from us a little to make a brief phone call to Rebekah. I bit my bottom lip, knowing that he had a point. Rebekah was the type of person who held onto grudges and didn't let go of them easily.

Then a thought suddenly crossed my mind.

"What if Henrik went with her?" I asked, hypothetically.

"Does he have any beef towards my sister?" Jeremy asked, doubtfully, and I smiled; pleased that despite everything that Elena had done to him and everyone else, he still cared.

"No. Henrik has always been neutral from day one." I confirmed with a smile. "Wow, Jer. You actually give a shit about what happens to Elena?" I commented, and Jeremy looked a little defensive.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I?" Jeremy asked, a little angry. "I may not trust her anymore, but she's still my sister and it doesn't mean that I want anything bad to happen to her. She's the only family I've got since Aunt Jenna abandoned us and Uncle John gave up his life to save Elena." He sounded a bit dejected.

"Duly noted." I responded, cringing a little at the reminder of how messed up poor Jeremy's family life really was. "So, Henrik: yay or nay?" I prodded him for an answer and Jeremy thought for a few more moments before he nodded slowly.

"Yay. It would make me feel better if he went along with Rebekah." Jeremy replied.

The crunch of the dirt underneath Elijah's boots alerted us to his return, and we both looked up at him expectantly. He was looking at Jeremy with disappointment.

"Your lack of trust is a little insulting." That indicated that he heard what Jeremy said as my brother sighed tiredly. "Your sister will not be harmed, despite Rebekah's dislike for her. Rest assured, once we get what we seek, Elena will be released." Elijah promised him. Jeremy immediately nodded and looked a little guilty. My brother _was_ a man of his word, and he never backed down from it unless he was betrayed.

Then you got what was coming to you.

"I'm sorry. Despite all the crazy and annoying stuff that she's done; Elena is the only family I've got left."

"Understandable. I'd be experiencing the same worries as you if it were Rebekah in this position." Elijah acknowledged, smiling politely.

"So, what happens now?" I asked, shielding my eyes from the sun's glare and wishing that I hadn't left my sunglasses in my car on our way up here. Elijah started walking back down the trail towards where we had left our cars.

"Now, we're going to pay the Salvatore's a visit." He said, as both Jeremy and I fell into step either side of him.

"What for?" Jeremy asked, curiously.

"For their assistance." Elijah responded, but then looked very pointedly at Jeremy who shrank back a little, looking uncomfortable by the scrutiny Elijah was giving him. "Do you still have that glamouring necklace my witch gave you?"

"Why?" Jeremy asked, confused as he pulled the trinket from his pocket and showed it to us.

"If you wish to tag along with us and wish to remain anonymous around Stefan Salvatore, I'd suggest you put it on before we get to the Boarding House." Elijah stated, and Jeremy nodded, looping the chain over his head.

"I wouldn't put it past Stefan to spill the beans if he caught wind that you were back in town prematurely." I added as we finally made it back to both cars.

"Even Damon?" Jeremy asked.

Surprisingly, Elijah fielded the question.

"Doubtful." He said, causing both Jeremy and I to look at him in surprise. "I believe he is starting to have a change of heart when it comes to our family." We both must've had shocked expressions on our faces, because Elijah immediately became a little annoyed. "Do you really that I am blind? I have seen the interest both Rebekah and Damon Salvatore have taken with each other. It's as plain as the nose on your face."

I panicked, "You're not going to do anything to Damon are you?" Elijah paused eyeing me contemplatively, presumably noting my objection and realizing that I had heard stories of the three brothers brutally turning away potential suitors interested in Rebekah.

"No. I will not interfere." I relaxed a little. "Contrary to what you no doubt have heard from our sister of our behavior over the centuries towards her suitors, I am not about to deprive Rebekah of a chance to be happy." Elijah reassured me.

"Thank you, Elijah." I said, walking over to hug him sincerely.

He responded, warmly.

"But I can't speak for Kol and Niklaus." I froze. "They are stubborn and harder to sway when it comes to their overprotective ways. As you very well know, Grace." He reminded me.

I shuddered, "Yeah. Don't remind me; the four of you used to irritate me constantly with your possessiveness." I recalled, pulling away from Elijah who was smirking at me.

"That's because we love you deeply, sister. Never forget that." Elijah was a little condescending as he walked over and planted an affectionate kiss on the crown of my head. He turned and headed for his car. "Let's go. We still need to pay the Salvatore's a visit." He reminded us, getting into his car and driving off. I pulled out my phone from my back pocket and accessed my contacts.

"What are you doing?" Jeremy asked, as we both slid into my car.

"Texting Rebekah." I responded succinctly.

' _Bekah, take Henrik with you.' – G._ Rebekah's response was almost instantaneous as though she had expected that I would be in contact with her about the 'Elena hostage' situation.

' _May I ask why?' – R._ I sighed and looked at Jeremy who was glancing at his own phone, looking tense.

' _Jeremy panicked when Elijah mentioned that you would be watching Elena while we sort out this mess with Esther. It was only my suggestion to get Henrik to go along with you that is somewhat calming him down.'_ I hit send, and nearly threw my phone onto the floor which earned a snigger from Jeremy when Rebekah buzzed back with a response.

' _Oh, please. What does he think I'm going to do to doppelbitch? Kill her?'_ I could picture Rebekah's insulted face quite vividly in my head and snorted in amusement.

' _That's exactly what he thinks.'_ I texted.

' _I think I can control myself. I've been doing so for the past few centuries. Just let him know that Henrik will accompany me. Love you xx'_ I rolled my eyes at the text, before throwing my phone in the backseat next to my purse and starting the engine.

"So?" Jeremy piped up when he noticed that I had finished texting.

"So…?" I parroted as I tore off down the dirt road, en-route to the Boarding House to 'help' Elijah interrogate Stefan and Damon.

"What did Rebekah say?" Jeremy asked impatiently.

"Oh, she's agreed." I responded quickly and sighed heavily when Jeremy didn't seem comforted by my response. "Look, nothing's gonna happen to Elena, mate. The Mikaelsons are honorable, and they'll keep their word." I reassured him, before indicating and turning down the highway that led towards the Boarding House. "Now, let's just focus on what Elijah is gonna force out of Stefan and Damon." I suggested.

"Think they're gonna cooperate?" Jeremy asked.

"Damon might. What Elijah said before about Rebekah and Damon's relationship wasn't bullshit. It's more likely that Stefan will be the one who'll cause the most problems." I said, solemnly.

"Great… Why did I want to come along again?" Jeremy moaned, as I overtook a particularly slow truck driving in front of me. The driver took offence and leaned down on the horn, and I responded by flipping him the bird.

"You wanted to be useful?" I supplied and Jeremy snorted.

"Oh, right." He deadpanned, sending both of us into giggles.

"Don't sweat it, mate. Damon will come through for us." I sincerely hoped.

"I'll hold you to that." Jeremy stated, doubtfully.

* * *

 **Salvatore Boarding House  
** **Day.**

We pulled up in the Salvatore's large driveway and was immediately greeted by a blank-faced Damon who stepped outside of the house dressed in his usual black and sipping from his bourbon. However, when he realized exactly who we were his entire demeanor shifted.

"Well well, to what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?" Damon requested, smirking a little. Elijah stepped from his car and fixed him with an unamused frown as Damon came over and opened the driver's side door and helped me unnecessarily from the car.

"Well, for starters." I began, taking back my hand from Damon's grasp and shutting the door behind me. "You can honor that promise you made to me last night when Esther announced the engagement to the guests."

The smirk dropped from Damon's face.

"I see." He said, straightening up and turning to face Elijah who had approached my car and leaned casually against it, arms crossed over his chest. "How can I help?" He took a generous, nonchalant sip from his drink as Elijah studied him suspiciously. I smiled, realizing that Elijah had been expecting the more volatile brother to be the one who would buck the most.

"We need some assistance with a rather delicate and somewhat difficult situation." Elijah explained, a little brusquely.

"Let me guess. It's got something to do with mommy dearest?" Damon asked.

"To put it bluntly, yes it does." Elijah replied. "May I assume that your brother is not home right now?" He asked Damon, glancing casually at the house.

"Assume away." Damon retorts, and I nudge him in the ribs with my elbow out of annoyance.

" _Damon…_ " I berate him warningly, underneath my breath as Elijah's eyes narrow at the cheeky response. Damon gives me a sharp look before sighing and answering Elijah's question properly. "Yeah, Stefan's out. He's looking for Elena." Damon said, eyeing Elijah curiously.

"Trouble with Ms. Gilbert?" Elijah inquired, pleasantly.

"Something like that." Damon confirmed. "You've got something to do with it, I bet." He added, slightly accusatory.

Elijah merely shrugged.

"Assume away." He responded, smirking slightly. Damon glowers then notices Jeremy getting out of my car and walking around the back to stand beside me.

"What the hell is _he_ doing out here?" He demanded, and both Jeremy and I feigned innocence.

"What do you mean?" I asked, lightly.

Damon glared at me, "Don't give me that. Seriously, what is baby Gilbert doing here? Stefan could be back at any minute." Damon panicked, causing both Jeremy and I to chuckle.

"Chill, man. I'm not gonna get caught." Jeremy insisted.

"You stick out like a sore thumb." Damon pointed out, draining the rest of his bourbon.

"Not if he doesn't wear his spelled necklace." Elijah said, straightening up from the car.

"Necklace?" Damon zeroed in on Jeremy's neck and saw the thin, but durable silver chain that hung inconspicuously around the teenager's neck. If Elijah hadn't pointed it out, it was doubtful that Damon could've spotted it. "What's that for?" He asked, dubiously.

"It allows the wearer to project an image of their choice to the outside world or people they wish to remain hidden from." Elijah explained.

"We had it spelled for Jeremy yesterday so that he could mingle with the other guests without getting caught by Elena." I added, draping my arm casually over Jeremy's shoulder. Damon nodded and looked sympathetically at the teen.

"Cabin fever?" He guessed.

"Yep." Jeremy confirmed. Damon grinned before turning on his heel and heading back indoors. He waved a hand carelessly at us, indicating to follow him.

"Feel free to wait inside. Mi casa es tu casa." He suggested, chipper suddenly.

"Thank you." Elijah replied, ever the gentleman, while Jeremy and I merely nodded and rolled our eyes at Damon's weird behavior. Damon sauntered into the parlour and headed straight for the wet bar, pouring himself another bourbon and holding up the decanter at both Elijah and me.

"Drink?" He offered.

"Driving." I immediately responded, flopping down on one of the red couches and curling my legs underneath as Jeremy sat down beside me and made himself comfortable.

"Scotch, please." Elijah requested absently.

He accepted the glass of scotch that Damon had poured for him and wondered over to half-heartedly examine the Salvatore's massive fireplace, taking a casual sip from his scotch every now and then. I quietly chatted away with Jeremy who despite looking worried about Elena's safety, was also looking chuffed that he was involved in something supernatural for once and was being useful and included. Damon suddenly flopped down between us on the couch, earning twin glares from both Jeremy and me.

"So, where's Elena? Do you know where Elijah's hiding her?" Damon was blunt and casual, as he crossed his legs and took a large sip of his bourbon, beaming at both of us.

"Don't answer that." Elijah immediately piped up and all three of us looked at him. "That's on a need to know basis." He scowled at Damon, warningly. Damon let out an exaggerated sigh.

"Fine. But you can't blame a guy for trying." He 'pouted' and I couldn't help but giggle which earned me a warm smile from him. Suddenly the front door opens, and in strides somebody with heavy footfalls rapidly approaching the parlour.

"I can't find her anywhere." It was Stefan, who immediately pauses when he spots Elijah standing at the fireplace and Jeremy and me sitting with a very jocular Damon on the couch.

"Hello, Stefan." Elijah greets him, as Stefan looks at Damon for an explanation.

"They, or rather _he_ has Elena." Damon explains, disinterestedly as Stefan immediately glares at Elijah, dismissing Jeremy and me as redundant for the time being. Elijah casually examines his old-fashioned glass before addressing Stefan and Damon and getting to the crux of why we were here in the first place.

"Actually, Elena's with Rebekah." He corrects Damon before draining his glass and setting it aside on the mantle top. Both brothers looked at him with shock then panic as Damon immediately got to his feet and started to pace, looking agitated. "As you can imagine, my sister is just dying to tear her throat out." Jeremy stiffened and I reached over to grab his hand. He glanced at me and smiled a little, realizing that I was attempting to comfort him. "So…" Elijah strolled casually over to the coffee table to take a seat in front of us. "…if you want to save Elena's life, I need you to help me stop my mother."

Damon stopped pacing and drew in a deep breath; obviously conflicted.

"I'm a little embarrassed to admit, but when it comes to killing thousand-year old resurrected witches, I'm a little rusty." Damon stated, dryly.

Elijah and Jeremy snorted, "Yes. Unfortunately, even when killed my mother doesn't seem to want to stay dead." My brother explained. "Not with the spirits of nature at her side."

"So, what are we supposed to do?" Stefan asked, looking resentful but determined to save his ex-girlfriend despite their current differences.

"The witches that released my mother, she's drawing her power from their bloodline, that line needs to be broken." Elijah explained.

"Broken?" I blurted out, exchanging glances with Jeremy who looked just as confused as I did. Damon and Stefan looked at me; one with obvious disdain on his face, and the other brother with a deadpan expression.

"Yeah, he means…" Damon mimes slitting his own throat with his index finger.

My eyes widen in shock.

"You want us to kill them." Stefan concluded. Elijah nodded with a 'sorry, not sorry' expression on his aristocratic face.

"You know I'd do it myself," Elijah began as Jeremy immediately started to protest, because it meant the death of his girlfriend, Bonnie, in order to sever the link binding Esther to this plane. Elijah eyed him sternly, and Jeremy mellowed; but only a little as he scowled resentfully at him. "But I have absolutely no idea where they are. Besides, seeing me, they'd immediately know my intent." Elijah stated.

"He's right." I piped up, looking solemn. "They're less likely to be suspicious if you show up, and they won't expect to be harmed by you."

Elijah nodded, "In any case, you have until six minutes after nine to find them."

"Oh, how super specific of you." Damon sneered. Elijah smiled, but his eyes flashed in annoyance.

"By 9:07, the moon will be full, my mother will have the power she needs to kill me and my family. If you do not stop her before then, Rebekah will kill Elena." Jeremy looked murderous. "So, we all have our timeline? I suggest you get started."

Elijah then immediately gets to his feet and extended a hand towards me to help me to my feet. Jeremy gets to his feet as well, and all three of us walked towards the front door leaving Damon and Stefan to ponder their next move.

But neither Jeremy nor I knew what ours was.

* * *

Once outside, Elijah immediately releases my hand and turns to face us.

"You two are free to do whatever you please. I have some business that I need to attend to that relates to the current situation." Elijah told us, and Jeremy nodded not really saying a word and immediately hops into my car. I eyed him worriedly.

"Okay. I guess I'll see you back at the mansion." I stated, smiling awkwardly at him.

"Of course." He smiled, cordially. "Stay safe, Grace." Elijah warned me, before heading over to his car and getting into it, then driving off to his unknown destination. I couldn't help but feel a little irritated at this point. My brother had just stuck me with a moody teenager who was worried about his undeserving sister's safety, and I was at a complete loss about how to handle the dicey situation without incurring Jeremy's possible wrath in the process.

 _Thanks, Elijah. You're a lotta help!_

Sighing and raking a hand through my hair, I went to open the car door to get in and drive Jeremy back to the mansion, when I suddenly felt like somebody was watching me. I paused and glanced around before spotting Damon standing at one of the Boarding House windows, watching me. I smiled a little at him and waved, earning a half-hearted wave back before he disappeared completely from the window.

The drive back to the mansion was a very silent and uncomfortable one, with all the tension radiating from Jeremy. The very second we got back to the Mansion and made it through the electric gates, Jeremy had unbuckled and made a desperate bid for freedom straight inside without an explanation.

"Jeremy, wait up!" I called out, bolting straight inside after him and making it just in time to see him part of the way up the staircase. "Oi! Where's the fire?" He paused halfway to the landing with his back facing me. "What's wrong?" I asked, concerned.

"It's nothing. I just wanna be alone for a while." Jeremy explained and I frowned at the explanation.

"You're just as bad of a liar as I am." I pointed out, not buying it at all. Jeremy just turned and frowned at me impatiently. "If you're worried about Elena's predicament, you shouldn't be. Elijah was just trying to jump start Stefan and Damon to get them to act quickly, he and Rebekah are _not_ going to harm your sister." I felt like a broken record at this point.

"I know that. I just don't like that she's being used as a hostage again. That's all." He admitted.

"It means you have a conscience and are a good person." I told him with a smile. I turned and headed back downstairs for the front door.

"Where are you going?" Jeremy asked, and I shrugged.

"Don't know yet. You?" I responded, pulling my crossover purse over my shoulder.

"I might do some sketching or play on my X-Box. Haven't decided yet." Jeremy also shrugged and I grinned at him approvingly.

"Sounds like fun." I opened the front door. "See you later." I promised and watched him continue his way upstairs and disappear in the direction of the bedrooms. I pulled my phone from my back pocket and speed-dialed Nik's number. I was really missing him today.

 _"Hello, love. Are you having a good day?"_ Nik answered after a couple of rings. I immediately got the warm fuzzies; like I always did whenever I heard his voice.

"Of course. I was just calling to see where you and Kol were." I replied, walking towards my car and hopping back into it.

 _"Currently at the Mystic Grill having a few drinks. Why the sudden interest? I thought you were spending time with Rebekah, Henrik and Jeremy?"_ Nik asked, curiously.

"Yeah, there was a slight change of plans. I went instead with Elijah to interrogate Elena about her suspected involvement with your mum's plans." I explained and heard a displeased growl down the line.

 _"What on Earth possessed Elijah to allow you to tag along?"_ He demanded, disapprovingly. I rolled my eyes at the conclusions he drew.

"On the contrary. Nothing possessed him. He was very much against me tagging along with him." I defended Elijah's actions. "Besides, I wanted to help, and so did Jeremy." I heard an even louder growl from my fiancé.

 _"Of all the stupid things, Grace—"_

 _"Oh, lay off, Nik. She's obviously in one piece."_ Kol suddenly piped up, and I smiled.

"Hi, Kol." I greeted my 'twin'.

 _"Hello, darling. Did you have fun with our overly moral brother this morning?"_ Kol questioned me, sounding amused.

"That's… debatable." I replied a little awkwardly.

 _"Not sure I like that answer, sweetheart."_ Nik said, a little short, but at the same time sounding curious too.

"If you're willing to hear me out, I can go into more detail when I see you?" I bargained with them both. I didn't have to wait very long for an answer.

 _"Why not? The more the merrier."_ Kol replied, enthusiastically, and I could almost picture the mischievous little grin on his puckish face. _"What say you, Nik?"_ He questioned his brother, who I was sure was scowling disappointingly at the phone as though picturing my face.

 _"You know I wouldn't pass up an opportunity to spend time with you, love. I just wish you weren't so reckless at times."_ Nik agreed, and I grinned with triumph, pleased.

"I'll see you in a few minutes." I confirmed and rang off, sliding my phone back into my purse and putting my car into drive as I made my way down into the street and headed towards the town's square.

* * *

 **Mystic Grill.  
** **Day.**

As expected, the Mystic Grill wasn't too busy when I stepped inside the restaurant and glanced around for Nik and Kol. In fact, it was deserted except for Alaric, who was standing near the pool table, on the phone with somebody while glancing occasionally at an attractive but ultimately unfamiliar young woman with long dark brown hair who was playing what looked like a solo game of pool. I nearly jumped out of my skin when a pair of room temperature hands suddenly covered my eyes, blinding me for a split second.

"Guess who?" A playful, very familiar voice chirped in my ear. I pretended to give my answer some very serious thought.

"Santa Claus?" I played along, before reaching up and pulling the hands away from my face as I spun around to raise an eyebrow at a smirking Kol.

" _So_ close. But no, he's sitting right over there." He responded, pointing over towards the bar where I spotted Nik sitting at his stool, drinking scotch and observing us, and subtly giving Kol the finger and an unamused glare for his unimaginative comment.

"Cute." I drawled, walking down the steps deeper into the restaurant and heading towards Nik. Kol casually drapes his arm around my shoulders.

"I rather thought so myself." He agreed, unfazed by the lack of enthusiasm from either Nik or me. I noticed out the corner of my eye Alaric eyeing me curiously, but then speaking rather urgently to his unknown caller. Shrugging, and not particularly caring, I returned my attention towards Nik who momentarily set aside his drink on the bar and opened his arms wide to give me a welcoming hug and a kiss.

I immediately stepped into his embrace.

"Hello, love." Nik greeted me warmly, wrapping his strong arms tightly around my waist. "Care for a drink?" He offered, gesturing towards the bartender.

I nodded, "Only if it's a soft drink. I'm driving." I explained.

"Of course." Nik nodded, and turned towards the bartender. "A coke for the lady, please." He ordered, and the bartender nodded and moved off to fill the order. Nik then looked back at me, scowling a little. "Now then, care to elaborate more on what you uncovered with Elijah, love?" He requested as he refused to let me budge from standing in front of him.

"And Jeremy, apparently. Can't forget about him." Kol added, obviously intrigued by what I had to offer up as well. Nik bristled slightly.

"Don't remind me. Still trying to decide if he is like his sister when it comes to recklessness too." Nik groused, and I rolled my eyes.

"Wasn't he supposed to be in Denver, as a matter-of-fact?" Kol asked.

"That's what we want Elena to believe." I replied. "The only one in the so called 'scooby gang' who know that he's still here in Mystic Falls is Damon." I confirmed. Kol nodded, as Nik cleared his throat impatiently.

"Back on point, sweetheart." He insisted, and I sighed wearily.

"After you and Kol left, Elijah came back into the Living Room carrying some burnt sage he had found in Esther's study." I explained. Kol's eyes widened for a split second before narrowing suspiciously as I nodded, confirming his thoughts without him having to verbalize them out loud. "Apparently, your mother desperately wanted to keep something strictly confidential between herself and Elena." The bartender places a high ball glass full of coke in front of me on a bar napkin. "Thank you." I said, smiling at him.

"Hence why she was burning sage." Kol concluded, before looking seriously at Nik. "Mother used to do that back then when she was trying to hide something from us that she knew we wouldn't like. Do you remember, Nik?"

"Vividly." Nik replied, obviously less than happy with what he was learning. "I gather that you, Elijah and Jeremy discovered what Mother was hiding, right?" Nik asked me, and I gave a half-nod.

"It was mostly Elijah who coaxed it from Elena. I stayed hidden with Jeremy while Elijah uncovered the facts." I confessed.

"Why?" Kol frowned, confused.

I shrugged, "Elena hates my guts because of my relationship with Nik and my refusal to put up with her bullshit, and Jeremy, like you said before, was supposed to be in Denver and 'blissfully' unaware of what's been happening here in Mystic Falls." I grimaced. "Besides, Elena would probably rather be force-fed red hot embers from the fire pit than admit any plans she might have been privy to to me." I told Kol, who immediately looked intrigued.

"What a vivid picture you've just painted, sister. I must try that as a method of torture next time." Kol mused rather sadistically.

"Kol, focus…" Nik spoke up, rather exasperatedly. "What did Elijah discover, darling?" I took a sip from my drink to lubricate my mouth.

"Nothing good, unfortunately." I said, looking sympathetically at both brothers, who blinked at me with confusion and trepidation. I then proceeded to tell both exactly what Elijah had uncovered from Elena about what she had discussed with Esther during the ball. Unsurprisingly, neither Nik nor Kol were pleased.

"So, Mother is trying to kill us. How disappointing." Kol observed, darkly. Nik didn't say anything. His face was a mask of anger and deep sorrow.

"I'm so sorry." I acknowledged, sincerely. Nik looked up at me, as a single tear broke loose and trailed down his cheek. He then reached out for my hand and pulled me towards him, trapping me in a desperate embrace as he buried his face into my neck.

"I remember her from last night." Kol suddenly spoke up, out of the blue, causing both Nik and I to pull apart a little to look over at him. He was grinning and pointing over towards the entrance. But the grin was anything but friendly; Kol was still hurt and angry like Nik was and I would bet good money he was out to cause some mayhem to deal with his raw emotions. "She looks like a tasty little thing." He observed, as both Nik and I recognized a very reluctant looking Caroline standing in the doorway and looking in the direction of Alaric and his date.

"Don't you dare, Kol!" I growled, pulling away from Nik.

"Agreed." Nik straightened up and picked up his drink to take a sip. "Say another word and I'll tear out your liver." That was the last thing I heard Nik utter as I walked briskly over to my friend.

"Caroline!" I greeted her. A quick observation told me that the baby vampire was still obviously grieving for her father but was slowly adjusting and returning to her normal bubbly personality. Caroline's doe-like blue-green eyes widened when she spotted me coming towards her.

"Hey, Grace!" She recovered from her surprise and greeted me with a warm hug. "What are you doing here?" She asked, curiously.

"Nothing much, just having a drink with Nik and Kol." I responded, gesturing towards my boys across at the bar. Nik smiled politely at Caroline and saluted her with his glass, while Kol also saluted her, but winked shamelessly. I rolled my eyes as Caroline, understandably, grimaced in revulsion. "Just ignore him." I suggested, before changing topics. "So, how have you been since I last saw you?" I asked, concerned.

Caroline gave a sad little smile, "The pain comes in waves still, but I'm soldiering on."

"Atta girl." I winked, earning a smile and laugh from Caroline, whose smile immediately dropped, and she stiffened when Nik approached us wrapping his arms around my waist.

"Caroline, it's lovely to see you again. Join us for a drink?" He offered. My eyes narrowed slightly when I noticed Caroline about to say something possibly unkind but thought the better of it before responding to Nik's invitation.

"No thanks. I was really only in here looking for Bonnie." Caroline declined, turning for the door. "I'll talk to you later, Grace." Nik frowned a little at the dismissal, then frowned for real when Kol blurred behind Caroline, blocking her route.

"No, please stay. What's wrong with a few drinks among friends?" He insisted, a slightly predatory grin on his face. Both Nik and I groaned, as Caroline fixed Kol with a catty smile.

"Mmm, I'd rather die of thirst. But thanks." She smoothly walked around a mildly taken aback Kol and left.

"Caroline, wait!" I went to follow her to apologize, but Nik intercepted.

"I got it, love." He reassured me, shaking his head at Kol before following Caroline outside. I fixed my 'twin' with an annoyed glance.

"Well, that went well." I grumbled, walking back over to the bar to order another coke.

"Don't see why you're getting so huffy. I was only trying to be friendly." Kol protested, defensively. I picked up my new coke and swiveled round on my bar stool, taking a sip.

"I think we need to work on your social skills, Kol. You came across as a bit creepy just then." I gestured towards the entrance where Nik and Caroline had just disappeared out of with my head, then froze when Kol suddenly takes an interest with Alaric's date over by the pool table. Alaric himself had mysteriously and suspiciously disappeared.

"Well, let's try again. Shall we?" He said, getting up from his bar stool and sauntering over before I could stop him.

"No, Kol. Wait!" I protested. But Kol was slipperier than an eel when he wanted to be and easily evaded me, making it to the pool table before I intercept.

"A woman of your caliber ought to choose more suitable company." Kol smoothly began chatting up the poor woman who immediately stiffened as she was making her shot. "What's your name, love?"

The woman glared at him, "None of your business."

Kol's pleasant demeanor immediately shifted to a more sinister one, as he chuckled and tried his luck again. He perched casually on the side of the table.

"Let's try that again. I'll start. I'm Kol." He introduced himself. I grimaced uncomfortably; it was like watching a cat taunting a thoroughly disgruntled mouse. I got up from my bar stool and cautiously approached them, attempting to rescue this poor woman from my brother. But apparently, this chick didn't need saving.

"Why don't you get lost, _Kol_?" The woman suggested, pointedly. I paused when I spotted Alaric walking back out from the corridor leading to the restrooms and narrowing his eyes at Kol. He didn't appear to have noticed me.

 _Oh, shit! Nik, where are you? I need your help…_ I thought desperately as Kol hops down from the pool table and walks towards his prey.

"And why would I do that?" Kol asked, casually. "I like pretty things with sharp tongues." He reaches out towards her face and touches it. His hand is slapped away, as Alaric approaches him from behind.

"I'm pretty sure she told you to get lost." Alaric reminded Kol, who smirked; obviously seeing a challenge in the warning Alaric had just given him.

"I'm pretty sure I don't care." Kol retorted. I walked quickly over to the trio, aiming to stop Kol from maiming Alaric as well as apologizing for his actions. My unpredictable brother turned to face Alaric … only to double over with a pained grunt when the vampire hunter stabs him in the heart with a silver dagger.

"KOL!" I screamed, racing over to them as Alaric glowered at Kol's rapidly greying face.

"Next time, take a hint." He suggested, as I managed to catch Kol when he toppled forwards after going stiff-as-a-board. I looked up at Alaric in absolute horror.

"What are you playing at?! What the hell did you do that for!?" I demanded, angrily. Alaric looked down at me with genuine remorse.

"I'm sorry, Grace. But it's all part of the plan." He told me. I looked back down at Kol, questioning what sort of plan would require stabbing my brother in the heart with a silver dagger to put him of out of commission.

"Plan? What pl-ˮ I was immediately cut off mid-sentence when somebody jumped me from behind, placing something strong and sweet smelling over my mouth and nose. I started struggling and fighting back before a sudden sleepiness started to overwhelm me and I fell unconscious…

* * *

 **NO P.O.V  
** **Day.**

Outside, before Kol and Grace's little misadventure inside the Grill, Klaus had kept his word with Grace and followed Caroline to apologize for his little brother's actions _and_ to offer his own brand of advice for the obviously still mourning baby vampire; whom Klaus wasn't ashamed to admit he had a soft spot for, despite the friendship she shared with his troublesome doppelgänger. He quickly runs across the street almost getting collected by a car in the process, to reach Caroline who had just finished crossing the road.

"Caroline!" He calls out to her, and she stops and turns to look at him. She glowers out of annoyance.

"Are you serious? Take a hint." Caroline spat before turning and continuing to walk away from him. However, Klaus is quicker and can easily outmaneuver her.

"Don't be angry, love. I'm just here to apologize on behalf of my brother." Klaus explains, calmly. Caroline doesn't stop her stride.

"Then why didn't he come and do it himself?" She retorted. Klaus looked pained.

"Unfortunately, Kol can be a bit unpredictable and abrasive. It's one of the reasons why I uh, daggered him for so long." He admitted, sheepishly. Caroline stops and turns around.

"What were the other reasons?" She asked, aiming to wound. Klaus bristled, but somehow managed to calm himself down.

"That's personal." He eventually responded, matter-of-fact. "How can I quit myself?"

Caroline frowned at him mistrustfully, "What you and your brother can do is leave me alone." She snapped.

"Oh, come on, take a chance, Caroline. Talk to me, maybe I can help you with your grief?" Klaus offered, taking a seat on a bench they had both stopped beside. "Come on, get to know me. I dare you." He baits Caroline, who hesitates.

"Fine." She sits down next to him, stiffly. "How can you help me?"

"First of all, I want to talk about you. What your hopes and your dreams are. Everything you want out of life." Klaus requested.

"I hope you're not trying to seduce me. I'm too smart for that." Caroline warned him, and Klaus looked a bit insulted by the accusation.

"Not at all. I am happily engaged to Grace. All _I'm_ trying to do is help you cope a bit better with your grief, the same way Grace has been attempting to help you." He explained. "And, if you want, I'm also offering my friendship and protection should you need it in the future." Klaus added, smiling politely.

Caroline studied him cautiously, "As long as that's all you're offering." Klaus chuckled, understanding her hesitance. That was why he liked and respected Caroline; she possessed some brains, compared to most other women he had come across over the centuries. She was also extremely loyal to her friends, indicated when she immediately questioned him about his faithfulness to Grace when he was persistent in his wishes to chat with her.

So, Caroline and Klaus began a semi-relaxed conversation between them about herself, which Caroline eventually realized was Klaus's way of letting herself be at ease around him, since it was obvious that she was uncomfortable and disliked him; and judging by the slightly smug but not-threatening smile that spread across his face, Caroline realized that he was very much aware of her drawn conclusion.

Eventually, Klaus realized that he had to get to the point and sighed, "You know. You never really get over the loss of somebody you love. I hope you understand this."

Caroline blinked, thrown by the change in topic.

"Of course. I'm not an idiot." She replied, then she bit her bottom lip as she hesitated to broach a possible sensitive question. "Grace told me that you lost Henrik to a werewolf." Caroline stated tentatively, picturing the mini-Elijah lookalike she had noticed hanging around Grace a lot, and during the ball the night before. She winced when she noticed Klaus stiffen almost immediately the very second Henrik had been mentioned.

"Yes, I did. I was there when he was killed." Klaus confirmed, quietly.

"How did you deal with the loss? It must've been so horrible." Caroline questioned, gently.

Klaus awkwardly ran his fingers through his hair and scratched the back of his head, as he attempted to think of an appropriate response. He was never comfortable exposing his emotions to anybody except for Rebekah and Grace (or as she had been known back then as Gráinne), as he saw it as a weakness. If Grace had not been in his life and he had not fallen in love with her; he'd have seen love as a weakness that could be exploited.

"I didn't really. Not entirely." He admitted, much to Caroline's surprise. "Back then, I blamed myself for Henrik's death because I felt that I could've prevented it from happening. That I should've been firmer with him when he had expressed that interest in seeing our werewolf neighbors shifting."

"Did your parents blame you?" Caroline asked, looking appalled.

"Mikael did." Klaus confirmed, darkly. "But there was very little that I could've done that wouldn't have set him off." He added. "My mother didn't blame me, but she was cold and a bit distant from me for several months after the incident."

Caroline looked outraged, "But that's not fair!"

"Life's not supposed to be fair, sweetheart. We just learn from it, accept it and move on. A lesson that was hard learned for me." Klaus stated, sagely. There was a comfortable silence between them as Caroline let Klaus's words sink in. She swallowed hard.

"How did you forgive yourself?" Caroline asked, in a suspiciously small voice that made Klaus raise an eyebrow at the personal question.

"When Henrik returned." Klaus confirmed, causing Caroline to look at him with hope. "I immediately sought forgiveness from him that I hadn't protected him enough. But it turned out that I didn't have to; Henrik stated that I was forgiven. He did not blame me at all." Klaus studied Caroline intensely, which made her a little uncomfortable.

"What?" She asked him, avoiding eye contact as she attempted to discreetly wipe away a sneaky tear from her eye.

"Do you blame yourself for your father's death? Is that why you asked me?" Klaus coaxed, gently. Caroline immediately shook her head.

"No. I don't blame myself for my dad's death." She frowned at him. "He was injured and taken to the hospital where he had to have surgery for his wounds." Caroline recalled, deliberately omitting the fact that Bill Forbes had been attempting to help Tyler break his sire bond with Klaus; but Tyler shifted and ended up seriously injuring the man. "The day he was discharged from the hospital, somebody had stabbed him to death with a knife. But, as it turned out, dad had been given vampire blood during surgery, so he came back into transition." Caroline explained.

"And he decided not to complete the transition." Klaus realized, and frowned sympathetically when Caroline started choking back tears. "I'm so sorry."

"The funny thing is, I can still remember what his last words to me were: 'This is life. This is what it means to be human.' I never understood what he meant by that. But after hearing your story about Henrik's death and how you suffered afterwards, I think I get it now." Caroline smiled gratefully at him.

"Glad I could be of assistance." Klaus said, graciously. Suddenly, he starts choking and struggling to breathe. He gets up and puts his hand on his heart, hunching over to balance on his knees for support.

"Klaus?! What is it?" Caroline was immediately alarmed and got to her feet to lend the Hybrid some assistance. However, Klaus sharply jerked away and looked at her accusingly.

"What did you do?" He demanded.

"Nothing." Caroline was confused, then fearful when Klaus grabs her by the shoulders forcefully.

"What did you do?!" He yelled in her face. Caroline manages to push him away, putting him at arm's length.

"I didn't do anything. I swear!" She insisted, as Klaus immediately went white.

"Kol!" He blurs away, leaving Caroline standing at the bench looking bewildered and concerned.

* * *

Klaus burst into the Mystic Grill, looking frantically around for his brother and fiancée. He swore loudly when he saw no trace of anyone except for the employees who were going about their business. Grace's coke and Kol's bourbon were still standing on the bar, unattended, and the pool game that had been in progress seemed to have been prematurely abandoned altogether.

But where did they go?

Just as Klaus was about to turn around and search somewhere else, he heard a commotion coming from the back alley. Wasting no time, he immediately blurred for the backdoor that led to the alleyway where he spots Alaric holding an unconscious Grace in his arms bridal style, and a daggered Kol who was lying in the middle of the dirty alleyway. The vampire hunter was talking to a stony-faced Stefan as he gently leaned Grace against the wall, before turning and grabbing Kol underneath the armpits and attempted to pick him up to drag him.

"Here, grab him!" Alaric asks Stefan, who moves to help him.

"Tell Meredith 'Good work!'" Stefan requested to Alaric who nodded, looking somewhat uncomfortable with what was happening. Klaus decided to make his move and rushes over, removing the dagger from Kol's heart and shoving Alaric against the wall, knocking him out cold. Stefan drops Kol in a heap just as Klaus glares at him with a cold fury.

"I should've killed you months ago." Klaus confesses, privately disappointed that his ex-best friend had fallen (in his opinion) so far from how he used to be. Stefan sneered at him unconcerned.

"So, do it. It's not going to stop Esther from killing you." He told him, causing Klaus's eyes to flash in anger.

"What did you say about my mother?" He demanded.

"Oh, you didn't know that I was in league with your mom?" Stefan seemed amused by this. "Yeah, she hates you as much as I do." Klaus is about to attack Stefan for the insolent comment, when Elijah appears at the top of the stairs. The elder Original takes one look at the scene and is immediately angry; especially when he notices Kol slowly reawakening from being daggered and Grace who is still out cold from being chloroformed by an unknown adversary.

"Leave him!" Klaus looks at his brother incredulously. "We still need him, Niklaus." Elijah reminds his brother before indicating towards Grace. "Check and see if Grace is unharmed." He suggested. Klaus immediately goes over to his fiancée's side and checks her pulse, relaxing in relief when he could feel it thudding away at a steady pace underneath his fingers. He gently cradles her in his arms.

"She's alive." Klaus confirmed, and Elijah nodded descending the staircase towards Stefan, holding out a phone.

"You tell me where the witches are, or I'll have my sister kill Elena right now." He threatened, forcing Stefan to look up at the clock tower. He sees that the time is 8:30. He frowns at Elijah.

"You told Damon and me that we had until after nine." Stefan protested vehemently, causing Elijah to frown out of confusion.

"Yes. Now that you bring it up, where _is_ your brother?" He requested, also causing Klaus to glance over at them with thinly veiled interest. Stefan looked like he could care less about his brother's absence, but responded to Elijah's question, nonetheless.

"Shortly after you left, Damon decided he wanted no part of the plan to take you all out; once we learned that Esther apparently linked all of you together with Elena's blood." He explained.

Elijah and Klaus exchanged surprised looks.

"Indeed. But we're digressing, and I'm sure Rebekah will be more than happy to start her work early." Elijah hinted, and threat very clearly implied. Stefan had no choice but to reveal the location. Even though he and Elena were estranged, he wasn't about to let her die just to preserve the location the witches, Finn and Esther were hiding out in to perform the ritual.

"The ritual is being performed at the Old Witch House." Stefan reluctantly revealed. Elijah nods, indicating that he and Alaric were free to leave, which Stefan immediately does, taking his out cold friend with him. Once Stefan had gone, Klaus scoops Grace up into a bridal hold, allowing her head to rest on his shoulder.

"How is she?" Elijah asked Klaus with mild concern.

"She's fine. I found no obvious injuries." Klaus reassured him as he shifted her weight in his arms. Kol suddenly sits up, groaning and looking confused. However, after a few minutes he suddenly scowls and gets to his feet; looking pissed.

"Okay, where is the bastard?" He demanded, before noticing what Klaus was holding in his arms. "Shit! What happened?" He asked, looking worried.

"Relax, Kol. Grace was just knocked out." Elijah reassures his younger brother. "We better get going if we're going to stop Mother and Finn in time." He stressed, and all three of them blurred off.

* * *

 **The woods nearby the Old Witch Place.  
** **Night.**

 **(Grace P.O.V)**

I found myself waking up with a thumping headache, snuggled up to something warm and smelling strongly of leather, blood and expensive bourbon. Frowning, I opened my eyes; slowly registering that it was now nighttime, and that for some reason I was out in the woods and cradled in the arms of:

"Damon?" I mumbled, attempting to sit up and regretting it almost immediately when my head started to swim, and I felt like upchucking on Damon, who started fussing over me the second I called out his name.

"Grace, are you alright?" He demanded, urgently. I didn't respond, as I was trying hard not to vomit all over him. "Woah, don't you dare hurl on me." He warned, half-serious. Or at least, I hoped that he was only half-serious and wasn't likely to dump me on my ass if I somehow managed to throw up on him. When the world stopped spinning, I made another attempt to ask what the hell was going on.

"Where are we?" I slurred, still feeling nauseous as he set me down on my feet but continued supporting my weight because I was unable to support myself for the moment.

Damon frowned looking serious, "We're close by the Old Witch Place. Stefan spilled his guts to Elijah and Klaus about where their mom was going to be casting some sort of ritual to take them out." He said.

"That's not possible. I know for a fact that Elijah, Kol, Rebekah and Nik never drank the tainted champagne. They couldn't be linked together." I insisted, taking a tentative step forward and wobbling a little like a toddler taking their first steps. Damon followed behind me, ready to catch me if my legs gave out.

"Well then, somebody better give us all an explanation as to why Klaus, Elijah, Rebekah and most likely Finn were affected after Alaric daggered Kol." Damon looked puzzled, and I didn't blame him. "Because according to your fiancé, right after he handed you over to me on pain of death if I let anything happen to you, that he felt like somebody had stabbed him through the heart without the need of a knife." He told me.

"Maybe after we stop Esther." I suggested, leaning against a nearby tree and glancing about for something familiar. But the only thing that stuck out to me was my car, which Damon had been sitting on when I first woke up. "Where is Nik and Kol?" I asked, suddenly panicking.

"Probably down at the Old Witch House by now with Elijah; dealing with their mother and Finn." Damon answered, and I immediately set off down the trail after them, with a highly objecting Damon blurring in front of me to stop me from going any further.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?" He asked me, placing a restraining hand on my shoulder. I impatiently brushed it aside.

"Going after them. What does it look like I'm doing?" I retorted, darting around him and continuing to stumble down the trail. My legs feeling like jelly.

"Uh, I'll take the worst idea in the world that will get me hurt or killed for $200, Alex." Damon quipped sarcastically, as I scowled at him for the unnecessary pop cultural reference. "Klaus will have my head if I just let you go. Besides, you can barely walk as it is with whatever was introduced to your system." He pointed out, and I smacked my lips tasting something unfamiliar on them.

"It was probably Chloroform." I told Damon, who blinked at me in surprise. "I vaguely remember tasting something sweet before I blacked out. Plus, I have this thudding headache too." I paused, realizing that if I persisted and continued walking towards the Old Witch Place, that I would be killed; and Nik, Kol and not to mention Rebekah would likely skin Damon alive if that happened. So, I decided for once to stay put. "You know what, Damon. I think I will sit this one out. Because I really don't feel so good right now."

"Yeah, I think that would be a smart thing." Damon deadpanned, as I came over to him and leaned against him. "Thanks for sticking around, Damon." I mumbled. I heard Damon chuckle and then felt his warm, leather clad arm wrap itself around my shoulders as I made myself comfortable against him.

"That's what friends are for, babe." Damon reminded me, and I grinned before slowly drifting back off to sleep.

* * *

The feeling of somebody carding their hand through my hair coaxed me awake, and I fluttered open my eyes and looked around to see where I was now. I was laying on the backseat of a car; _my_ car as a matter of fact, using someone's thigh as a pillow and my own personal teddy-bear.

Fantastic.

I hope whoever this person is, doesn't mind that I'm clinging for dear life to their leg. Upside? My headache seems to have abated for the time being. The nausea was still there, but it wasn't threatening to expel out of my mouth and all over the upholstery or the carpeted floor of my car.

Ugh, there is nothing worse than the smell of vomit; it takes forever to wash out and even removing the bile part itself is a pain in the ass. But that wasn't important. Right now, finding out what was currently going on; and where Nik, Kol, Elijah and Damon had disappeared off to, was the main priority. The hand carding through my hair stops and starts stroking my cheek. I froze, wondering what was going to be happening next.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, sweetheart." I relaxed immediately, recognizing Nik's voice and smiled happily with relief that he hadn't been harmed by Esther or Finn. "How are you feeling?" He asked, quietly. I groaned, putting a hand to my head.

"Like I'm experiencing the world's worst hangover, and I didn't even have a drink." I replied, grumpily. "But I will survive." I reassured him. I attempted to sit up with some assistance from Nik and noticed Kol and Elijah sitting in the front seats, with Elijah driving. Kol grinned at me through the rear-view mirror.

"Hello, cutie." He greeted me, winking. I smiled back, gingerly resting my head on the headrest behind me as Elijah smiled at me through the rear-view and nodded in greeting. I turned my gaze upon Nik who was looking at me with deep concern.

"What? Nik, I told you I'm okay, I just need to eat something light and I'll be right as rain." I attempted to placate him. He didn't smile, but instead nodded then turned to look out of the window, taking my hand in his and holding onto it tightly like some sort of lifeline.

I frowned. "What's going on? What happened while I was passed out?" Elijah cleared his throat, sounding incredibly disgruntled about something.

"We set out from that restaurant to the woods leading to the Old Witch House. That's where Stefan told Elijah and Nik where Mother, Finn and a couple of witches would be to complete the so-called ritual to kill us all." Kol explained, also looking uneasy.

"Stefan? Damon wasn't there?" I asked, surprised, wondering where he was since I last saw him earlier. Elijah shook his head. "Where was he then? Last thing I remember was Alaric daggering Kol and then somebody jumping me and knocking me out with chloroform." I asked, suspicious.

"As it turned out, Damon wanted nothing to do with the plan to take us down." Nik piped up from beside me, bristling at this new piece of information I had just supplied, and still looking out of the window. "He surprised us just as we were about to close in on Mother. And after a brief interrogation, we learned his motives and instructed him to look after you while we took care of some family business." He added, as he squeezed my hand a little too hard.

I winced, "Bet he didn't like that."

"He protested and was his usual insolent self … up until he saw you." Elijah nodded. "After that he agreed without further questioning."

"When we were satisfied that you were safe, we went after Mother and Finn." Kol took over the rundown.

"Did you stop her?" I asked, hopeful. All three of them didn't say anything straight away, which I took as bad news.

"Not exactly." Nik replied, sounding frustrated.

"What happened?" I asked, feeling a little bit of dread.

* * *

 **Flashback.  
** **Old Witch Place.  
** **Night.**

 **(No P.O.V)**

 _The three Originals cautiously approached the seemingly innocent abandoned house, after leaving their precious cargo behind with an unexpected ally. In the clearing the brothers could see Finn standing in the centre of a pentagram that had been drawn into the dirt, with Esther and both Abby and Bonnie Bennett surrounding him in urgent conversation. It was Finn who spotted them first._

 _"They're coming, Mother!" He yelled, much to Kol, Elijah and Klaus's disgust. Klaus could see his mother looking alarmed but trying to hide it._

 _"No, it's too soon, the moon is not high enough." Esther turns towards Abby and Bonnie. "Go! Quickly!" Both witches retreat swiftly into the house just as Kol, Elijah and Klaus walk up looking stony-faced at their mother and eldest brother. "My sons, come forward." Esther reaches out to her sons, who look back at her with hostility. Finn reaches out to his mother, frowning at his younger brothers with suspicion._

 _"Stay behind me, mother." He suggests, and Esther steps into the 'safety' of the pentagram._

 _"It's okay. They can't enter." She reassures Finn, who nods, but doesn't take his eyes off his brothers. Kol makes a face at the picture his mother and Finn make together, and he approaches the pentagram. However, the torches surrounding them suddenly flare brighter which drives him backwards away from the pentagram._

 _Kol sneers, "That's lovely. We're stuck out here, while the favorite son plays sacrificial lamb." He eyes Finn with disgust. "How pathetic you are, Finn."_

 _"Be quiet, Kol." Esther snaps back. "Your brother knows virtue you cannot even imagine."_

 _"Whatever you think of us," Elijah walks up beside Kol slowly and calmly, before eyeing his mother angrily. "Killing your own children will be an atrocity." He pointed out, not that it fazed Esther who merely shrugs._

 _"My only regret is that I did not let you die a thousand-years ago." She confessed, and Klaus had heard enough to come forward to put an end to the pointless conversation brewing between his family members. It was clearly falling on deaf ears._

 _"Enough!" Klaus spoke out in a loud, clear and forceful voice. "All this talk is boring me. End this right now, Mother, or I'll send you back to Hell. I wish to go and check on my sleeping fiancée. An unfortunate victim in your scheme to try and rid yourself of your shame." He declared confidently. Esther glared at Klaus with condemnation._

 _"For a thousand-years, I've been forced to watch you. Felt the pain of every victim, suffered while you shed blood. Even you, Elijah, with your claim to nobility, you're no better." Elijah bristled at being singled out. "All of you. You're a curse on this Earth. Stretched out over generations. If you've come to plead for your life, I'm sorry, you've wasted your time." Esther felt the need to inform them._

 _Klaus lets out a humorless laugh at that._

 _"Plead? That's beneath my dignity to even consider doing that, Mother." He stated, turning towards Elijah and Kol. "Do you agree, brothers?" Elijah grunted and nodded but made no other response._

 _"I concur." Kol confirmed. Suddenly, Esther jerks like she had been prodded with a red-hot fire poker. Her eyes widen in horror, grabbing her other sons' interest._

 _"No! Sisters! Do not abandon me!" She wails, alarming Finn and raising the suspicion in Elijah, Kol and Klaus._

 _"Mother!" Finn cries out in fear as the pentagram torches flare up. He grabs Esther while Elijah, Kol and Klaus cower away from the radiant flames. When the torches die out after a few moments, all three of them are left shocked and bewildered when they realise Finn and Esther have disappeared without a trace._

 _"Damnit!" Klaus snarls, angrily. Elijah sighs, and pulls out his phone._

 _"Calm down, Niklaus." He said, although you could tell from his tone of voice that he was also less than pleased with what had just happened. Klaus immediately spun on him._

 _"Don't tell me to calm down! They've escaped!" Klaus roared._

 _"Yes, Nik. We noticed this. We've all got eyes." Kol snarked, as Klaus growls and Elijah rolled his eyes._

 _"Thank you, Kol. You're not helping the situation." Elijah attempted to be mediator, so a brawl did not start up between his extremely volatile younger brothers. "The only thing we can do now is fall back and regroup." He suggested._

 _"Who are you calling?" Kol asked, as he watched Klaus taking out his frustrations on a nearby tree with dark amusement._

 _"Our sister. I'm calling her off watching Elena." Elijah replied, putting the phone to his ear as the call connected. Kol made a face._

 _"Do you have to? Wouldn't the world be a hell of a lot better with one less bloody doppelgänger buggering it all up?" He whined, causing Klaus to whirl around from whaling on the tree and glare at him._

 _"She better bloody not!" He growled, causing Kol to raise an eyebrow at his brother's reaction. "If Rebekah knows what's good for her."_

 _"My, my, Nik. It almost sounds like you care about this girl. Should Grace be worried?" Kol smirked, obviously enjoying egging Klaus on._

 _"That's enough, Kol. Come, we need to go and check on Grace's condition anyway." Elijah reminded them._

* * *

 **A/N: Let's stop here for now. The next chapter will be out soon. Hope this alleviates any boredom you might be experiencing wherever you are in the world during this pandemic. Remember when you review, please tell me which country you are reviewing from. Cheers guys xx**


	61. Tripping Down Memory Lane

**A/N: Hey guys! Hope you enjoyed the last chapter and are ready and pumped for this one.**

 **I don't own** _ **The Vampire Diaries.**_ **All characters except for Grace belong to author L.J Smith. This story belongs to me.**

 **Like always the rules apply, please review but no flaming! And please continue telling me what country you come from, unless you've already done so in a previous review.**

 **Happy reading :)**

* * *

 **TRIPPING DOWN MEMORY LANE**

" _Every time I open the drawer, it's a trip down memory lane, which, if you don't turn off at the right exit, merges straight into the Masochistic Nostalgia Highway."  
_ _ **~Sloane Crosley.**_

* * *

 **End of Flashback.  
** **Mikaelson Mansion.  
** **Night.**

 **(Grace P.O.V)**

All I could do was just sit there beside Nik in the backseat of my own car and take in the story that the three of them had just told me. I stared at them, not really comprehending.

"I'm sorry, I must've gone spontaneously deaf all of a sudden." I stated, frowning a little. "Are you basically telling me that Esther did a bunk?" I questioned them.

"Yes, she did." Kol confirmed, just as irritated.

I grimaced in annoyance, "Oh, great. That's just perfect!" Elijah indicated and started to slow down. I glanced around outside the window and realized that during the explanation over what happened while I was punching 'zeds', we had arrived back at the mansion. "What's going to happen now?" I asked, as Elijah parked the car and killed the engine.

"There's not much we can do I'm afraid." Elijah confessed. "We have no idea where she and Finn had retreated to."

"So, you're just going to give up? Run for it, and probably ditch Nik in the process?" I guessed, and when nobody refuted my claim, I scoffed in disgust. "How very brave of you." I immediately unbuckled my seat belt and clambered out of the car to stomp angrily towards the front door. However, I hadn't fully recovered from being chloroformed yet and was still unsteady on my feet. Twice, I nearly fell flat on my face and the second time I stumbled; Nik caught me.

Had I been in the right frame of mind, I would've noticed the looks of concern on all three brothers' faces. I had been so hoping that Esther would've been taken out tonight so I could have piece of mind. Instead, I was forced alongside the rest of my family to fall back and regroup and wait for another opportunity to put Esther down for good. And after all that I had been through and what Nik and his siblings had been through, that next opportunity could not be soon enough.

"Sweetheart calm down. What's gotten into you?" Nik demanded, as I moved away from him and continued walking inside the mansion, only to have a serious Kol blurring into my path to stop me from going any further.

"Yes, Grace. Your reaction to our mother's disappearance is very unlike you. Please tell us what is wrong." Elijah insisted.

"The fact that you're all acting like it's completely hopeless now that Esther has escaped. It's not just you that she's screwed over or threatened, you know." I growled, heading straight for the living room and bypassing Rebekah who appeared looking anxious with a sober-faced Henrik on her heels.

"Where the bloody hell was everyone?" She demanded, angrily.

"Not now, Rebekah." Nik stated, firmly. Rebekah took one look at our faces and immediately mellowed while Henrik made a beeline for me.

"Grace, are you okay?" Henrik asked, concerned. I shook my head no, which immediately caused Nik to come over and grab me by the shoulders.

"For God's sake, Grace, what the bloody hell is wrong!?" Nik yelled, swiftly losing his patience like I was.

"Easy, brother." Kol piped up, for once with no hint of joking around in his voice.

"I can't tell you, I'm sorry." I whispered.

Nik growled.

"Can't or won't?" He demanded.

"I have a reason why I can't tell you why I'm reacting the way I am, but I cannot tell you because Esther placed a whammy on me that prevents me from fessing up." I told him, and Nik looked confused.

"What did she do?" He insisted, harshly.

"Mother tortured her. She still is, technically." Henrik piped up, looking grave, and all his siblings looked at him in horror. "I was there when she cast it."

"Mother tortured her?" Rebekah parroted, looking sick.

"Why didn't you stop her then?" Kol glared at Henrik, as Nik's eyes flashed yellow in _his_ anger and grief, as I made a beeline for the wet bar and poured myself a generous glass of bourbon.

"Because it happened too fast for me to act!" Henrik retorted, defensively. "It happened on the night Nik broke his curse. Grace had been knocked out and kidnapped, and at the time I was still in non-corporeal form, so she and I were linked. I was summoned to the Other Side when I could sense that she was in trouble." He explained.

"You died!?" Nik looked at me in anguish. I set aside my drink and came over to him to place both my hands on his face to calm him.

"No. I was unconscious." I responded, reassuringly. "I remember that night. I was about to enter my apartment when something moved out of the corner of my eye, distracting me, and I followed it to investigate. Next thing I knew, some sort of powder was blown into my face and when I woke up, I was looking at Nik's blood-streaked and worried face." I clarified, and Nik's eyes widened in recognition before he pulled me close.

"Henrik implied that something happened in between that. Care to elaborate?" Elijah requested.

"I can't." I whispered, looking fearful when I remembered what Esther did before I helped Nik break his curse. Henrik stepped up.

"Like Grace said before, Mother placed a whammy on her that will cause her extreme pain if she even mentions her involvement in helping to break Nik's curse." Henrik explained.

"What sort of whammy?" Rebekah demanded, getting angry.

"If I reveal the truth, it will feel like somebody is stabbing me repeatedly in the head with a knife." I replied, feeling vulnerable.

"Sounds like a magical aneurysm." Elijah realized, sounding disgusted.

"And mother calls us 'monsters' and 'abominations' when she does something like this to an innocent person?" Kol spat.

Nik smoothed back my hair from my face and kisses my forehead, before looking pointedly at Henrik.

"What was it that Mother was so desperate to hide?" He asked, fiercely. Henrik swallowed, and looked at me for permission. When I nodded, he steeled himself and thought back to that night a few months ago when Esther first revealed the truth to us.

"On the night Mother first cursed you, and Grace burst in to stop her, Father and Elijah; the ritual had already been seemingly completed. But according to Mother, it hadn't been, at least not entirely." Henrik stated. "Apparently, the ritual would only be completed when mother gave thanks to the spirits of the witches who lent her their powers to place the curse on Nik."

"That's right. It would've been extremely disrespectful if she hadn't." Kol confirmed.

"And because Grace had interrupted before she could give thanks; when Father stabbed Grace to death and spilled her blood, and Nik kissed her leaving traces of her blood on his lips, she unknowingly became part of the ritual." Henrik explained.

"What?" Rebekah blurted out.

Henrik nodded, "It seemed that Mother had realized afterwards, that Nik would be seeking to find a way to break his curse and would find the necessary ingredients to do so. However, if Grace had not been reincarnated like she was—"

"Our brother would never have been able to break his curse, because Grace's blood was one of the key ingredients, he required along with Elena Gilbert's blood. He would have had his werewolf heritage locked away for eternity, without knowing that Grace's blood was a key ingredient." Elijah concluded, grimly.

Henrik nodded, solemnly.

"So, what made Mother simply recruit somebody to hand over Grace to complete Nik's ritual?" Rebekah asked, confused. "Why not just kill her to stop Nik having any chance of breaking his curse?" She added, ignoring the protesting growl that Nik uttered at the mere suggestion of my death at the hands of Esther.

"Guilt maybe? Or another cog she required for her plans? Who knows? Maybe we'll never know." Elijah shrugged. "But it has become very clear that Mother has gone too far and must be found and stopped before it is too late." He vowed.

I looked up at Nik's face and nearly flinched back when I saw how ferocious and bloodthirsty, he had become in such a short length of time.

"Nik?" I called out to him, fearful.

Rebekah, Kol, Henrik and Elijah looked over and immediately went on guard when they realized that their brother was shifting into hybrid mode, and I was locked tight in his protective embrace. His normally blue-green eyes were now sinister golden wolf's eyes, and his upper and lower fangs were jutting out between his lips in a vicious snarl. Kol and Rebekah looked like they were about to come over to help extract me from Nik, so I didn't get hurt in his rage; but Elijah immediately stopped them.

"Don't!" He warned, looking concerned. "He's just learned that his fiancée had been threatened once again, and that he had been betrayed by our mother. Removing Grace from him at this point in time would be folly."

Kol looked at him aghast. "But he's going feral, aren't you at all concerned that he could maim Grace?" Nik let out a low, threatening growl at the suggestion.

"He won't harm her. Right now, Grace is his main source of comfort." Elijah said, confidently.

"How on Earth do you know that?" Rebekah demanded, still looking alarmed.

"After Henrik was killed, I did some research on werewolves whenever I had a spare moment. I felt that it was the most sensible thing to do to prevent something like what happened to our brother, from happening again." Elijah stated. "Come on, let's give them some privacy."

He indicated towards the entrance to the living room, and both Kol and Henrik immediately headed for it without question. However, Rebekah hesitated.

"It's okay, Bekah. I'll be alright." I reassured her. But still, she didn't budge. It looked like she wanted to say something else.

"Rebekah." Elijah's no-nonsense voice called out, and Rebekah reluctantly turned and strode from the room. Elijah smiled and nodded at me before also leaving. I turned my attention towards the love of my life, who looked like he was struggling with his negative thoughts and was shaking like a leaf. I immediately led him over to one of the couches and made him sit down on it.

"Nik? Nik, look at me." I asked him, gently. His glaring golden eyes swiveled round and locked onto my brown ones, and I had to stop myself from instinctively flinching back out of fear. I slowly raised my hands and placed them on his slightly unshaven face again, stroking his cheeks with my thumbs, soothingly. "I get that you are angry, I am too. But I need you to come back to me." I whispered, urgently.

There was silence for several seconds before Nik eventually spoke.

"First, you died by Mikael's hands. Then, you finally come back into my life only to have your life threatened again by my Mother, who placed a dangerous whammy on you that could potentially kill you again if you tell me the truth about her involvement in solving my curse." He cut himself off and started shaking again in his rage.

"Breathe, Nik. Just focus on your breathing." I urged him, trying to calm him down.

He slowly obeyed.

"I want to go out and find her just to rip her apart piece by piece with my wolf, then find a way to bring her back so I can rip her heart from her chest like I did the first time. Because _that_ is what it felt like when I learned that you could potentially harm yourself by telling me the truth." He confessed with a snarl.

I pressed my forehead against his.

"I know you do." I whispered, still stroking his face with my thumbs. "Come back to me. I need you to come back to me." I urged. Slowly, Nik's blue-green eyes returned and his upper and lower fangs receded back into his gums. He reached up and pulled my hands off his face and held them firmly in his own.

"I can't lose you again. Not again. The last time that happened ... it almost killed me." He almost whimpered and my heart went out to him. "Please don't leave me."

"I won't." I buried my head into his neck. "I will always be here for you, Nik. Always and forever." I promised him, faithfully. He let out a sigh of relief and sagged into me, hugging me close, and we remained like that for what seemed like several minutes.

"Nik? Grace?" I looked over Nik's shoulder and saw a very anxious Rebekah standing in the doorway. I shook my head at her.

"Now's probably not the best time, Bekah. I've only just managed to calm him down." I told her, firmly. Rebekah bit her bottom lip, but stubbornly walked into the room against my advice.

"I know, but this is important. It's something Nik needs to see." She insisted. Nik immediately pulled back, fixing his sister with an annoyed glare.

"This better be good." He stated. I got up to give them privacy, but Nik wrapped his hand around my wrist and tugged me back down; only this time to sit on his lap. I immediately started to protest but stopped when I saw the warning scowl on his face. "You were saying, Bek?" He requested as he wrapped his arms securely around my waist.

Rebekah almost smiled at us. "I hated you when I learned you killed our mother. But I realize now that after a thousand years together as a family, you're the only one who never left me."

"Well, aren't we a pair." Nik observed, impatiently. "Now what is it that you needed me to see so desperately?" He requested. Rebekah pulled out her phone and held it up so that both Nik and I could see the video on it. It was a video of a terrified but determined Elena who was glaring defiantly at the screen.

"Bragging about your skills as a torturer?" Nik guessed, sounding annoyed. "If that is all you're showing me…" He reaches up and takes Rebekah's phone and looks at the video.

"No, Nik. Look at the images on the wall behind Elena." My eyes zeroed in on the ancient drawings on the stone wall behind Elena. "The natives told the story of our family history, look at the images on the far wall." She urged, seriously.

"What is it?" I asked, trying to see what Rebekah was talking about.

"A native worshiping at the Great White Oak Tree." Rebekah clarified.

"But I thought you burned that tree to the ground?" I said, frowning in confusion.

"We did." Nik confirmed, also frowning and looking at Rebekah for an explanation.

"Look at the markings that precede it. That's the native calendar." Rebekah instructed and Nik focused back on the video again, only this time his eyes widened in horror.

"This can't be right." He muttered, squeezing me in his anxiety.

"What's going on?" I asked, wheezing a little from Nik's powerful grip. He immediately loosens his arm, allowing me to suck in a few deep breaths.

"It's another White Oak Tree." My sister explains, looking really scared. "Three hundred years after we fled back to the Old World."

"Oh, my God…" I muttered, feeling the blood draining from my face.

"There must have been a sapling, a new tree to replace the old. That tree could kill us. It's not over, Nik." Rebekah declared. I instantly got up from Nik's lap, wobbling a little on my unsteady feet and walked towards the entrance. "Grace, where are you going?" Rebekah was immediately alert.

I didn't turn to face them.

"To bed. I'm still not feeling very well, and I think I've also reached my quota on the bad things that have happened today. I'm going to bed." I declared, hobbling over to the staircase and holding onto the banister with all my strength before looking at the incline with dread.

 _On second thoughts I'll sleep on the couch. My legs are useless at the moment, and I don't think I can make it up without face-planting—'_ I let out a startled yelp when I was unceremoniously swept up off my feet, into some strong arms. I stared at Nik in surprise and at Rebekah who had followed her brother out of the living room and was observing us with an amused smile on her face.

"Don't argue, Grace. I could see that you were struggling to even walk out of the room." Nik defended his actions. "Besides, I think you had the right idea; and I'm not letting you out of my sight tonight." He vowed, and I mentally gave in. I was too wiped out to give a shit, and instead laid my head against his shoulder and wrapped both arms securely around his neck.

"Whatever you say, Nik." I said, closing my eyes and smiling contentedly as he traveled slowly up the stairs with Rebekah following on silently. When we made it to our shared bedroom, Nik shifted my weight in his arms as he reached out to open the door. "Have a goodnight, Bekah. Love you." I murmured groggily from over Nik's shoulder at my sister who darted forward and planted a kiss on my forehead.

"You too, sister." She smiled tiredly before heading further down the corridor and into her own room. Nik chuckled, and I looked up at him frowning a little.

"What?" I asked, a little warily.

"Nothing." He replied, a little too quickly before stepping into our bedroom and kicking the door shut behind him. He then proceeded to walk towards our large bed. "Come on, sleepy. Bedtime." He teased, smirking as he cooed down at me and sat me down on the edge of the bed to remove my shoes.

I glowered halfheartedly at him.

"Do I look like I'm five to you?" I bitched, without any venom behind the words and yawned before I pulled back the covers, slipping between them and curling into a ball.

"Not at all. That would be creepy." Nik joked back, kicking off his own boots and removing his jeans before joining me underneath the covers and cocooning around my body protectively. We both relaxed, just listening to the sounds of our slow, even breathing. I was just about to drift off when Nik suddenly spoke up. "I love you, Grace."

I smiled and reached over to interlock our hands together.

"I love you too, Nik. Sweet dreams." I slurred sleepily.

* * *

 **Mikaelson Mansion.  
** **The Next Morning.**

I was the first to wake up the next morning in our room, and for once it was at a reasonable time. I was feeling much better than I did last night, and my legs no longer felt like they had been replaced with Plasticine. Sitting up a little, I looked over my shoulder and smiled when I saw a very peaceful Nik, still in deep slumber behind me. His arm that had been cradling me close like a steel trap as we drifted off together, was now draped limply across my hip.

Trying not to jostle him, I turned over and lay back down just observing him in his sleep. Eventually, I was unable to ignore the call of nature and had to get up. But before I did so, I smoothed back a stray dirty blonde curl from Nik's face and leaned in to give him a gentle good morning kiss. After that, my morning routine was pretty straightforward and I was out in record time, gathering up my shoes and purse; as I intended on heading out for a walk after a quick spot of breakfast, and didn't want to endure Nik's wrath if I woke him before he was ready to greet the day.

I headed down to the dining room and found a fully dressed Rebekah already sitting at her place at the large wooden dining table, sipping from her usual glass of blood. The table itself was laden with fresh breakfast delicacies such as fruit, muffins, dishes of butter, preservatives and other spreads, and little cooling racks full of freshly cooked toast.

Emma blurs right in front of me, all smiles.

"Good morning, Grace!" She chirped, brightly. "How are you today?" She follows me over to the table and pulls out my chair for me as I sit down.

I smiled back.

"Good thanks, I had a restful night's sleep." I responded. "May I have some O.J. and a cup of tea, please?" I requested. Emma nodded and zipped off to the kitchen as I grinned over at a pleasant, but still slightly off looking Rebekah, sitting opposite me picking at her platter of fresh fruit and staring into space. "Are you alright, Bekah?" I asked, cautiously.

"Pardon?" Rebekah refocused, and blinked at me in confusion before realizing who was talking to her and smiled a little. "Of course. Why wouldn't I be?" She asked, a bit flippantly.

"I figured you'd still be dwelling on the possible reappearance of the White Oak Tree. My mistake." I responded, shrugging a little and thanking Emma when she returned with my juice and tea. Rebekah scowled at me, before resuming to eat her breakfast. I glanced at the other vacant chairs, already knowing why one was bare, but questioning where our other brothers were or Jeremy for that matter. Elijah, as I recalled, was a notorious early riser.

"Have the others woken up yet?" I asked, curiously. Rebekah glanced up at me before angling her head slightly, presumably reaching out with her advanced hearing to the bedrooms upstairs.

"Kol is still sleeping. Lazy oaf. As is Nik; but you already know that." She reported, "Jeremy I believe is having a shower, and Henrik is playing video games, and I think Elijah left early this morning." Rebekah immediately returned to her meal.

"That's weird. Does he usually do that? Nick off somewhere without letting you know where he's going?" I asked her, sipping from my tea.

"Not often." Rebekah replied. "But when he does, it's usually for a good reason." I nodded, then reached for a couple of pieces of toast, the butter and strawberry jam. "What are you up to today, sister?" Rebekah randomly asks me, and I blinked at her in surprise.

"Going for a walk after breakfast. Probably might go and catch up with Damon too. Why?" I asked her, curiously.

"May I tag along? I have some business I need to attend to in town … and I wouldn't mind catching up with Damon also. If that's okay with you?" She asked, a little shyly.

I smirked playfully, "I bet you do." Then cleared my throat when Rebekah scowled at me. "I don't see why not. Anything I can do to help you with your business?" I asked her, trying to be helpful.

"Not right now. But you can come along if you want." She said, smiling at me. I nodded chewing away at my toast, but I couldn't help but wonder what Rebekah was up to.

* * *

 **A Mystic Falls Neighborhood.  
** **Day.**

A few minutes after breakfast was over, Rebekah requested that I wait for a few minutes while she zipped upstairs to retrieve something. I nodded and went to wait outside for her; calling Damon to make sure that he was available for a visit.

 _"This is Damon."_ His familiar southern drawl answers almost immediately.

"Hello, Damon. How are you?" I greeted him, warmly. I lean against the pedestrian access gate, waiting patiently for Rebekah and content to just talk with Damon until she showed up.

 _"Grace? Is everything okay, are you okay?"_ He sounded concerned, and I smiled.

"I'm great. Had a pleasant night's sleep, and that seemed to get rid of the nausea I experienced when you saw me last night." I reassured him, and I heard him exhale a relieved breath.

 _"Don't scare me like that. I thought something went down, because you only call when something bad happens."_ Damon babbled, dropping the serious tone in his voice before changing topic. _"What can I do for you then?"_ He asked, returning to his usual 'charming' lovable self.

Note the sarcasm.

I glanced up when the front doors opened and out stepped Rebekah who appeared calm from a distance but considering that she had business she needed to deal with in town; appearances could be deceiving.

"Nothing special. Just wondering if you're free for a chat and a catch up since what happened last night happened?" I asked, politely.

 _"Why you asking? People just usually rock up and make their plans in person."_ Damon sounded genuinely confused and I rolled my eyes, earning a questioning look from Rebekah when she finally made it to me.

"Because it's called 'good manners', Damon. It would be extremely impolite to just 'rock up' anywhere without calling first. You could be busy with something else." I pointed out, tartly.

 _"Uh, right. No, I'm not too busy. I guess we could meet up at the Grill later. I've got a couple of things I need to take care of."_ Damon responded, sounding a little bit awkward. I chuckled out of amusement, as Rebekah rolled her eyes when she realized that I was talking with Damon.

"Urgent? Is everything okay with **you**?" I asked, curiously.

" _Uh, Alaric was arrested last night. I've been summoned by Liz to help sort it out."_ Damon explained, sounding like he wanted to do anything but that. _"Then I'm gonna attempt to save St. Stefan from himself."_

"Shit. The Alaric thing sounds serious, the Stefan thing … I'm not sure I'm gonna mess with. You know him better than I do. Is there anything you need help with the Alaric thing?" I asked, trying to be helpful since he had lent his assistance last night.

" _Nah. I'm good. I'll just meet ya at the Grill later, probably with Stefan in tow."_ Damon dismissed me, not unkindly. I glanced at Rebekah, who was starting to look a bit impatient with me but also a little bit curious. Probably about the Stefan thing.

"Do you mind if Rebekah tags along? We're both feeling a little uh, despondent today and need some cheering up." I explained.

 _"Why? I thought you said nothing was wrong?"_ Damon sounded alert again.

"Oh, there's plenty wrong, but nothing that we need to deal with right now." I replied vaguely.

 _"Still not hearing the why."_ Damon retorted.

I sighed, "Bekah and I can explain more when we see you at the Grill. Can you wait that long?" I asked him, a little peeved.

 _"Sure. It's not my story."_ Damon replied, and I heard a car horn in the background.

"Where are you?" I asked, waving Rebekah ahead when she started getting angsty, and I followed through the gate and out onto the street.

 _"Walking through Town's Square. I'm on my way to the Police station."_ Damon responded. I could picture him standing in the middle of the sidewalk with his phone firmly attached to his ear or standing in the middle of the park just outside my old apartment block. _"Gotta go. I'll see you at the Grill about 1:00ish."_ He rattled off distractedly before hanging up before I could say anything else. I pulled my phone from my ear and looked down at it, taken aback.

"Nice talking to you too." I muttered dryly, before shoving my phone back into my pocket and focusing upon Rebekah.

"Nice chat?" Rebekah asked, a little annoyed.

"I suppose." I replied, hooking my purse strap higher on my shoulder as I walked briskly to keep up with Rebekah's determined strides. "Why are you in such a hurry, where are we going?" I asked, half-curious and half-concerned.

"I'm supposed to be meeting the Mayor at the Grill at approximately 12:30. But I'm not in any hurry, I'm looking forward to spending some time with my sister before that meeting. Like we used to, long ago." Rebekah replied, smiling nostalgically at me.

I grinned, "Works for me." I hooked my arm through hers; something I also used to do back when Rebekah was human, and I was Gráinne. "I think I know just the place to reminisce too." I told her, earning a genuinely excited smile from my sister.

I led Rebekah towards a place I hoped had remained somewhat untouched by both man and time. As we approached the spot I had never shown anyone, not even Nik, I held my breath; praying that no idiot had tampered with the natural beauty.

"Oh, wow! Grace, where'd you find this spot?" Rebekah sighed, sounding impressed. We were standing upon a natural cliff-face with a spectacular view of an 80-foot tall plunge waterfall surrounded by fragrant greenery. The waterfall shot over a rock face, sending the spray of water two hundred feet into a valley below.

"I found it a thousand years ago. I went for a long walk, and managed to stumble upon this waterfall quite unintentionally." I explained to a stunned looking Rebekah. "Of course, I saw it from a different angle. But years of growth has made it impossible for us to go see it where I originally first saw it." I added, before turning and smiling at my sister. "So, do you like it?" I asked her, feeling hopeful that it would somewhat cheer her up.

"I love it! Thank you so much for showing it to me!" Rebekah gushed, pulling me into a rib-breaking hug.

"You're welcome, but you're smothering me." I warned her, and she immediately let go. "Come on, we've got a couple of hours to kill before you have to get to the Grill to keep your meeting with the Mayor."

I led Rebekah to a nearby meadow that was awash with colorful wildflowers as vivid as the ones we used to relax in during our childhood. We spent the next few hours just laughing and talking together like old times, and just like the old times we created flower crowns or reclined on our backs just watching the clouds passing by in the sky.

Anything to help distract us from what we were likely to face soon.

* * *

 **Mystic Grill.  
** **Day.**

Rebekah and I arrived in record time at the Mystic Grill and spotted Carol Lockwood sitting at a table, with some paperwork and nursing a cup of coffee. My sister made a beeline for the Mayor while I headed for the bar and ordered myself a drink, as I waited for Damon to show up and Rebekah to be finished with whatever business she had with Carol.

Earlier, back at the meadow, Rebekah explained to me that she was looking for some information about the White Oak Tree that we just learned had regrown about 300-years after the Mikaelson's left America to return to Norway, and then their spontaneous trips around the world searching for Katherine to break Nik's curse. Apparently, Carol Lockwood was the head of the Preservation Society and was the person to speak to about the likelihood of a White Oak Tree growing somewhere out in the woods.

Suddenly, Damon and Stefan walked into the Grill and I glanced down at the time on my phone: 1:00pm. I grimaced, and looked back at the pair, nodding and smiling a little painfully at Damon. He _had_ mentioned that Stefan was likely to be with him when he agreed to meet up with me here. But I wasn't going to complain, as Rebekah had tagged along with me as well. Admittedly, it was because she had her own reasons for being here herself. But it would be a bit hypocritical if I kicked up a fuss.

"Hey guys." I greeted both brothers as they approached the bar, after Damon had eye-flirted with Rebekah as he passed through.

"Hey." Damon greeted me with a hug and a peck on the cheek and took a seat on the stool next to me, ordering a bottle of bourbon to share while Stefan barely acknowledged my presence and took a seat next to his brother. I raised an eyebrow at the rude greeting. "So, what's the story with Rebekah talking with Carol?" Damon questioned me, indicating with his head towards the table where the two women were sitting.

I shrugged, sipping from my Sprite. "I have no idea." I lied, eyeing Rebekah who was observing Damon and Stefan calculatingly right after asking Carol a question. "Whatever it is, must be important and has something to do with you two though." I surmised.

"What makes you say that?" Damon asked, dubiously.

"Because Rebekah looked right at you after asking Carol a question just before." I responded like it should've been obvious.

"Right. Well, don't mind us; we're just sorting out some issues of our own." Damon told me, and I nodded; pretending that what he said didn't interest me at all and turned back to the counter to set down my drink.

Suddenly, my phone buzzed, and I frowned and dug it out from my pocket squinting down at the screen.

 _'I know you're lying to me about what Rebekah is talking with Carol about. Are you gonna come clean?' – D._ I glanced up at the back of Damon's head, scowling at him in annoyance.

 _'I'll reveal mine, if you reveal yours.' – G._ I hit send, then winced when I realized at the last minute what I had just sent. This was not going to end well.

My phone buzzed, _'Is that so? Won't your fiancé have a thing or two to say about that?'_ Damon texted back. I glanced up at his face and noticed a very subtle amused smirk flicking up at the corner of his lips.

My fingers flew over the buttons on my phone.

 _'Cute. Very cute. I'm also deadly serious, smartass. I won't tell you a thing about what Rebekah and I are up to, if you're not willing to fess up about what's going on your side of the war.'_ I hit send and placed my phone on the bar, just as Damon suddenly flicked open his phone and casually skimmed over my message.

His smirk instantly drops, and he sighs before answering.

 _'Alright, touché. Calm down and don't get your panties in a twist. Fair's fair, I'll fill you in.'_ He responded, his text sounding a little defensive.

 _'Thank you.'_ I quickly texted back.

Damon flicked shut his phone before he turned to grab his usual bourbon from the counter. He made quick eye contact with me and nodded once before turning back to face Stefan and sipped at his drink.

"So, what does a medical examiner, Bill Forbes, and Alaric Saltzman have in common?" Damon asked Stefan, loud enough that I could overhear their conversation easily, but not so much that it was obvious that he was raising his voice. I frowned, wondering what Damon meant by the question. Even more so when Stefan started randomly tapping his ring on the counter and giving me looks when he thought Damon wasn't looking.

He swallowed hard; like he had a very large lump stuck in his throat.

 _What the hell?_

"Come on, knock it off." Damon admonished Stefan, referring to the random ring banging his brother was doing. The younger vampire immediately grabs the bottle of bourbon and pours himself a drink. "You know," Damon casually observes. "Quitting cold turkey after a ripper binge might not be the best approach." He pointed out, as my eyes widened in horror when I finally put two and two together and realized that Stefan was attempting to distract himself from his thirst. I turned and looked at Rebekah in a panic. She also looked concerned, as I was literally a happy meal with legs being dangled in front of him. "Every time you play that all-or-nothing game, you eventually leave a trail of bodies. So, I'm thinking, now is a good time to pay our old friend moderation a visit."

"They were all on the Founder's Council, Damon." Stefan immediately responded, sounding irritated. "That's what they all have in common."

I frowned, completely confused.

"But why them? Huh? Brian Walters and Alaric weren't from founding families." Damon mused. "I mean, hey, if you're gonna slaughter council members, go A-list. At least in 1912 they killed a Salvatore—"

"Really?" Rebekah strolled up to us, grabbing their attention. My sister deliberately stood between the brothers and me and took my hand in hers, trying to calm me down as I was probably a nervous wreck. Especially when I realized how much danger I was in. Not that I wasn't able to defend myself should Stefan decide to take a chomp out of my neck, but it was always nice to have somebody stronger than they were as back up. "Which Salvatore would that be?" Rebekah asked them casually.

I glanced around and realized that Carol was nowhere to be seen.

"Rebekah, nice of you to drop in unexpected." Damon greeted her.

"I had something to discuss with Mayor Lockwood. Don't change the subject." Rebekah retorted sternly.

"Zachariah Salvatore." Stefan reluctantly revealed, eyeing Rebekah and I suspiciously.

"Your nephew?" I piped up, taking a sip from my Sprite to calm down my nerves. Damon looked at me with concern. He had obviously noticed that I was suddenly very uncomfortable in Stefan's presence once I worked out what the ring banging meant.

"Well, our father knocked up one of the maids during the Civil War. She had a son." He explained, not really disguising his disgust with his father's conduct. "But as far as everyone else knew, Stefan and I were dead. Family name had to go somewhere." He shrugged.

Rebekah nodded, "And, uh, your family owned the logging mills back then?" I raised an eyebrow at her for the question, as did Damon and he leaned around Rebekah and looked at me for an explanation. When I shrugged looking just as confused as he felt, Damon looked back at Rebekah.

"What's with the questions?" He asked, suspiciously.

"Grace and I are just researching the town history. We grew up here after all." Rebekah responded, a little haughty as she turned to the bar to grab a glass for herself. I quickly grabbed my phone and texted Damon.

 _'Rebekah discovered that a tree that she and her brothers burned to the ground shortly after they were turned into vampires, grew back 300-years later after they returned to the Old World.'_ I explained hastily and sent the text. Damon immediately read my message and frowned at me.

 _'What's wrong with that?'_ He texted.

 _'The wood of that tree will kill them. Rebekah told Elena and I once, that Esther used the tree in her ritual because of its substantial age. While it gave them their 'unlife', it is also the only wood capable of taking it from them as well.'_ I explained, darkly.

Damon's eyes widened when he read that last part of my message and looked up at me with horror. Rebekah returned her attention back on Damon, who recovered and managed to slap on a 'fake leer' on his face.

"You know, you don't have to disguise your true motives Blondie-Bex." Rebekah made a face at the nickname Damon bestowed upon her. "If you want more sex, just ask for it." He added, with a saucy wink. I knew that Damon was extremely worried; as he only made vulgar jokes like that to disguise how he was really feeling. It wasn't hard to pick up on a fact like that if you've spent enough time around him.

Rebekah smirked nastily, "Not enough liquor in the world." She then reaches over and grabs the bottle, pouring herself a drink.

Damon grinned.

"Oh, come on, it was too good for you to be this hostile." He flirted. Suddenly, Stefan grabbed his glass and the bourbon bottle and moved further away from Damon, Rebekah and me.

But mostly me.

Damon rolled his eyes at his brother's behavior, "You'll have to excuse my little brother, he's jonesing for some O-positive."

"I'm not jonesing!" Stefan denied from across the room, where he was sitting. Damon sighed and shook his head, as Rebekah takes the seat Stefan had been sitting at before he moved.

"Grace told me what you both are doing." Damon mutters underneath his breath to a surprised and slightly suspicious Rebekah.

"Did she really?" Rebekah scowled at me, but Damon intercepted the accusing glare.

"Hey, none of that. I'm not gonna stab you in the back, literally or figuratively. I'm on your side." Damon insisted, and Rebekah mellowed but didn't look any less suspicious of him. "Don't worry, I'll help you and Grace in any way I can." He promised. "I just have to help my brother first. As you've both probably noticed, he's not dealing with going cold turkey very well." Rebekah eyed Stefan, who was shooting back glasses of bourbon rapidly.

"Decidedly not." Rebekah agreed, before turning back to Damon and narrowing her eyes at him. "If you are lying to me, I'm going to pull out your rib cage and wear it as a hat." She threatened and smiled sweetly at him, and Damon smirked.

"Nice imagery." He complimented her, and Rebekah scoffed.

"Let's just return to the matter at hand." She suggested, and immediately fell silent as Stefan returned looking slightly more in control, but still eyeing me with a hungry stare.

"So, did they ever catch the killer?" Rebekah asked, getting back on point and trying to divert Stefan's blinkered attention away from me.

"Sorry, killer? Did I miss something here?" I cut in, wishing to satisfy my curiosity, much to Rebekah's frustration as both brothers' eyes clapped onto me; something that she was obviously trying to avoid due to Stefan's condition. And I'm sorry for that, but I needed the extra information to understand.

"There have been a series of random murders recently. That's why Alaric was arrested this morning; they believe him to be a possible suspect." Damon explained. "And, nope. Wrote it all off on vampires." He answered Rebekah's query as I nodded and fell silent, not wanting to miss any other important piece of information that the three of them might reveal.

"Maybe it _was_ a vampire." Rebekah suggested, as Stefan immediately glowered at Damon accusingly.

"Yeah, yeah, maybe it was a vampire, Damon." Stefan mocked his brother who threw him a sharp warning look not to push his luck.

"Don't think for a second you didn't cross my mind too, brother." Damon warned him. "But these murders weren't your style, were they? Plus, there were no other vampires circulating then." He stated.

Stefan looked lost in thought, "Well there was one other vampire. Remember Sage?" Damon instantly grinned, earning a jealous pout from Rebekah that she immediately attempted to hide when she realized what she was doing.

"Ohh, right, Sage." Damon swipes the bourbon bottle from off the counter and takes a swig from the bottle. I nudged him hard in the ribs, causing him to choke a little on the liquid and turn and glare at me. I indicated towards a sulking Rebekah before he could swear at me. Damon's eyes immediately widened, and he became contrite.

"I knew a Sage once. Trashy little thing." Rebekah was extremely sour, and I didn't blame her. Damon could be tactless at times, intentionally or not.

"You really think it was Sage who was killing all those Founders back then?" Damon wondered as Stefan shrugged, nonchalantly.

"The town questioned every grown man in Mystic Falls. It probably never occurred to them that a woman could have done it." He replied.

"Who's Sage?" I asked, drawing the attention from all three vampires. Damon glanced at Rebekah who stubbornly avoided eye contact with him, before sighing.

"She was my mentor. Kind of like how Lexi was to Stefan; except Sage taught me all about the nature of _being_ a vampire and how to have fun with it." Damon said, causing Rebekah to snort at that.

"Yeah, I bet she did." She groused.

Damon ignored her, "Stef and I first spotted her here in Mystic Falls back in 1912 when she was beating the shit out of men in boxing matches. She was offering $100 to any man who thought that he could beat her in a match." He reminisced.

"Did you go up against her, then?" I grinned and Damon shook his head, killing my buzz a little.

"I wasn't like I am now, back then. I still acted like the proper Southern Gentleman my mother had raised, and Stefan here was trying to lecture me on how to live my life." He glared at Stefan resentfully, and the younger vamp rolled his eyes.

"I was trying to make amends for my actions. To give you some piece of mind." Stefan insisted.

"No, you were giving me a boring lecture. Thank god I ignored you like I did." Damon retorted, evenly. "But that's when Sage and I first talked face-to-face. She made some assumptions, which I refuted. Then she shoved that $100 bill she was offering to the other gents down my pants and went on her way." Damon smirked at the looks on Rebekah's face and my face.

"Down your pants?" I repeated his words, disbelievingly.

"Told you she was trashy." Rebekah muttered into my ear as she stole back the bottle from Stefan and took a drink from it. I rolled my eyes, then flinched when I saw Stefan starting to look a little bit edgy. Rebekah commandeered the bottle and was starting to finish the last dregs of the bourbon. "So, uh, tell us more about your old relatives. I heard they tore down half the woods to build this town." She recounted to them as the bartender walks over to us and places down a bottle of whiskey, before moving away to serve another customer.

Rebekah reaches for the bottle, but Damon grabs it first.

"Easy there. It's been a hoot and a half but it's boy's night and you weren't invited." He tells us, before walking off with the alcohol and Stefan following behind with two glasses. Rebekah and I looked at him, taken aback. At least, we were until my phone suddenly buzzed with another text message. I tugged it free and opened the new message.

"That thing has been buzzing all afternoon. It's becoming irritating." Rebekah eyed my phone like it was a particularly nasty bug that needed to be squished.

"It's Damon. He's telling us not to disappear and just play along." I relayed before looking up at her, mildly exasperated with how Damon was handling the situation. Rebekah scoffed with disbelief.

"Play along? He can't be serious, after how rude he is being? He's got some nerve." Rebekah scoffed.

"I agree that he needs to grow up a little more, but he is keeping us in the loop for the most part. I mean, how are we going to find more information about the White Oak Tree if we just leave?" I asked, and Rebekah paused to think this over. Eventually, she let out an impatient sigh.

"Fine. But this better be worth it." She warned me, before we both strode over to the dartboard, where Damon and Stefan had relocated for their 'guy's night'.

* * *

Damon was shooting darts, while Stefan sat at a table not too far away watching him.

"So, let's just say Sage _was_ killing everyone in 1912." Damon hypothesized as he got a bulls-eye. "Who the hell is doing it now? It's not that psycho, Dr. Fell. She's a woman." Both Rebekah and I bristled at the sexist comment. "There's no way she could stab three grown men." He throws a dart, which Rebekah catches in mid-air before it could make its mark. I sauntered to stand in front of him, folding my arms across my chest.

"Rebekah and I are making an effort not to feel insulted by that last comment you just made." I informed Damon, who eyed me with annoyance.

"Agreed. That comment was a bit sexist. A woman could easily kill a man, with the right motivation." Rebekah pointed out.

Stefan glared at the both of us.

"You both don't know when to give up, do you?" He questioned, rhetorically.

"Easy, Mr. Grumpy. Don't take your frustrations out on us." I scolded him as I took a seat at a table next to the one Stefan was sitting at.

"He's on a master cleanse. Trying to be a better man and all." Damon pointed out, earning a glare from Stefan. Rebekah pouted in disappointment.

"You know, you were a lot more fun in the '20s." She said, as Damon came over and placed a hand on her shoulder which she immediately shook off.

"Don't rile him up." He urged. Damon picks up the whiskey bottle and pours himself yet another glass. "He's testy when he's being self-righteous."

"I'm not being self-righteous, Damon. I'm just not interested in slaughtering innocent human beings anymore." Stefan corrected him, as Damon snorted at the explanation and Rebekah and I exchanged disbelieving looks between us.

"And the innocent human beings appreciate this." I quipped, earning an amused grin from both Damon and Rebekah.

"I agree, my mistake." Damon pulls out a well-used leather journal which Stefan immediately bristles at Damon when he sees it. "You _used_ to be self-righteous." He reminds him, before turning the page in the book and beginning to read. "‛Dear Diary, Damon has lost his way. Though I have pulled my own life together, he continues to waste his.'" He quoted to a steadily reddening Stefan.

Rebekah grabs the journal from Damon and starts reading from it too.

"E tu, Rebekah?" I scolded her, disapprovingly.

She ignores me, "Ouch." Rebekah fakes a look of sympathy at Stefan before she too reads. "‛His bitterness consumes him. He is nothing but blackness and vile.'" She snaps the journal closed and turns to look at Damon with a raised eyebrow as she winds the strap around it securely. "I think Nik made friends with the wrong brother." She mused, before slamming the journal against Damon's chest and taking a seat beside me.

"Hardy har har." Damon retorts, sarcastically.

Stefan, surprisingly enough, was holding onto his temper remarkably well.

"Well, this is fun." Stefan stated, dryly.

"If I'm being honest, you didn't seem like much fun either, Damon." I pointed out, earning a small smile from my best friend.

"I wasn't. The woman I was in love with was stuck in a tomb and she wasn't getting out for a hundred years. I wasn't having any fun at all." Damon admitted. "Something that Sage didn't hesitate to point out to me either."

"She always did like to poke her nose where it wasn't welcome." Rebekah stated, pulling a nail file from out of nowhere and starts filing her nails.

"You said that Sage was your mentor, what lessons did she teach you?" I asked, genuinely curious even though it was about Damon snuffing out innocent lives a hundred odd years ago for practicing purposes.

Damon shrugged.

"That most of the time, women weren't just for food but sometimes for pleasure." He responded, playing with a lock of my hair. I batted away his hand, suddenly feeling uncomfortable. Rebekah reached over and placed her hand over mine where I had rested it on the tabletop. I glanced up at her concerned face in surprise, before smiling a little. I was only slightly disturbed by Damon's frank description, but not enough to stop grilling him for more information.

"That explains why you sometimes feed on sorority girls." I recalled and Damon grinned and nodded.

"Can't disappoint my teacher, now can I?" He asked me, and I nodded, then hesitated.

"Can you be more specific?" I asked him, curious. This time Damon hesitated, his grin falling slightly.

"Are you sure you want to know?" He asked me, and I rolled my eyes at him before making myself comfortable in my bar chair, folding my arms across my chest and crossing my legs giving him a pointed look.

"I wouldn't have asked if I couldn't handle the facts. Go right ahead." I responded, and Damon continued to hesitate which caught Stefan's interest. It was obvious that he believed that Damon had never put somebody else's interests or feelings before his own, as he normally just charged on ahead not really giving a shit.

Naturally, Stefan couldn't help but comment on it.

"I'm surprised, Damon. This is a strange change from you. It's almost human." Stefan mocked his brother and Damon reacted like Stefan's words merely bounced off him like a rubber bullet.

"Scary isn't it?" Damon countered. "But in all seriousness, that particular day Sage brought me back into that tent we had previously observed her whaling (somewhat unfairly) on a bunch of clueless idiots and told me to observe the crowd for a potential candidate." Damon explained.

"Candidate?" I raised an eyebrow.

"It's a better term for 'victim' or 'prey'." Damon supplied, and I made a face.

"Oh. Sorry I asked." I said.

"But not just any sort of prey. Sage taught me how to spot the differences and choose accordingly." He continued his explanation and I frowned at him, not understanding. Rebekah huffed impatiently at Damon who was apparently taking too long to explain himself for her liking.

"What he means, sister, is that he divides them into two groups: those who are hungry for attention and seek out the adrenaline rush that comes from being in danger, and the ones who button themselves up and shy away, but secretly crave the danger and seduction." She summed it up for me and I looked at my sister and Damon with horror. "Which definitely sounds like something Sage would say, to a 'T'."

Damon looked surprised that Rebekah knew exactly what he was talking about.

"How do you know Sage?" He asked, interested.

"She was obsessed with my brother Finn, over 900-years ago." Rebekah replied, bored.

"What? Creepy suicidal guy?" Damon blurted out without thinking, earning a dirty look from Rebekah for his less than flattering description of her eldest brother, despite how accurate it really was. I, on the other hand was suddenly inspired by this new information about my more reclusive, and quieter brother-in-law.

"Finn found love, huh?" A 'eureka' smile spread across my face. "Fancy that." Damon looked like he wanted to ask me what I meant by that, but Stefan distracted him by tapping his ring again on the tabletop.

"You're doing it again." He informed Stefan, who immediately gets up from the table.

"Alright, you know what, I need to, uh, I gotta get out of here." He walks away from the table fast.

Rebekah confronted me.

"Fancy what?" She asked me, as we both watched Damon and Stefan move away so they could talk privately and I tried to ignore the way Stefan _still_ wouldn't keep his eyes off me in his obviously growing hunger that alcohol apparently couldn't keep at bay.

"That Finn managed to find love. Because, no offense Bekah, but I had always been led to believe that Finn was asexual, as he always kept to himself unless he was doing chores, practicing his sword-fighting or helping Mikael maintain your house and livestock. He never seemed to be interested in any of the girls in our village." I recalled, sheepishly.

Rebekah chuckled, "Believe me. That was what we had always thought as well." I blinked at her in astonishment; fully expecting her to get defensive on behalf of Finn. "But when Sage came along, it was like he'd seen the light somehow and thought the bitch hung the moon. Sage was the only person that could keep him from his unhealthy obsession of ending his existence after we spent our first century as vampires, so he changed her so they could be together forever." She told me, a little bitter.

"So, how long was it before Nik daggered him for the next 900-years?" I asked, curious to hear this part of their history that I had missed out on since being dead for the last thousand years.

"Not very long. Like I said before, Sage was the only thing that stopped Finn from offing himself. This was one of the times that our family unanimously agreed that daggering was the only solution to the problem." Rebekah explained.

"Then why did you all make a big deal out of it when you all gained up on Nik the night Elijah and Damon released Kol and him from their coffins?" I demanded.

"Because we hadn't expected him to keep Finn in there _for_ 900-years." Rebekah told me, flatly. I nodded but didn't say anything else. It wasn't my business and sticking my nose any further into it was likely to land me in serious problems, even though sooner or later their problems would become _my_ problems, once I married Nik. "You still haven't answered my question, by the way." She reminded me.

"My apologies. But I had to make sure before I did." I explained. Rebekah nodded, but narrowed her eyes impatiently at me. "What if, hypothetically, we made an attempt to locate Sage and brought her back here to Mystic Falls for Finn; do you think that might make him change his mind about suicide to get rid of you all?" I asked Rebekah, casually.

Rebekah shrugged, "Possibly. But you'd have a hard time locating her."

"Why's that?" I frowned.

"Last I heard, before I was daggered; Sage is known to be elusive. When she wants you to find her, she'll make herself known." Rebekah told me, and I deflated. So much for my idea. "It's too bad, though. Your idea had a lot of potential." She tried to complement me despite how flawed the plan was. Then frowned. "By the way, how are we linked? We never drank the champagne." She questioned, probably remembering back to when Kol had been daggered and how it affected the rest of them.

"I've been mulling that over myself." I replied, uneasily. "I think you were probably linked when you unintentionally licked the residue off your lips at another point during the night." I theorized. "It's the only solution I could come up with, that had the most potential."

"Wonderful." Rebekah growled. "Not looking forward to revealing this to Nik or Elijah. They'll have a field day with this." She stated, sarcastically. I glanced up and saw that Damon and Stefan were in the process of leaving the Grill.

"Quick! We gotta go." I said, getting to my feet and snatching up my purse. Rebekah followed without hesitation and we managed to make it out of the restaurant before we could lose sight of the brothers.

* * *

 **Outside the Mystic Grill.  
Night.**

When we got outside, we saw that Stefan was walking on ahead while Damon lagged, looking very concerned for his brother. Rebekah sidled up to him, also looking at Stefan, except with apathy instead of concern.

"So, he doesn't want to drink human blood?" Rebekah appeared just as mystified by this as Nik did. Damon didn't smile or make a sardonic quip. I also lagged, but mostly because all of this went over my head; I didn't have the slightest clue where to start.

"Ah, he's an eternally guilty conscience." He confirmed, grimly.

Rebekah made a thoughtful face.

"Funny. When I knew him in the 20s, he didn't have any conscience at all. One of the things I liked the most about it." She recalled with a slight smile, then frowned at Stefan's back with disapproval. "He can't possibly think he can survive without feeding."

Damon smiled without humour, "Oh, on the contrary. He's determined to live his life pursuing one extreme or the other. He's a stubborn one, my brother." He then sighed heavily, before looking at my sister with a plea on his face. Not that he'd admit that it was there, of course. "Uh, I think I'm gonna need some help with this one." He admitted.

To our surprise, Rebekah nodded.

"What can I do?" She asked.

I watched in silent horror as Damon scanned the streets around us, before eventually singling out a woman getting out of her car nearby. He looks at Rebekah, then at me with an apologetic glance before rushing over to the oblivious woman; charming smiles and all.

"Don't!" I called out, but was immediately hushed by Rebekah who gave me a warning frown.

"No lasting harm will come to her, Grace. We're just trying to get Stefan to stop denying to himself what he craves." She explained to me. I continued to frown at her in protest but had no choice but to watch.

"Hello." Damon greeted the woman, who eyed him cautiously.

"Hi." She responded, nervously. Stefan turned and looked suspiciously at them while Damon beamed at the unlucky woman.

"This may seem very forward but you're just so pretty." He fawned over her, and she foolishly relaxed and seemed to let down her guard.

"Thank you." She smiled. Stefan rolled his eyes and continued walking as Damon leaned in, deliberately looking unblinkingly into the poor woman's eyes as his pupils dilated.

"Please don't scream. You're about to have a very, very bad night." He promised, unapologetically, before he bites into her neck and begins feeding on her. I winced, realizing that even though it went against everything I stood for, I had to stay where I was. This seemed to be the right move, as Stefan had immediately stopped walking when Damon stopped talking and rushed over to his brother to pull him away from the compelled woman.

"Damon, stop!" He yelled, frantically. Damon immediately drops the woman and I darted forward to catch her before she could crack her head open on the sidewalk.

"Oh, shit…" I muttered, fearfully, looking for something to stop the blood flowing and was unceremoniously relieved of my burden by Rebekah. Damon strolls unhurried over to my side and extends a hand to help me to my feet, while keeping his eye on Stefan the entire time.

"Sorry, brother. It's dinner time. Have a bite." He encourages Stefan who looks appalled by the idea, but at the same time not really opposed either. Damon turns to look at me. "Are you okay?" He asks me, no bullshit in his tone.

I frowned at him.

"No!" I snapped back, earning an approving smile from him.

"Good. At least somebody is being honest to themselves." Damon praises me, before looking pointedly at Stefan as he pulls me behind him for protection.

"What are you doing?" Stefan demanded.

"It's called tough love, Stefan." Damon responded, squeezing my hand for a split second before letting go and starting to pace after making sure that he and Rebekah shielded me from Stefan. "You're not gonna survive this cold turkey thing, you never do." He stated the cold harsh realities to a stubborn Stefan. "It's time to get that monkey off your back."

"No!" Stefan sounded tortured.

"Feed, Stefan. Or I'll let Rebekah have her way with her, and you'll know she'll kill her." Damon ordered him, sternly.

"You know I will." Rebekah agreed.

"Then her blood will be on your hands. Or, you could just have a little drink, save her life." Damon shrugged. "Come on, Stef. You were the one that said you didn't want any more innocent lives slaughtered. Save her." He urged. "Go on, have a bite. I snatched, you eat, I'll erase. Hell, I'll even heal her for you." Damon bargained.

Stefan's eyes lingered over the oozing trail the blood was creating down the poor woman's neck and I could see the temptation in his eyes and literally underneath his skin as the blue-black veins started appearing and disappearing underneath his eyes.

"Why are you doing this? You know what blood does to me." Stefan pleaded almost pathetically.

"Because you let it control you. You always have." Damon replied. "I'm just here to help you learn how to fight it."

Rebekah let out an impatient huff, "This is rubbish."

My sister instantly extends her fangs and moves in for the kill, only to be knocked aside when Stefan rushes in to save the woman. However, he immediately sees and smells the blood running down the dying woman's neck and bites her and feeds. Rebekah grins triumphantly; her bluff paying off.

Damon waves a dismissive hand in our direction.

"I got it from here. You can go now." He requests, wiping the smile from Rebekah's face as she looks at him, appalled.

"Are you sure?" I asked, tentatively.

"Positive. Take your sister and scram already." Damon orders me, and I react like he had slapped me.

"You're a real arse, you know?" Rebekah informed him, protective, as she noticed the hurt expression I probably had on my face when Damon told us to bugger off.

"So I'm told." Damon didn't appear to care.

"If it wasn't for me, you'd still be coaxing Stefan to take the bait!" She snarled.

"And your assistance was appreciated." Damon retorted, still fixated upon Stefan.

"Assistance!? You!" I stepped into Rebekah's path and put my hands up to stop her.

"Forget about it, Rebekah. Let's just go. We've got other things we need to worry about, remember?" I stated, and Rebekah immediately mellowed and nodded, giving Damon one last hateful glare before turning and walking off. I also turned to look at Damon, feeling disappointed with him.

"Keep it up, Damon, and you'll probably lose her. She won't tolerate your insolence for long. Rebekah's not the most patient person." I reprimanded him angrily, before following my fuming sister.

* * *

 **A/N: That's all folks! The next chapter should be out soon! Remember, review and don't forget to tell me where you're from unless you've already told me before.**

 **TTFN xx**


	62. I Hate A Mystery

**A/N: Greetings from Australia! A guest reviewer from Poland wanted to know where** _ **I**_ **came from, and I realized that I never said. Well, now you know!**

 **Time for another boredom buster! Hope you're ready for another addition to this story!**

 **I don't own** _ **The Vampire Diaries.**_ **All characters except for Grace belong to author L.J. Smith. This story belongs to me.**

 **Please review constructively, guys. This story is also flame-retardant too, so don't bother leaving one.**

 **Let the reading commence!**

* * *

 **I HATE A MYSTERY**

" _It's the unknown that draws people."  
_ _ **~E.A. Bucchianeri.**_

* * *

 **Mystic Falls.  
** **Night.**

I followed an absolutely furious Rebekah all the way back to the Mikaelson Mansion, not daring to say a word in case she chose to turn around and rip me a new one, despite the fact that I wasn't the one she was pissed at. There really wasn't much I could do to help my family at present with their current White Oak Tree crisis; so I decided that once Rebekah was back at home and occupied with something else relating to the problem, I was going to go back out in my car to find Damon and Stefan and continue listening in on their conversation secretly.

 _I'm pretty sure there's a tree growing nearby the window outside their parlor…_

You see; I hadn't entirely let go of my plan of finding and luring Sage to Mystic Falls, despite what Rebekah had told me about the likelihood of successfully getting Damon's mentor and Finn's lover down here. I had a nagging hunch that even though Finn was currently loyal towards his mother at present, I would safely bet that _if_ he knew that Sage was around, he'd drop Esther like a hot potato in a split second.

I looked over at Rebekah and noticed that the fierce expression on her lovely face had lessened between our brisk walk from the Grill to right here, right now. Where she had looked extremely angry back when Damon had told us to get lost and that he could wrangle Stefan by himself from then on out, now Rebekah looked wounded and just a little bit rejected. But no less angry; that was something that wouldn't fade over a few hours.

 _God, Damon. You've got a lot of groveling to do if you want to keep my sister in your life … and with your head intact._

"Well, this whole experience was a bloody waste of time." Rebekah suddenly spoke up, drawing my attention towards her and out of my brooding thoughts about Damon's less than courteous conduct towards us. I shrugged, re-adjusting my purse a little more securely on my shoulder. I knew that she was only venting her frustrations like this because she was hurt over Damon's blunt dismissal when he finally got Stefan to feast upon that poor woman, but it didn't mean that I liked being the ham in the sandwich.

I sincerely hoped that that innocent woman Damon preyed upon for baiting Stefan was okay, and that Stefan was stopped in time before he could black out and decapitate her. It was a not so fond discovery and memory that I recalled from when I had tagged along with Nik and Stefan on their road trip. Back when my fiancé was searching for werewolves to change into his personal hybrid army.

"I wouldn't say so. I mean we got _some_ information, both from Carol and bits and pieces from Damon. So, I think calling it a waste of time is a little unfair." I disagreed. "Plus, I got something out of it as well." Rebekah stopped walking and turned to narrow her eyes at me, calculatingly.

"Forget it, Grace." She immediately said, confusing the hell out of me.

"Forget what?" I blinked.

"Forget your plans on luring Sage here. It's not going to happen." Rebekah insisted, before she continued walking. I stared at her, feeling gob smacked before jogging to keep up with her. How'd the bloody hell did she know that I was still on that idea?

"Do you have some sort of hidden mind-reading talent?" I blurted out, feeling a little violated if that was the case. Rebekah just gave me an unamused look.

"Do not be ridiculous, Grace." She scolded me, as we turned down our street. I looked at her suspiciously.

"Are you just telling me to abandon the idea because you really do believe that Sage is impossible to locate, or are you telling me not to because you dislike her? Be honest." I demanded, seriously.

"A combination of both reasons." Rebekah responded without hesitation, before she grabbed my shoulders in a firm but not painful grip as she looked me straight in the eyes to get her point across. "Trust me, you do not want Sage to come down here. You cannot trust her." Rebekah insisted, and I frowned.

"Why? Did she wrong you in some way the last time you saw her?" I asked.

"Not me, per say. But Sage is known to be sly and shifty and knows how to manipulate somebody to get her own way. Besides if she was Damon's so-called mentor, I'm not sure that I want to continue pursuing a relationship with him." Rebekah looked sad and resigned … for a split second before she went back to looking furious.

"Woah hang on a sec, Bekah. That's unfair." I defended Damon's honor. "You have every right to be upset about the way we were treated just a few minutes ago by Damon. But making comparisons like that about Sage and him when you barely know the guy, is out of order." I chastised her.

"That's rich coming from you. I seem to recall that Damon demanded your departure as well." Rebekah pointed out. "How could you possibly be defending him?"

"That's just how he deals with stressful situations. It's not something that should be condoned, and he obviously is going the wrong way about it, but he's still learning." I said, a little helplessly.

"I still don't buy it. Why are you defending him?" Rebekah stubbornly insisted. I let out an exasperated deep breath. I swear, these two were practically made for each other. I just wished that they could open their eyes and see it.

"For starters, he's my male best friend; and while I don't tolerate the bullshit he sometimes comes up with, and how infuriatingly annoying he is; he still has his good points." I said, impatiently.

"Which are?" Rebekah challenged.

"Believe it or not, he's a very sensitive person." I immediately responded. "He's had his heart broken so many times by deceitful, undeserving women, that I'm truly amazed that he still trusts them or even _wants_ to find love with a compatible partner." I listed.

Rebekah sniffed disdainfully, "So what?"

"I'm not finished." I told her, sternly. "He's also extremely loyal, sweet, funny – albeit his sense of humor sometimes leaves a lot to be desired – and above all very sincere when it comes to declaring his heart to someone." I explained to a surprised looking Rebekah. "He might say that love is, and I quote: 'painful, pointless and overrated', but I know for a fact, that he is lying wholeheartedly through his teeth."

"How do you know that?" She murmured, holding on to every word I was telling her. Probably shocked at how similar she and he were in the field of finding somebody to love.

 _Oh, please dear God; let that be true…_

"Because he once declared his heart to me; even though I could not accept it for obvious reasons." I reluctantly revealed and Rebekah looked a cross between shocked and jealous. "After awhile he eventually accepted that we would never be a couple. But the fact that he was able to declare his love and take a risk, proves that there is a shred of the old Damon in there that is clinging desperately to his humanity, and just wanted somebody to see that." I said. Rebekah was silent for a moment, as she let that information sink in.

"Why would he do that, knowing that if Nik found out he'd be worse than dead?" She asked, and I was pleased to note that she cringed at the idea of Damon being maimed by her brother.

"I was one of the first people to acknowledge him as a person worthy of redemption. I never judged him when he did something horrendous and didn't hesitate to call him a dickhead and put him back in his place. But at the same time, I gave him options and helped him instead of just condemning him and walking away like Elena, Bonnie and – up until recently - Caroline had the annoying habit of doing on a regular basis." Then I looked shrewdly at Rebekah who frowned at me, warily. "Something that Sage, in her own way, probably did for him too when he first ventured out on his own as a newborn vampire." I stated pointedly, reminding her of the brief personal 1912 history lesson Damon had willingly revealed to us back at the Grill.

"I guess I never thought of it that way." Rebekah admitted.

 _Yeah, no shit…_ I thought, crossly.

"But it still doesn't justify him being a rude prick." She insisted.

"Agreed. And hopefully what I told him before I left him back at the Grill has registered in that thick skull of his also." I told Rebekah, who looked intrigued.

"Really? What did you say to him?" She asked me, as we finally approached the Mansion. Rebekah, thankfully, seemed much more relaxed now that I had pointed out a few things to her.

I grinned, "That he'd better watch himself, or he'd end up losing you if he wasn't careful." I replied.

Rebekah snorted, "You could say that again." She agreed with my warning, then smiled gratefully at me. "Thanks, Grace. I'm glad you told me a bit more about him. It's going to take a bit more time for me to really trust him, but I'm willing to give him one more chance to prove himself." She said.

"As long as you are." I approved, before walking through the pedestrian gate with her and heading straight for my car.

"Where are you going?" Rebekah frowned at me.

"Staking out Damon and Stefan." I replied, honestly. "I have the feeling they've still got a lot more to say, and I'm going to find out what that is. Even if I have to camp out in my car overnight to do so." I stated, as I blew her an air kiss and slid into my car. Rebekah came over and tapped on the window, and I scrolled it down.

"Be careful; you know how paranoid Nik is. Especially about your safety since you're still human." Rebekah felt the need to remind me. I smiled, both fondly and martyred.

"Yep, I do. But I love him for it, even if it doesn't seem like I do." I stated, before waving at her and guiding my car down the driveway and through the gates to the street. "See you tonight … hopefully." I shouted at a concerned Rebekah, waving at me from the double front doors.

* * *

 **Salvatore Boarding House.  
** **Night.**

I hauled ass straight for the Salvatore Boarding House but didn't drive completely up the driveway to the front door. That would defeat the purpose of the stake out plan I devised. Instead, I parked my car underneath a nearby tree making sure that it wasn't easily noticed, before jogging as silently as I could, due to the brothers' advanced hearing, towards the window I knew looked directly into the parlor. I sighed with relief that I had correctly noted that there was a large overgrown tree that stood beside it, that provided the perfect vantage point and also an adequate amount of camouflage that could hide me, should either brother happened to glance out of the window at any point.

Another point in my favor was that at some time when they had returned to the Boarding House, either Damon or Stefan had opened a window. It definitely seemed like my lucky night; but I wasn't about to lower my guard by acting cocky. My luck could just as easily be shot down in flames. I approached the tree's wide trunk and quickly hid behind it, looking cautiously through the window. Stefan was sitting with his back to it on one of the red couches the brothers' owned, right in front of the fireplace, which was lit and crackling merrily away.

Pulling myself out of sight, I stood with my back against the tree as I determined what would potentially be the best vantage point to get up the tree and into the thick foliage. Deciding, I quickly jumped and grabbed onto the lowest tree branch that I could see before using my upper body strength to pull myself up and hook both legs around the branch, so I could dangle like a sloth or a lemur from it. Once I determined that my weight wasn't about to buckle and break the branch from the tree, I moved hand over hand along the branch before I reached the tree trunk and attempted to find a foothold so I could safely pull myself up and perch on the tree branch comfortably. Just as I managed to accomplish this, Damon walked into the room, eyeing Stefan with both frustration and what looked like sympathy?

Uh, oh. What the hell happened after Rebekah and I left?

"They let Ric go. Sheriff Forbes says she's out of suspects again, but Ric is in the clear." Damon reported in as he walked over to the wet bar to, yet again, fix himself a bourbon neat. "I know it may not seem like it, but you did really well tonight. And before you know it, you're gonna be the king of moderation. Elena will understand." He promised a despondent Stefan.

Elena? What does she have to do with this?

I watched as Stefan frowned while he continued glaring into the flames of the fireplace.

"Doesn't really matter what Elena thinks." Stefan insisted, dully. I winced as Damon immediately turns on him.

"Uh-uh, none of that. No more no-humanity Stefan." He warns him as Stefan scowled at Damon. "There's a road called recovery and we are on it." Stefan gets up from the couch and walked over to Damon who takes a mouthful of his drink and eyed him, wary.

"Why do you even care, huh? This whole brother bonding thing? Well you can stop and go back to hating me. It was a lot easier." Stefan insisted. I sighed heavily and shook my head at Stefan's ungrateful behavior as Damon intercepted him when he attempted to walk away.

"Can you for one minute actually believe that I'm trying to help you?" Damon attempted to appeal to him.

Stefan sidestepped him.

"I don't need your help." Stefan growled, as Damon stepped back into his path again and looked at him incredulously. I must admit, I was calling bullshit on that and I didn't even know the whole story.

"You don't need my … Are you kidding me? Do you remember what happened last time you said that?" Damon demanded.

"What are you talking about?" Stefan, I could tell was deliberately being evasive. He knew exactly what his brother was talking about; I could see it in his green eyes even from where I was observing this conversation, which wasn't the greatest both visually and audibly.

"1912, Stefan. The last time I convinced you to drink blood." Damon attempted to remind him.

Stefan shook his head.

"Doesn't ring a bell." He insisted.

"Yeah, sure it doesn't." Damon muttered in irritation, raking a hand through his messy black hair, looking stressed. He tried again. "We were watching Sage fighting yet another victim in the boxing ring. Just like tonight, I encouraged you to scan the crowd and pick a person to eat. And just like tonight, you were a complete stubborn asshole." He stated, coldly.

"Now you know what I had to put up with whenever _you_ went on a bloody rampage that could expose us as vampires to the council." Stefan retorted.

"That's beside the point. Don't change the subject." Damon smoothly dodged the obvious attempt to avoid the topic. "I reminded you, Stefan, that the people surrounding us, were filled with blood pumping through their veins just waiting to be opened up and sucked dry." I shuddered at the image Damon painted in my head, but continued listening in.

Stefan nodded.

"Yeah, I also remember focusing on the guy whom Sage had just finished pummeling. He was bleeding and easy pickings, but you recommended a woman across the ring." He told Damon. "Remember how well that turned out?" He asked, as I watched Damon stiffen at the memory. "Well, let's review: after you pressurized me into picking someone, namely the girl, I lured her outside of the tent away from prying eyes. Then I feasted on her. Shall I go on?" Damon opened his mouth to reply, but Stefan pushed on without waiting for a response. "You complemented me for giving human blood another go. Problem was, I couldn't stop feeding, and despite your best efforts, I fed on her so hard her _fucking_ head came off!" Stefan shouted, angrily.

I shuddered as Damon looked a bit defensive.

"Well, yeah. That was an unfortunate side effect." Damon admitted, but unrepentant.

Stefan looked astounded, "Unfortunate side effect?! Do you have any idea how horrified I was when that happened? Do you?!" He demanded, and Damon looked like he was gathering his patience.

"I offered to teach you how to stop _before_ that happens. But you pushed me away and took off for the fucking woods!" He stopped and paused taking in a couple of deep breaths, presumably so that he could continue without completely losing his temper with Stefan. "Look, the Founder's Council killer had nothing on you. By the decade's end, they were calling you the Ripper of Monterrey." He said. "I let you walk away, I admit that. I watched you go over the edge and got some sick pleasure out of it. I didn't do anything to stop you." Damon admitted.

"You couldn't have." Stefan insisted, quietly.

Damon shrugged, "Sure I could've. I just didn't want to. But I want to now, and whenever you go too far, I will be there to pull you back. Every second, every day, till you don't need me." He promised Stefan, who looked at him doubtfully.

"Why?" He asked, reserved.

"‛Cause right now, you're all I got." Damon confessed. I took umbrage at that implication and in my anger, nearly fell out of the tree. However, I somehow managed to jostle the tree branch enough to make a loud sound.

 _Shit!_

I froze and glanced over at the window, looking in to see if either of the brothers noticed. But both appeared oblivious and Stefan stormed from the room, followed shortly by Damon who rolled his eyes and shook his head as he went. I sighed with relief and readjusted my position on the tree branch, fully intending on waiting for Damon and Stefan to reappear for as long as I could.

"Ya know…" I swore and clung to the tree trunk for dear life when Damon's voice suddenly rang out without warning. "I could get you arrested for trespassing." I glanced down at the base of the tree and saw Damon standing there, casually leaning against the trunk and looking directly up at me with a smirk on his face.

I frowned at him, "How long have you known that I was up here?"

"The entire time. You're not as stealthy as you think." Damon said, before putting out his arms and bracing himself. "Now come on. Come down from there before you hurt yourself and I have to face Klaus's wrath." He suggested. "I'll catch you."

"Thanks, I think I can manage." I told him and Damon shrugged.

"Suit yourself." He replied and stepped away from the tree to give me the space I required. Although, he kept the smug smirk on his face. I scanned the tree branches underneath me, looking for an appropriate foothold to step on. Cautiously, I reached out with my foot and placed the rubber sole of my converse on the bark and lowered myself down. "Careful!" Damon warned from below, and I nodded in my head. Halfway down, I suddenly realized that this wasn't such a good idea. Then yelled out in horror when the branch I was holding onto snapped underneath my weight and I fell swiftly from the tree. "Gotcha!" I landed heavily, but safely in Damon's arms.

"Thanks." I said to Damon, a little shakily.

"No sweat." Damon responded, shifting my weight in his arms. Then his nostrils flared slightly, and his blue eyes scanned my face. "Whoops, looks like the tree branch got you a little."

"What?" I blinked at him.

Then a gentle breeze blew past and I hissed when something stung on my cheek. I reached up and touched where it hurt and pulled away.

There was blood.

"Here let me." Damon offered and leaned down to gently lick across my cheek where the wound was. I grimaced a little when his warm tongue slid across my cheek but was surprised when I instantly felt better. "Mmmm. You taste good." He winked at me as he dramatically smacked his lips after sampling my blood.

"Gross, Damon." I wrinkled my nose. He laughed and set me down on my feet. I straightened up and looked him in the eye. "So, what now? Are you gonna call the cops?" I asked him.

"Nah, I was just kidding." Damon smiled, before taking my hand in his and leading me towards the front door. I immediately stiffened. He paused and looked at me with confusion. "What?"

"Is it safe?" I asked, indicating in the direction of the house where Stefan was likely to still be inside. Damon rolled his eyes when he realized what I was getting at.

"Perfectly. Stefan fed back at the Grill, if you remember?" Damon replied, and I nodded.

"Is she okay?" I asked, concerned.

"She'll live. The worst that she'll probably feel like is slightly anemic." He reassured me. "Now come on. Stefan isn't exactly in the greatest of moods, even when he has consumed a bit of blood." I followed Damon inside the Boarding House and back into the parlor, where he immediately takes a seat at a black Grand Piano I had never noticed, much to my surprise, and begins playing a slow, melancholy tune.

"You play?" I was pleasantly surprised, sitting beside him on the piano seat.

"Sometimes." Damon replied, reaching for the same bourbon he had set aside earlier before coming out to confront me, and taking a sip. I turn when I hear footsteps walking down the corridor and in stepped Stefan, carrying a large, thick leather-bound book. He paused when he saw me sitting beside Damon, smiling awkwardly at him.

"I see you brought her in, Damon." Stefan commented, walking over to lean against the door frame.

"Why wouldn't I? Grace is always welcome here." Damon retorted, as he continued tickling the ivories.

Stefan shrugged and held up the book.

"So, I dug into the old family archives from the 1900s." He continued the discussion they had been having earlier as though I had been sitting in the room with them the whole time.

"So now you want to be helpful?" Damon glowered at Stefan, who paused and raised an eyebrow at him for his defeatist attitude.

"You want me to go back to being mad at you?" Stefan asked him, frowning. Damon paused, considering his options. It was only after I cleared my throat and frowned at him disapprovingly that Damon swiveled around on the seat and straddled it to give Stefan his undivided attention.

"What'd you find?" He asked, taking a sip from his drink. Stefan strode towards the piano, flipping open the book and going through the pages before settling on one.

"Well, nothing for 1912, they never did arrest anyone for the Founder's murders." Stefan sets down the open book in front of Damon and me, and we both glanced down at the handwritten pages. "But they did get a confession ten years later." He revealed.

"They did? Who?" Damon sounded surprised.

"Johnathan Gilbert's granddaughter, Samantha." Stefan confirmed. "They assumed she was crazy and locked her up in an insane asylum."

"Then what?" Damon asked, curiously.

Stefan shrugged, "Trail ends there. I mean, she was a Founder, you know how they like to look out for their own." He reminded his brother, who nodded grimly.

"Samantha Gilbert. That is very weird." Damon mused out loud. Both Stefan and I looked at him questioningly.

"Why?" I asked him.

"Because I'm pretty sure I had already killed her." Damon revealed.

"Of course, you did." I drawled, sarcastically. Stefan ignored me, focusing upon Damon.

"So, you think Samantha Gilbert is still alive, running around Mystic Falls, killing Founders?" He asked him, sounding slightly skeptical. Because in this town, you never know what could happen. An ancestor who was alive during the early 20th century coming back to life couldn't really be ruled out. However, Damon shook his head almost immediately.

"Not possible. If she became a vampire, we'd know about it, right?" He theorized.

"Then she must have had a ring that brought her back to life. I mean she was a Gilbert, right? Those rings were passed on for generations." Stefan insisted. Damon shook his head as he knocked back the dregs of his drink before responding to Stefan's theory.

"Yeah, but even if she had a ring. She wouldn't be alive today. It doesn't protect her from old age." He pointed out.

I felt like I was spectating at a tennis match. Damon and Stefan seemed to have rebuttals for every theory they managed to come up with, and it was getting a bit frustrating. Eventually, both realized that they were getting nowhere with their surmising and decided to go back to the basics.

"Johnathan Gilbert only made two of those rings. Jeremy has one of them and the other's…" Stefan trailed off, and almost immediately all three of us came to the same horrifying conclusion.

"Alaric's." Damon breathed, grimly.

* * *

 **Mikaelson Mansion.  
** **Night.**

Well, the hits just keep on coming. This was probably the very last thing that I wanted to learn, and I had the feeling that it was probably going to get a lot worse before it got better somehow. After bidding Damon and Stefan goodbye, I hiked back up their driveway to where I had hidden my car, got into it and drove back home; this time not driving like a maniac.

The theory that Alaric was being possessed by something that liked to kill people was likely to hit Jeremy hard, as Alaric was technically Elena and Jeremy's guardian and the man was considered to be like me: a neutral party in all of this bullshit that appeared to be happening all around us.

Plus, Jeremy liked the man; and who could blame him? Alaric was a really nice guy who didn't deserve the shit that was being done to him. Something needed to be done to free him from this. But how exactly? I drove straight back home and into the driveway, before parking my car and killing the engine, but I didn't make a move to get out of the car. I was too lost in my thoughts, just trying to sort them out and make sense of the madness that is the current mysterious Founder's murders.

From what Stefan had told Damon and I; Samantha Gilbert went insane after wearing her Gilbert ring for a long, unspecified length of time and attempted to lobotomize herself with a knitting needle. The poor woman must've been so frightened and out of her depth, so I couldn't imagine how confused or even frightened Alaric must be feeling right at this moment. Especially tomorrow, when Damon and the rest of that infuriating gang will reveal the possibility to him, if they haven't discovered this already. If it had been Alaric that _had_ committed those murders, despite having been acquitted by Liz Forbes and her deputies, he couldn't have done it consciously.

Eventually, I left the sanctuary of my car and made the trek towards the front doors and made my way to the living room, where I sat down and fell face-first onto an overly stuffed cushion Nik had purchased for the expensive soft, spongy couches he had gotten for the mansion, when he first had this dilapidated deathtrap renovated.

I buried my face into plushy goodness...

"Love? Are you alright?" Nik's slightly concerned voice rang out.

I sat up and turned to look at him. He was standing in the doorway, leaning casually on the doorframe and looking at me with mild concern. He must've spotted me coming in when he came out of his study, it's the only reason why he would be confronting me right now. I yawned, realizing just how tired I was.

"Well, that's a loaded question. Not sure where to even begin to answer that." I confessed. Nik came over and took a seat beside me, resting his elbows on his knees as he angled himself in my direction to give me his full, undivided attention.

"How about the beginning?" He half-joked, obviously trying to get me to calm down a bit before explaining my issues or problems to him. I chuckled, before sitting up straighter and raking a hand through my hair.

"I've just learned something bad tonight from the Salvatore brothers. Just another debacle to add on to our list of problems to solve." I admitted.

Nik frowned a little, "What is it?" I drew in another deep breath before responding.

"Are you aware of the mysterious murders that have been happening in this town?" I asked him. He nodded. "Well the murders have been circulating around Founding Families. Alaric Saltzman was one of the main suspects in this case, but he was acquitted recently." I explained.

"And?" Nik prompted, looking confused.

"Alaric wears a ring that had been made for members of the Gilbert Family. It once belonged to the late John Gilbert. According to both Damon and Stefan, that same ring was worn by an ancestor of Elena and Jeremy's, a Samantha Gilbert. In 1912, she went on a killing rampage like what has been occurring recently, on Founding Family members. They believe that the ring was controlling her actions." Nik's eyes immediately widened, and I sighed with relief; pleased that my fiancé was not a moron, and incredibly sharp as a tack. "I have to tell Jeremy about this. Alaric is his guardian." I explained, rather urgently.

"Tell me what?"

 _Oh, fuck!_

I jumped like I had been shot, as Jeremy's voice suddenly piped up and he sauntered into the living room. Nik immediately took my hand and squeezed it for reassurance and gave me a pointed look before turning and smiling jovially at the teen.

"Jeremy, mate. Just the person we wanted to see!" Nik greeted him, with false enthusiasm.

Jeremy was instantly on guard.

"Woah, what's the matter with you?" Jeremy took a seat opposite us on the other couch. I groaned. He was the last person I wanted to see right now, as I was honestly afraid of spilling the beans about what was happening with his guardian/history teacher.

"Well, we have something we need to tell you, mate. Unfortunately, it's not good I'm afraid." Nik began, and Jeremy glanced at me for clarification. I tried to figure out how to relay the bad news to Jeremy. I decided to just rip off the metaphorical bandage. It seemed to be the kindest way. Unfortunately, I had promised to tell him the truth, even if it hurt him or made him angry at me or otherwise.

"Okay, what is it?" He asked, looking at me calmly. I wondered how long that would last when I eventually told him.

I drew in a deep breath, "First off, I just wanted to tell you that there have been a series of mysterious murders surrounding the Founding Families for the past few days. Alaric had been one of the major suspects for them." I braced myself for the eruption that I was sure would result afterwards.

Jeremy didn't disappoint.

"What?! That's bullshit! On what grounds?!" He roared, looking outraged that his friend had been accused. His shouting had summoned the rest of the family into the living room, each alert and searching for the danger. When they found nothing, they looked at us for an explanation.

"What's going on?" Rebekah demanded, looking at me questioningly.

"I'll explain in a second." I promised before turning back to Jeremy who was visibly agitated and looking extremely worried. I walked over to him and sat down in front of him on the coffee table. "Jeremy, look at me. Alaric was just recently acquitted of the charges laid upon him." I reassured him, and Jeremy visibly relaxed.

However, that didn't mean he still didn't look worried.

"Well, that's good right?" He asked, looking hopeful. I hesitated, hating myself for making him worry and for the fact that I was telling him this in the first place. But I made him a promise that I wasn't about to break; it was the reason our friendship took off the way it did in the first place, and I wasn't going to jeopardize it.

"Yeah. But unfortunately, some new developments came up." Jeremy's hopeful face fell.

"But you just said—" Jeremy protested.

"I know what I said. But it's important." I stressed to him, and Jeremy nodded and waited for me to explain. "Damon has been doing some investigating about the murders on top of what Liz and her deputies have been looking for, and it turns out he uncovered that back in 1912, the same type of murders had happened then too when he and Stefan returned to Mystic Falls to pay their last respects to their half-nephew." I explained.

"So, a vampire that was behind the murders almost a hundred years ago, has struck again?" Jeremy guessed.

"It wasn't a vampire." Elijah unexpectedly spoke up, drawing our attention. "I've heard about these murders. No vampire could have or would have done this." He clarified, grimly.

"Elijah's right." I said.

"Then what does this have to do with Alaric?" Jeremy was getting frustrated.

"I'm getting to it!" I momentarily lost my patience with him, and I felt Rebekah's hand on my shoulder. I glanced at her with a frown on my face and saw a compassionate, but firm look on her face. She shook her head at me, and I gradually calmed down and took a deep breath. "Back in 1912, they had no leads on who could've been committing those murders, but they finally got a confession about ten years later in 1922 when one of _your_ ancestors turned herself in." I told Jeremy; whose eyes widened out of shock.

"One of my ancestors? Who?" He asked.

"A woman called Samantha Gilbert." I confirmed, soberly. "She was the granddaughter of Johnathan Gilbert."

"Why did she do it?" Jeremy looked shocked that his ancestor was capable of committing murder. I grimaced; this was the part of the conversation I was not looking forward to revealing.

"I don't think she did consciously. Something was influencing her actions, possessing her." I told him, before my eyes zeroed in on his hand. "Your ring." I indicated to the large ostentatious ring that was on the middle finger of Jeremy's right hand. He held it up and looked at it in confusion.

"What about it?" Jeremy asked.

"Johnathan Gilbert had two made; one for him and the other for his brother. Right? You got one, and the other belonged to your Uncle John but it was given to—"

"Alaric. Yeah, so?" Jeremy was still not getting it.

"Alaric's ring, used to belong to Samantha." It took a few minutes, but eventually Jeremy got it and he swore colorfully underneath his breath.

"Shit! Does it mean that my ring—" Jeremy goes to pull the ring off his finger, but I reached out and clapped a hand over him to stop him.

"No. It's just Alaric's ring that is having the negative reaction on the wearer." I reassured him, and Jeremy relaxed but only for a second.

"Does Elena know about Alaric?" He asked, solemnly.

"If she doesn't know now, she'll probably find out sometime tomorrow." I confirmed. "Expect to probably get a worried phone call from your sister." I suggested and Jeremy nodded.

"Yeah. Thanks, Grace." He smiled gratefully, but it didn't reach his eyes. "I gotta…" He trailed off, but I understood that he wanted to be alone to let the information sink in. We watched him go, with Henrik trailing after him.

"I'll keep him company." He reassured us, before hurrying to keep up with the despairing teen. I stood up from my perch on the coffee table and headed for the fireplace. I glared into the flames, barely acknowledging the presence of my family surrounding me, locking concerned eyes on my back.

"Are you okay, sweetheart?" Nik asked me, placing a hand on my shoulder.

I shook my head.

"No. I'm not. I feel like the world's biggest bitch telling him that." I confessed, hugging myself and digging my fingernails into my arms. Nik immediately pulled my arms away from my grip to stop myself from self-harming. I glanced up at his frowning, concerned face.

Kol scoffed, "Oh, please. If you're a bitch, what does that make Bekah?" He pointed out, logically. Rebekah glared at him for the insult, but otherwise didn't comment. "Look, poppet. You did what you thought was the right thing. You can't second guess yourself to appease everyone. It doesn't work out that way." He advised me, and I looked at him, mildly impressed.

"Wow, Kol. When did you become so deep?" I teased, and Kol grinned, puffing up his chest a little.

"What are you talking about? I've always been this way." He insisted, causing Rebekah to roll her eyes and both Elijah and Nik to scoff or snort at his less than humble words. I chuckled softly and shook my head before turning and facing all four of them, feeling the fireplace warming my back and the back of my legs.

"So, did you discover anything further about the reappearance of the White Oak Tree?" I asked, changing the subject.

"No. But I've learned that the morons in that so-called Founder's Council are hiring the services of some laborers to restore the Wickery Bridge. I heard that there's going to be some sort of fundraiser there tomorrow, and that the mayor will be there." Rebekah explained.

"Right, and?" I asked.

"I'm going down there tomorrow to do some more investigating. You want to come?" Rebekah asked me, smiling. I shrugged, feeling curious about she was up to; and, to help keep her in check as she did tend to lose her patience quite quickly.

"Sure." I replied. Both Elijah and Nik looked like they wanted to object, so I intercepted before they could open their mouths. "Before either of you say anything, I promise not to put myself in harm's way, if I can help it." I really wanted to roll my eyes at their annoying overprotectiveness but knew that it would be a wasted exercise. Until I became a vampire myself (whenever that happens) I was doomed to be wrapped in cotton wool by my fiancé and his siblings until further notice. I'm just glad that they weren't forbidding me from helping them.

I think I would go mad with boredom if they did to be honest.

* * *

 **The Wickery Bridge.  
** **Day.**

The Wickery Bridge was a scene of organized chaos when Rebekah and I arrived. Construction workers were already at work, busy with the formation of the bridge, and groups of townspeople were there for the restoration fundraiser that Carol and the rest of her volunteers and flunkies had organized for the day.

Like yesterday, Rebekah made a deliberate move towards Carol while I hung around just watching the construction. I turned my head towards Damon and a nervous looking Alaric who arrived with that same woman I had seen Alaric with at the Grill when Kol and I were attacked and knocked out. Damon looked tense, especially when he suddenly noticed my sister who was seemingly oblivious to his presence as she continued talking away with Carol. But he brightened a little when I caught his eye and waved a polite greeting at him.

He came over, "Hey Grace. You and Rebekah up to something again?"

"Can't we come and observe progress? I don't see the harm in it." I played along, trying not to look suspicious. "Plus, we're trying to figure out if that entire bridge is made from a wood that could charbroil my entire family within seconds of shoving it through their hearts. Remember what happened to Mikael?" I muttered underneath my breath.

"Okay, okay. Relax a little, you're starting to make me a little edgy with your anxiety." Damon acknowledged what I told him, eyeing the half-completed bridge as Alaric approached with his lady love in tow.

"Hello, Alaric. Are you feeling alright?" I asked, genuinely concerned for the poor man who looked incredibly uncomfortable.

"No, not particularly. I just received a bit of bad news last night." Alaric acknowledged, uneasy.

I winced sympathetically.

"Anything I can do to help?" I offered, and both he and the woman looked at me incredulously.

"You're seriously offering your help, even after what we did to you and your brother?" Alaric looked a combination of amazed and cautious. I couldn't help but roll my eyes at their skeptical attitude. Damon backed me up.

"Yes, Grace is serious. You should know by now that she doesn't hold grudges and when she offers help, she's not screwing around." Damon sounded a bit blunt and abrupt, and I winced at the taken aback expressions on Alaric and the woman's faces.

"Easy, Damon. Simmer down a little, huh?" I scolded him, feeling a little embarrassed. Alaric smiled apologetically at me.

"I'm sorry, Grace. Thank you for your offer, but I'm alright for now." Alaric told me and I smiled, accepting his excuse. "So, tell me again, why we are here?" He requested.

"Ric, the world doesn't stop spinning just because you're an accidental psycho killer." Damon felt the need to remind his friend his current issues, and both Alaric's partner and I gaped at him.

"Do you have any tact whatsoever?" She snaps at him, as I smacked the back of his head out of my own annoyance.

Damon just looked at me with amusement.

"Was that supposed to hurt?" He smirked, as Carol approaches us. I glanced around looking for Rebekah whom I thought had been deep in discussion with her, and panic when I noticed that she had seemingly disappeared.

Carol focuses on Alaric.

"Alaric, I'm glad you're here. Did you bring the sign?" She asked him, all business like and straight to the point. Alaric immediately looks confused, and Carol attempts to jog his memory. "The restored Wickery Bridge sign? The history department promised me you'd have it today."

Alaric looks apologetic, "I-I don't have the sign actually it slipped … it slipped my mind. I've been … busy." He stammered, and my heart went out to the poor guy. Carol looks disappointed, and I felt like slapping her.

"Well, it's not an emergency. We'll just um-unveil it when the bridge is complete." She gives a brittle smile before turning and leaving. Alaric seems to deflate and turns towards his girlfriend pleadingly.

"Get me outta here!" He begs, and she smiles and nods.

"My pleasure." She agrees, and both turn to go. Damon, however, didn't budge from his spot.

"I'm gonna stick around for a bit." He decided, and I noticed that he was staring at something off in the distance.

I followed his gaze and noticed an unfamiliar woman standing among the crowd of townspeople. She was a tall, auburn haired beauty with peachy-hued skin and an athletic build, and dressed casually but stylishly in a tight pair of dark denim jeans with knee-high black boots, a clingy burgundy blouse with a sweetheart neckline, and a long, thigh length black woolen jacket with large shiny black buttons. A delicate, but pretty black necklace was strung around her throat. The woman smiled mischievously at Damon who barely reacted, but it was obvious he was surprised to see her here.

"Who is that?" Alaric questioned Damon, also checking out the redhead curiously.

"A blast from the past." Damon responded, vaguely. He immediately walks over to her, leaving me alone with Alaric and his girlfriend.

"Okay then. We're gonna go. See you later, Grace." Alaric declared, and I turned towards them and smiled politely.

"Absolutely. Feel better." I replied, warmly. They leave and I returned my attention back to Damon and his 'blast from the past' as Carol starts making a speech. Rebekah sidles up beside me and I turn and scowled at her, feeling slightly miffed.

"Where did you go off to?" I asked, and Rebekah managed to look apologetic; but only for a second as she immediately stiffened the second she claps eyes on Damon and his friend.

"I was around. Sorry to have worried you." Rebekah replied, absently. I followed her gaze and sighed, assuming that Rebekah's jealous nature was flaring up.

"I'm sure they're just good friends, Bekah." I attempted to reassure her.

"That's not why I'm annoyed. That's Sage." Rebekah told me. My eyes widened as I turned to look at the couple who were locked in a warm conversation.

"She's Sage?" I blurted out, shocked. Rebekah rolled her eyes and seized my wrist.

"That's what I said. Come on, let's make ourselves known to her." She suggested, not letting me say otherwise and practically dragged me over to Finn's lover. Damon immediately went on guard the second he sees Rebekah and throws me a questioning look. I shrugged in response as Rebekah gives Sage a sarcastic smile. "Well, look what the cat dragged in." She greets her 'sister-in-law' whose pleasant smile drops a little when she recognizes who Rebekah was.

Damon recovers easily from his surprise, "Easy there, Rebekah. You know she used to beat men for sport."

My sister looked like she cared less.

"She always was quite common." Rebekah sniffed. Sage offers Rebekah a stiff smile; it is obvious to everybody in a 50-foot radius that the relationship between these two was less than cordial.

"Rebekah. What a happy surprise." Sage greets her politely, before her eyes swivels towards me, and her eyebrow raises. "And who might you be?" She asks, and I prayed that I didn't look like a deer-caught-in-headlights.

I raised my hand up to her for a handshake.

"Grace Williams. I've heard a lot about you." I introduced myself to her, and Sage smiles pleasantly.

"All good things I hope." She responds.

"I know you helped out Damon when he was down on his luck. Does that count as a good thing?" I enquired, smiling awkwardly. Sage didn't respond, just looked at Damon questioningly and he shrugged, not appearing anxious by what I said.

"What are you doing here, Sage?" Rebekah asked, casually.

"Well, I heard Finn was finally freed from that casket your rage-aholic brother Klaus carted him around in." Sage responded, with a catty little smile. Both Rebekah and I bristled when we heard Sage's description of Nik's temperament, but Rebekah recovered first.

"Mmm, Finn. You just missed him. He left town and didn't tell a soul where he was going." She tells Sage, whose smile faltered slightly.

"He probably went looking for me."

Rebekah just looked at her, "Or quite possibly he forgot all about you." I winced at the tone she was using and looked at Sage for her reaction. The redhead frowned at the implication she suggested, while Damon and I observed this heated conversation like spectators at a tennis match. Neither of us were feeling comfortable at this point. Or at least, I didn't; I wasn't sure how Damon was reacting to all of this, he was essentially caught between a rock and a hard place.

"I doubt that." Sage retorted.

"No? ‛Cause he didn't seem to mention you." Rebekah shrugged, not particularly sympathetic; and it showed on her eternally youthful face. "Sorry you came all this way for nothing." She gave Sage a tight smile. "Have a nice life." She goes to leave then stops and looks at me. "Are you coming, Grace?" Rebekah asked, slightly impatient.

"In a moment, I promise." I smiled at Rebekah who nodded and continued walking away.

I turned back to both Damon and Sage and flinched back at the ugly glare on the redhead's face and she seemed to mutter something underneath her breath that Damon seemed to understand, as it made him clear his throat uncomfortably. I glanced at him questioningly, but he shook his head firmly at me, wordlessly asking me to drop the subject.

I had no choice but to let the matter go.

"Would you like to take a walk with us, Grace?" Sage asked me, smiling pleasantly. I shrugged, what harm could it do? It's Rebekah who has a beef with Sage, not me.

"Sure." I fell into step beside Damon who stood between Sage and me. "So, you're Finn Mikaelson's girlfriend?" I decided to not beat around the bush. From what Damon described of Sage, she was the 'a spade is a fucking spade' type.

Sage looked at me with surprise.

"Yes, that's right. How do you know, Finn?" She asked me, looking suspicious and I smiled.

"I'm engaged to one of his brothers. Finn will become my brother-in-law." I replied, enjoying the surprised look on Sage's face.

"Elijah finally found someone?" Sage seemed impressed, but I shook my head and twisted my engagement ring around my ring finger.

"Can you read Viking runes?" I asked Sage, who nodded; probably wondering if that was a trick question. I simply removed my ring and passed it to Sage, who took it hesitantly and examined it. I struggled to keep a triumphant smirk off my face when Sage's eyes widened the very second she read Nik's name beside the name of my former life's inside the band.

"You're Klaus's girl. The one he lost a thousand years ago?" She questioned me, and I nodded. "How is that possible?" Sage demanded, handing me back my ring and I slid it back on my finger as I thought hard about my answer.

"We have unfinished business, I suppose. I guess I was reincarnated so Nik and I can get a second chance at a life we never got a chance to live together." I guessed, smiling at the thought. However, when I looked at Sage the next second, I immediately put my guard up.

"I'm very happy for you both." Sage said, smiling at me.

There is a saying that stipulates, that the eyes are the window to the soul, and I could tell straight away that Sage was not at all happy that Nik had been granted a second chance at love, when she had been deprived of hers with Finn for 900-years after Nik daggered him and trapped him in his coffin. Her eyes which had been open and friendly a few seconds ago, had become hard and cold compared to the rest of her face which maintained the façade that she was relaxed and genuine.

"Thank you." I said. "I better go. It was nice to meet you, Sage. See you later, Damon. I'll call you." I gave him a head's up, and Damon nodded, waving at me.

"Nice meeting you too, Grace. It's been an education." Sage shouted at my retreating back. I flinched, knowing straight away that Rebekah had been right all along about Sage; and my sixth sense – which had been dormant up until now - was screaming at me that something bad was going to happen.

Sometimes, I really hate being a medium.

* * *

It didn't take very long to find Rebekah after my very … interesting conversation with Sage. I had a sneaking suspicion that she had been hovering nearby for this very reason.

"I hate it when you're right." I grumbled to my sister who turned and looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Really? See I usually like it." She teased, then the smirk faded when she saw the look on my face. "Why am I right? And why do I get the impression that I'm not going to like the reason?" Rebekah narrowed her eyes sternly at me as she waited for the explanation.

"That Sage is bad news." I replied, reluctantly. "I think she's pissed that Nik and I are getting our second chance in love, while she had been deprived of her own chance while Finn was stuck in a coffin for 900-years."

Rebekah's frown deepened.

"Oh, diddums. The difference between you and Finn in this circumstance is that you were dead for 900-years; my manically-depressed brother was lying dormant for 900-years, but was essentially still around." Rebekah argued.

"I don't think Sage sees it that way. I think the fact that it had been Nik that put Finn there in the first place doesn't help matters either." I stated, then felt a cold shiver creep down my back and the odd feeling that somebody was watching me came over me.

"What is it? You've gone pale suddenly." Rebekah was immediately attentive, and I swallowed hard.

"I suddenly feel like I've become a walking target. Tell me, is Sage looking in our direction by any chance?" I asked Rebekah who looked over my shoulder at something behind me.

Her frown deepened.

"No, she's not. But I wouldn't put it past her to be mentally taunting you. It's a trait most vampires have to help psych out their victims before they move in for the kill." My eyes must've widened, as Rebekah hurriedly moved to reassure me. "Not that it will come to that, love. Nik will have her guts for garters. He hates her as much as I do." She told me, and I groaned wondering why it had come to this.

"Sheesh. All I did was say that Finn was going to become my brother-in-law. Who'd have thought that that confession would lead to me feeling even more paranoid than Nik does?" I moaned and Rebekah shook her head, looking at me disappointedly.

"That's like waving a red flag in front of bull. But I guess I can't be too mad at you; you weren't to know that this would be the result." She told me, mildly sympathetic. Suddenly, Rebekah stiffened, and I turned to find out why only to see Damon walking up to the both of us, looking his usual cocky self, but smiling sincerely to Rebekah as he approached.

"Did I ever tell you you're sexy when you're bitchy?" Damon asked my sister, who looked at him like he had suddenly sprouted an extra head from his neck, and it started reciting dirty limericks.

"Should I leave?" I asked, before trying to leave. I yelped in surprise when I felt Rebekah snatching my arm in her iron grip and yanking me back to stand next to her. "I guess not." I muttered, feeling awkward.

 _So, I'm playing shield now, huh?_ I thought in annoyance as Rebekah eyed Damon warily.

"I don't see why you're talking to us now. You were quite rude the other day, using me to help you with Stefan and then shooing us away like stray dogs." Rebekah stated, as Damon looked guilty for a split second before recovering and attempting to get on her good side again.

"That was brother business, you can't hold that against me." Damon insisted.

"Wanna bet?" I muttered, underneath my breath.

"Besides," Damon ignored what I said, focusing on my sister intently. "I really did appreciate your help even if I didn't show it." He said.

"You were mean." Rebekah insisted.

"You like mean." Damon pointed out.

"No, I don't." Rebekah denied.

"Yeah, she doesn't." I seconded her claim, remembering back to all the times Nik would act like an arse and Rebekah would look like a wounded puppy and walk away with her tail between her legs … at first, but as she got older she could sometimes stand up for herself. Nowadays, whenever Nik or Kol would be rude or mean towards her, her razor-sharp tongue would usually cut them down to size or ramp up the fight even further. It usually depended on which brother she was dealing with.

"So, you didn't get a thrill back there pushing Sage down, crushing her dreams of true love?" Damon looked skeptical, before turning his attention on me for a moment. "Something that you did a few minutes ago too." He told me, and I folded my arms across my chest, defensively.

"If I did, it was unconsciously and completely unintentional." I pleaded my case. Damon nodded, his eyes telling me that he believed what I said before returning to Rebekah, who looked thoughtful.

"Maybe I did enjoy inflicting misery on her, just a little." Rebekah conceded.

Damon grinned, "See? Mean. Can Sage and I interest the both of you in a drink back at the house?" He asked.

Both Rebekah and I immediately frowned.

"Not a chance in hell." Rebekah declined.

"I'll pass." I agreed. Damon looked at me, curiously.

"Do you always agree with everything your sister says?" He asked me and I narrowed my eyes even further at him. "Besides, you know what they say: two's company, four's a party." Damon grinned.

"What's the catch?" I immediately demanded, smelling a rat.

"No catch." Damon stated as both he and Rebekah stare each other down.

"So, explain why I can hear alarm bells pealing madly in my head?" I demanded.

"You need your hearing checked?" Damon's smart mouth answered, and that was enough for Rebekah to seize my wrist and lead me away.

"Fine." Damon called out, and both Rebekah and I paused and turned to look at him. "This was all Sage's idea." He confessed.

"My sixth sense really doesn't suck." I reminded him, earning a perplexed look from Rebekah which I ignored. "Why did Sage put you up to this?" I asked, all-business. Damon turned towards Rebekah, looking serious.

"Do you want something from me? 'Cause I'm getting that impression." Damon confronted her, bluntly. Rebekah looked like she wanted to be difficult, but after I gave her a pleading look to just cooperate for once in her life; she caved.

"There's a reason why I asked you if your family owned logging mills." Rebekah told Damon, who nodded.

"You're looking for an ancient tree that sprouted 300-years after you and your brothers burnt down its predecessor a thousand years ago." Damon filled in the blanks, much to Rebekah's shock.

"How did you know that?" She demanded, nervously.

"Grace explained to me what was going on yesterday. But what she didn't tell me, was what sort of tree had gotten you, your brothers and Grace so freaked out." Damon explained, conversational-like.

"Why did you tell him?" Rebekah yelled at me, accusingly. "How did you know that you could trust him with that information? That he wouldn't suddenly use it to kill us all?!" She looked betrayed, and I avoided looking her in the eye.

"Hey, trust goes both ways. It's been a long time since somebody's given me the level of trust that Grace has given." Damon yelled. "And, I'm not about to betray that."

"It's not your life that's at stake!" Rebekah snapped back.

"Did it ever occur to you, that Grace probably told me the truth to protect you?" Damon challenged Rebekah, who looked from him to me and back again several times. It looked like she was trying to determine if Damon was lying or not. "Because, I'm telling you right now, if Grace hadn't told me the truth yesterday; Sage would've gotten the information from you sooner or later."

Rebekah sneered, "She's not strong enough to penetrate my mind."

"Exactly. That's where the whole idea of inviting you and Grace back to my place for drinks came about. To get you to lower your guard so she could peek inside." Damon looked guilty, which made Rebekah suspicious.

"What was the consolation prize? Sleeping with me?" She glowered. Damon actually looked hurt, and for a moment, Rebekah looked guilty that she said anything.

I winced, " _Rebekah_... What are you doing?" Then Damon looked furiously at her, and I knew that the shit was about to hit the fan. I just sincerely hoped that he'd still help us after he blew up at my sister.

"If I'm being completely honest, yeah; I was gonna sleep with you. But not for the reasons you're gonna accuse me for." Damon confessed, coldly. Rebekah opened her mouth to respond, but he immediately cut in. "No. No, for once in your life, you are going to listen. I may come across as a guy who doesn't give a shit and does what he wants when he wants, because he can. But my mother raised a proper Gentleman before she died, and despite what I told you yesterday about what Sage taught me about women being both food and pleasure; I have never once used a woman for sex just so I can get something from them." He ranted, angrily. "How dare you imply that I would betray my morals, just to get ahead."

"Damon, I—" Rebekah tried to defend herself.

"No! You crossed a line. I will help you with your problems because I promised Grace that I would. But it's gonna be a while before I get over this slight that you've dealt me." Damon seethed, and I sighed with relief. "Now, what type of tree was it?" He asked, getting straight to the point.

"White Oak." I replied, succinctly.

Damon thought for a moment. "I remember that tree was on our land and milled by my family's yard. The ledgers I have at home will tell me where it was shipped, I'll have a look around for them and let you know what I find." Damon promised, looking directly and me and ignoring my sister for now.

"Sure. Thanks, Damon." I said, smiling at him.

Damon turns to leave, but suddenly pauses.

"I'll let you in on a little advice, Rebekah. You don't have to hurt people first, before they hurt you. I'm getting the impression that a lot of guys have screwed you over in the past; and that sucks, but as I told you before, my mother taught me better." He lectures Rebekah, looking very disappointed with her.

Damon then walked off, leaving me alone with a downcast Rebekah. I sighed, before turning to guide her towards my car so we could drive back to the Mansion and await Damon's call with his findings. But something moved in my peripherals and I instinctively turned my head to look at it. I froze when I saw an angry looking Sage staring me down from where she was standing amongst the townspeople chatting amongst themselves.

But when I next blinked, she had disappeared.

* * *

 **Salvatore Boarding House.  
** **Day.**

 **(No P.O.V)**

Damon arrived home to the Boarding House, still seething over what Rebekah had implied about him. He was never going to go through with Sage's idea of distracting and lowering Rebekah's guard so she could take a trip through her memories and locate what information she needed from him. But to imply that he was going to take advantage of her to get the information by force, was a bitter pill he couldn't swallow.

The first thing he saw when he stepped inside, was that the door to the basement was open ajar. Frowning, he walks down the stairs into the basement, and he sees Stefan drinking from a blood bag from their open freezer. Scattered all around him were empty blood bags on the floor.

Damon grit his teeth.

"Oh, come on. Slow down, brother." He walks over to Stefan and takes the blood bag he was sucking down rapidly from his hands. "Woah. Control, remember? Doesn't matter whether it's blondes or blood bags, same principles apply." Damon attempts to remind Stefan, who merely glowers at him for his troubles.

Story of his life, apparently.

"What did you say to Elena this morning?" Stefan asks Damon, who immediately realizes why Stefan was sucking down the blood like it was going out of style. He couldn't help but shake his head, in irritation.

"Oh, you're stress eating. Sublimating." He laughs, humorlessly. "You two deserve each other with all your pining and moping." Damon turns to walk away, not in the mood to deal with Stefan's neurosis when he was still licking his own wounds in relation to Rebekah's cruel words. However, Stefan steps into his path, stopping him from going anywhere.

"I asked you a question, Damon." Stefan insisted impatiently, causing Damon to sigh and walk around him towards the wide-open freezer.

"I told her what she already knows. You're a vampire, and you drink human blood and to get over it." He stated, harshly. Then he closes the freezer with an audible thud. "Which is the same thing that I'm gonna tell you. Own it, live it, love it. Stop being ashamed of who you are." He lectures his brother as he makes another attempt to leave, but Stefan once again stops him as he grabs his arm and pulls him back around.

"Do me a favor, Damon. Next time you talk to Elena, keep me out of it. Okay?" He requests.

"Works for me. Now I've had a crappy day, I suggest you make yourself scarce." Damon climbs the staircase, heading for the basement door.

"What's wrong with you?" Stefan couldn't help but ask. Damon paused, not looking back at him.

"None of your business. Just stay out of my way." Damon informed him, coldly. Stefan lets him go without saying another word; sensing that Damon was in a foul mood and wondering who had the balls to cross him this time round.

* * *

 **Salvatore Boarding House.  
** **Night.**

For the rest of the day, Damon drank himself into an oblivion and passed out in his bedroom on top of his spacious King-size bed. Eventually, he wakes up and glances around his darkened room, bleary-eyed and slightly confused. He spots the empty bourbon bottle sitting on his bedside table, and immediately the memories come rushing back.

He groans, wishing he was still asleep. But he remembers that he still owed Grace some information about the White Oak Tree, that he remembered his father cutting down and milling down into pieces of timber for their family business; so he rolls out of bed and heads towards the bathroom, disrobing and getting into the shower. Eventually, Damon, not caring that he was still slightly damp and wearing a towel and heads for their private library.

"Where the hell did we stash those ledgers?" He mutters out loud to himself as he searches the shelves. Damon eventually finds the milling archives and pulls out the ledger from 1912 and starts flipping through the pages. He soon finds what he is looking for, but the information he reads puts him into an even fouler mood. The White Oak Tree lumber was shipped to the Old Wickery Bridge for its construction. "You gotta be kidding me!" He groans.

* * *

 **A/N: Let's stop here. I hope you've enjoyed reading this chapter. The next one should be out soon.**

 **Please review! TTFN :)**


	63. Barking Up The Wrong Tree

**A/N: Here's a new chapter to sink your teeth into! I hope that you've enjoyed that last chapter and are ready to read this one.**

 **I don't own** _ **The Vampire Diaries.**_ **All characters except for Grace belong to author L.J. Smith. This story belongs to me.**

 **Please review constructively. Flaming is not tolerated.**

 **Let's go!**

* * *

 **BARKING UP THE WRONG TREE**

" _Fair warning: you can mess with me all you want, but when you start in on my family and friends, I WILL PUT YOU IN YOUR PLACE!"  
_ _ **~Unknown.**_

* * *

 **Salvatore Boarding House.  
** **Night.**

 **(No P.O.V)**

Panicking, Damon immediately races for the nearest fireplace and starts burning the milling records from 1912. He was so intent on his task, that he failed to hear Sage come in and walk up behind him.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" She asks him. Her voice was silky smooth, which implied that she was less than impressed that he didn't follow through with her plan to get Rebekah to lower her guard so she could infiltrate her memories. Damon stiffened, realizing that he would have to be careful when talking to Sage, especially when she was in this mood.

"Yep. 1912, the Salvatore milling company chopped down a forest, its most valuable wood came from an old white oak tree that was used to make the Wickery Bridge." He said, feeding yet another piece of the ledger to the licking flames.

"Why does Rebekah need to know all that?" Sage wondered, curiously. Damon shrugged. But he was determined to keep this newfound information under wraps.

"Search me. I have no idea why Rebekah needs this info." He lied, getting up from his squat and heading for the bookshelf to replace the ledger back into its spot. Damon may be pissed with the beautiful, haughty Original, but he wasn't about to throw her to the lions out of spite.

The old him might have done that, but the slightly newer version of him saw a potential romantic partnership with her; and he was not about to jeopardize that chance if he could help it. Nor would he risk losing his strong friendship with Grace either. To him, Grace was like a breath of fresh air; something that made his rough (sometimes enjoyable) existence bearable for the first time in his 170 odd years, and if he had to play nice with Klaus and the rest of that damn Original family to keep her and Rebekah in his existence; well, he'd do almost anything to make that a reality.

Emphasis on the _almost._

Sage's lip curled unpleasantly, but she maintained her silence as she followed her protégé upstairs and into his bedroom where Damon proceeded to get changed into his usual black.

"So, all the wood stripped from the underside of that bridge is basically a weapon that could kill an Original?" Sage asked idly, causing Damon to freeze in the middle of pulling on his T-shirt when he remembered something that John Gilbert had once told him, when he first presented to him (and an injured and fitfully sleeping Grace) one of the Silver Daggers and a small jar of ashes.

" _ **In this vial is ash from a white oak tree that dates back to the genesis of the Originals."**_ John Gilbert's voice echoed in Damon's memories, and he could very clearly picture the horrified expression on Grace's face when he had been holding the injured girl in his arms.

' _Damn. I can't believe I forgot about that!'_ Damon cursed as Sage made her presence known again, grabbing his attention.

"Oh, you thought I didn't know?" Damon turned and eyed Sage cautiously as she leant against the doorframe, smirking at him. If she had noticed how distant he had been a few seconds ago, she didn't comment. "These aren't just for decoration." She stated, indicating towards her ears. "I heard quite a bit during your little tiff with Rebekah. Plus, I'm not stupid." Sage reminded him, and Damon frowned. "You see how this could be a problem for me, right?" She asked him, and Damon starts walking towards her, with the intention of leaving the room.

"Why? Because of your true love Finn?" He scoffs, forgetting himself and putting himself in danger. "Let me tell you something, I met the guy, you're not gonna miss him." Damon tells her, only to find himself pinned against the wall of the corridor with a pissed Sage hovering above him.

"I will rip your head off in two seconds if you take one more step." She threatens him. Damon realized that he had fouled up, and quickly racks his brain for something he could use to save his ass.

But then realizes why he should care.

He sighs, "I honestly don't give a shit. But I will make a deal with you."

Sage looks at him suspiciously.

"What sort of deal?" She asks.

"I don't get in your way, you stay outta mine." Damon said, simply. Sage backs off, giving Damon the space, he needed to get off the wall.

"Works for me." Sage shrugged and turned to leave the Boarding House to continue her search for Finn.

"Oh, and one more thing." Damon piped up, causing Sage to turn and look at him. "Both Rebekah and Grace are off limits." He smirked, and Sage looked outraged.

"Excuse me?! I thought you were only after that Original bitch for the hot hate sex." The redhead was practically spitting fire.

"Yeah, I lied. I do that a lot." Damon replied, casually. "Rebekah interests me, a lot more than the previous bitches I encountered over the years did. Only this time, I wanna make any potential relationship with her work." He confessed, demonstrative.

"I thought you were pissed off with her." Sage pointed out.

"You bet your ass I'm pissed. But that's not gonna last forever, and I can kind of understand why Rebekah responded the way she did when I invited her and Grace for drinks here." Damon admitted.

"What about Klaus's girl, why is she on your 'off limits' list? Don't tell me that you've forgotten everything that I taught you?" Sage sounded a little condescending and Damon glared at her, unamused.

"Several reasons. You just gave the most obvious reason; Grace is Klaus's fiancée, and while the guy isn't exactly my favorite person in the whole world, he is growing on me … like a fungus, but Grace has shown me that he isn't as bad as everybody thinks." Damon pointed out, logically. "Plus, he and Rebekah will have my nuts in a vice if anything happens to Grace and I did nothing to help prevent it. I happen to like them to stay where they are, if it's all the same to you."

"Charming." Sage made a face at the image. "And Klaus not as bad as we think he is? I find that a little hard to believe." She added, looking skeptical.

"Not my problem. Now, do we have an accord?" Damon pressed, extending a hand towards Sage. The older vampire eyes the hand for a few more minutes before she takes it and shakes. "Great. Now we've got some work to do." Damon reminded her.

"Work?" Sage looked confused.

"Like you said, the Wickery Bridge is made of White Oak. We've gotta get rid of that timber and burn it." Damon stated, whipping out his phone and accessing his contacts. Sage watches him as he finds who he is contacting and presses speed-dial.

" _Damon? Hey, did you find something?"_ It was Grace. Damon couldn't help the warm smile spreading across his face the very second, he hears her slightly cockney voice in his ear.

Sage raises an eyebrow at this reaction.

"Yep. Managed to find the ledgers, and it turns out that White Oak that we cut down; the lumber that came from that was delivered to the Wickery Bridge." He reported.

" _I knew it!"_ Damon and Sage heard Rebekah yell in the background, then Grace telling her to back it up a bit and calm down as Rebekah had shouted right in her ear.

" _So now what?"_ Grace asked him, and Damon snatched up his jacket and keys, headed for the door. He absently realized that Sage had already left.

"How fast can you and Rebekah get to Wickery Bridge? We've got a bonfire to make." Damon proclaimed and he suddenly heard a minor struggle on the other line that made him alert, until he heard Grace's annoyed voice in the background.

" _Rebekah, give me back my phone!"_ He heard his best friend grumbling to her sister, before Rebekah's voice appeared on the line.

" _You're really going to help us burn the White Oak?"_ The blonde Original sounded suspicious. Damon rolled his eyes as he got to his car and hopped in.

"I said I would." Damon was short when he responded to Rebekah's question. "When can you and your sister get there?" He repeated his question.

" _We'll see you when we see you, just go!"_ Rebekah stated before hanging up the phone abruptly and Damon just looked at it.

"Nice talking to you too." He muttered, before putting his car into gear and tearing off down the driveway and flooring it towards the Bridge.

* * *

 **Mikaelson Mansion.  
** **A Few Hours Earlier.**

 **(Grace P.O.V)**

Rebekah and I went home after Damon basically told her to 'go to hell' back at the Restoration Fundraiser. When she made an insulting insinuation about why Damon had been fishing for information from her, then he stormed off after promising to get the information the family needed to continue surviving.

The entire trip home, Rebekah remained silent and just stared out the passenger side window at the scenery blurring past. I had absolutely no idea what to say to her, but the silence was deafening and it was making me extremely uncomfortable; so I decided to turn the radio on to my favorite station, and prayed that Rebekah didn't tell me to switch it off.

Luck was on my side, and I managed to distract myself from making a major faux pas with an already highly strung, volatile vampire who could kill me with her pinky finger if I unintentionally provoked her. Eventually, we turned into the electric gates and up the large winding driveway. But Rebekah didn't even wait for my car to coast to a complete stop before she unlocked the door and strolled straight for the front door and disappeared inside.

Well, shit.

Damon's scathing words must have hit her harder than I initially believed. I turned off my car and moved fast inside to try and catch my sister before she could do something she might regret. However, Rebekah was nowhere to be seen when I stepped through the threshold, which meant that she had blurred away to god knows where in the mansion. Now I regret not at least saying something in the car, or at least asking her if she wanted some company when we eventually got back.

It was pointless to go off in search for Rebekah, because if she wanted to be alone and hidden, she could easily conceal herself away from other people. Which really shits me because I want to help her. So, in the end, I headed straight in the direction of the Mikaelson's large commercial style kitchen. In times of great stress, for my sanity I sometimes liked to lose myself in a spot of baking.

Desserts, cakes, biscuits.

Nothing makes me happier or makes me feel better when I am down, than creating something that I can potentially share around with others and just generally distract myself from my brooding thoughts about what I could've done better.

"May I help you, Grace?" A voice interrupted my thoughts.

I blinked, "Huh?"

I slowly registered the amused, but respectful smile on Emma's face, and realized that I had walked into the kitchen and proceeded to stand in the middle of the doorway, looking off into space.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. But is there something that I or any of us can do for you?" Emma gestured around at a small handful of hybrids who were busy at work in the kitchen; presumably preparing something for dinner tonight. Most of them were focused upon their chore, not paying me or Emma any attention, but other more curious hybrids were looking over at us with interest. I smiled sheepishly at the redhead hybrid with embarrassment.

"Yeah. I actually came in here to do some baking." I clarified, and Emma blinked at me with surprise.

"Baking?"

"Yeah, is that going to be a problem?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at her. Emma immediately smiled and gestured for me to continue coming further in.

"No, not at all. It's just an unusual request coming from one of the mistresses here in the manor." Emma explained.

"I'm used to being highly independent." I told her, wincing at the term 'mistress', that obviously described both Rebekah and me. "I'm still getting used to the idea of being waited on hand and foot, in a situation that doesn't involve sitting and eating in a restaurant. It's a bit uncomfortable for me." I added, feeling a little awkward.

Emma smiled politely.

"I guess I can understand that. Anyway, let us know if you need anything." She said, before disappearing out of the door to attend to whatever it was she was doing before I had unexpectedly barged in. I turned back to the busy kitchen and spotted one of the hybrids waving me over, gesturing to a vacant workspace.

"Thank you." I said to the hybrid who nodded and walked over to a different spot in the kitchen where he had been apparently chopping vegetables.

I eventually settled upon making some basic scones and grabbed the equipment and ingredients I needed. I carefully removed my engagement ring from my hand, so I didn't get any dough caught in it and strung it on the cord that held Nik's silver wolf tooth for safe keeping. About half an hour later, I had just finished kneading the dough and was ready to cut out the scones, so I searched around for a baking tray. I nearly jumped back in surprise when one suddenly appeared underneath my nose and I glanced up at one of the hybrids who had helpfully retrieved the tray for me.

"Thanks." I smiled and went back to preparing my scones. Another five minutes went by and the first batch of scones were browning in the oven while I prepared another tray. Pretty soon I had about two dozen scones and had selected four of the best ones I had, still warm from the oven and smeared on some strawberry jam and a dollop of whipped cream, before picking up both plates and heading for the swinging kitchen door. "Could you follow me with those cups of tea, please?" I asked one of the hybrids, who nodded, picking up both mugs and followed me out of the kitchen doors. I nearly collided with Kol on route to Rebekah's room that I assumed my sister had disappeared to when we had first arrived home.

"For me? Aww, you shouldn't have." Kol smirked playfully at me and reached for one of the plates. "They smell heavenly, sister."

I pulled the plate out of reach.

"Thank you, Kol. I made them myself; but these are not for you. If you would like some, there's some fresh, warm scones down in the kitchen." I told him, and Kol shook his head.

"No thank you, Grace. I'm content for the moment. I was just messing with you." He explained. "Which one of my lucky siblings is getting the second plate?" Kol wanted to know, and I smiled at him.

"Rebekah." I said.

"Bribe?" Kol fell into step with me as I continued towards Rebekah's bedroom with my hybrid helper following at a respectful distance behind us with the mugs.

"Not at all. I made them to hopefully cheer her up, actually." I explained, scowling slightly at him.

Kol raised an eyebrow.

"Is something the matter with her?" He seemed genuinely concerned, and I immediately forgave him for the 'bribe' comment.

"Our sister was just reprimanded by Damon Salvatore for making rude assumptions about him in order to gain some crucial information." I explained, and Kol immediately scowled. "Before you do anything impulsive, Kol, I happen to agree with what Damon said to her. But it doesn't stop me from wanting to make her feel better and help her understand why he said what he said to her."

"Now that just sounds intriguing. What did he say to Rebekah?" Kol demanded, a little too eagerly.

"That she shouldn't be so quick to judge or hurt somebody before getting to know them firsthand." I confirmed. "In this case, Rebekah wrongfully assumed that Damon was only after her for sex, in exchange for some important information about the White Oak Tree."

"Was he?" Kol scowled, protectively.

I shook my head, "Not at all. I had already informed him of the suspected return of the White Oak Tree earlier. He just didn't know that it was the White Oak. I never specifically told him what type of wood the feared tree was." I confirmed.

"Why did you tell him in the first place?" Kol wasn't as loud as Rebekah was when she learned that I had told Damon the truth; but it didn't mean that he was exactly impressed either.

"Because Kol, he's on our side. He wanted to help us." I said, gathering up my patience.

"Help us? There has to be another reason besides that flimsy excuse, considering he's tried to kill us in the past." Kol insisted, and I sighed.

"Damon's also interested in Rebekah romantically and is trying to gain her trust the right way. Elijah's the only one who knows, and now so do you." I said, somewhat impatiently since the Devonshire Tea I had prepared for Rebekah was getting cold.

"I see." Kol said.

"Although, if they keep up with this mistrustful bullshit that's going on between them; that potential relationship might never take off." I drawled, disapprovingly.

"Good." Kol stated, and I kicked him in the shin. "Ow! What was that for?" He demanded, glowering half-heartedly at me.

"For immediately making an assumption that their relationship is doomed to fail." I clarified, before sighing. "Look, Rebekah deserves a chance to be happy, and Damon believe it or not, seems to be the right fit for her. They both have had shitty love lives, and it's up to them to help it survive or watch it crash and burn." I told him. "They don't need you seriously maiming him for something that hasn't even begun yet." Kol looked doubtful. "Just let it go."

* * *

I abandoned a brooding Kol in the corridor as I continued walking to Rebekah's room, and knocked politely on the solid wood with my foot since my hands were full.

"Miss Rebekah just said 'Go away.'" The hybrid who was helping me said, politely. "Maybe you should tell her that it's you?" He suggested, and I nodded.

"Bekah, it's just me. May I come in please?" I called out to my sister and looked at the hybrid for Rebekah's response. The hybrid paused for a few seconds, before nodding.

"You can go in." He said, and I shifted the plates into one hand, before pushing down the doorknob and letting myself in, followed closely by the hybrid. It was a decent sized bedroom with a generous space and tasteful light interior colors. Although, one glance about the room told me straight away that my sister also had expensive taste.

 _Typical…_ "Just leave the mugs over there." I instructed the hybrid, who nodded and walked over to place both mugs on a large glass-topped coffee table with an elegant crystal vase of freshly cut magnolias positioned in the center of it. The table itself was sandwiched between two crème velvet couches in front of a large active fireplace.

"Was there something you wanted, Grace?" Rebekah's slightly petulant voice called out from the direction of a nearby doorway.

"Thanks, that'll be all for the moment." I hurriedly told the hybrid who mutely nodded and quickly exited the bedroom. I sighed and called back to my sister. "Just to chat. I brought you something to eat." I said, setting down both plates on the coffee table while I continued exploring Rebekah's room.

"You brought me some blood? I hope it's O-positive. How did you know that I was peckish?" Rebekah asked, and I grimaced at the idea of willingly bringing blood to a vampire.

"That's not exactly what I had in mind when I said that I brought you something to eat, dearest." I clarified. "However, I can get you some if what I brought you doesn't satisfy."

A couple of seconds went by before Rebekah eventually spoke.

"I'll be out in a moment."

I heard splashing water and I nodded, understanding almost immediately that I had unintentionally interrupted Rebekah in the middle of a bubble bath. I perched on the armrest of one of Rebekah's couches and looked around. She had a Queen-sized bed with a crème backboard, several large plump cushions and a white bedspread with a dusty pink throw rug, folded neatly at the end of the bed.

What looked like a very old trunk sat at the end that I presumed was left over from the 1800s, and some heavy dusty pink curtains hung across some windows that led to a lovely walk-out balcony view. There was a white and light grey patterned floor rug positioned between the bed and a couple of steps that elevated the bed, bedside tables, vanity, Rebekah's wardrobe and ensuite from the rest of the room. A second matching floor rug was stationed underneath the coffee table.

Surprisingly, Rebekah owned a couple of bookshelves with a decent amount of literature stored on them, some modern pieces of artwork that had not been painted by Nik adorned her walls and more vases of flowers were spread about the room. Which explained why I was hit with a fresh, flowery fragrance the second I stepped inside.

"So, what did you bring me to eat?" Rebekah requested, walking in from the bathroom wearing an expensive looking silk kimono robe. Her long freshly combed blonde hair was still damp and hung about her shoulders in waves of dark gold. I raised an eyebrow at her light-hearted attitude; considering when I saw her last, she was quiet and distant and barely talking. I gestured towards the coffee table at the Devonshire Tea I had created for the both of us.

"Hope you enjoy it. I made it from scratch." I explained as Rebekah walked over and picked up one of the scones, examining it. I stood up from my perch and folded my arms across my chest as Rebekah took a tentative bite before smiling widely.

"This is wonderful. Thank you, Grace." Rebekah praised me and I nodded, not saying a word as I took a seat across from my sister who was watching me just as curiously as she finished her first scone.

"How are you feeling now, Bekah?" I asked, cautiously.

She frowned at the question.

"How do you want me to be feeling?" She challenged me, as she picked up her second scone.

"Don't do that." I responded, firmly.

"Do what?"

"Answer my question with another question. It's a classic sign of diversion." I pointed out in annoyance.

"And you're qualified to make that assumption?" Rebekah asked, snidely.

I frowned, shocked that she was being so rude.

"Who do you think you're talking to exactly?" I demanded, angrily. "We are friends, Rebekah. Sisters!" I stood up and started to pace; something I did when I was trying to stop myself from doing something that I might regret. "Or at least I thought that we were."

"You know that we are, Grace. Don't be stupid." Rebekah retorted, and I scoffed.

"You have a very funny way of showing that. I was taught that sisters or family in general reach out to each one another to seek or accept comfort if it's offered." I lectured her. "If that makes me 'stupid' then I must be quite brainless."

"Well, I don't require comfort at the moment." Rebekah stated stubbornly.

"Like hell you don't!" I growled. Rebekah looked at me with eyes full of warning.

"You're sounding a lot like Nik right now, Grace, and I don't like it." She complained.

"Good. Because from what I have heard, you and Nik have a strong relationship despite the few times he daggered you."

"We do."

"So, use it. If you feel uncomfortable talking about how you're feeling to me; pretend that I am him and let it out. It's not healthy to keep it bottled up." I urged.

Rebekah hesitated, "It's not that I'm uncomfortable talking with you about it. It's other things."

"What things?"

"I don't know how I feel. I've never felt like this before." She admitted. I could feel my anger ebbing away a little once I realized what was eating my sister. From what Elijah, Nik, Kol and Henrik had told me about Rebekah's past, it seemed that she had been let down by men a lot since she had been changed into a vampire.

Some of the stories had not been flattering, and privately, I agreed with them that it sounded a lot like Rebekah had flung herself at any man who paid her the slightest bit of attention. However, Damon, while he had paid her some attention when they first met; had not hung around her like she was a bitch on heat. Something that I dare say probably confused the hell out of Rebekah, who was probably unused to being treated as a young woman worthy of wooing correctly.

"Sounds frustrating." I admitted.

"Tell me. Was it love at first sight with you and Nik?" Rebekah asked me, and I blinked at her.

"No. Not at all." I replied, amused when Rebekah looked crestfallen. "Rebekah, sweetie. Nik and I were just little kids. We were still stuck in the 'Ew, girl/boy germs' stage. If anything, I was closer to Elijah." I chuckled. "Our romance happened when I reached 13-years old and Nik turned 15-years old. But before then he was a right little twerp."

"I don't remember that." Rebekah looked surprised.

"Maybe because you were still too young to understand. But back then, Nik was a typical prepubescent boy with the responsibilities an adult would normally have in comparison to today. We all did." I pointed out. I sighed and sat down beside Rebekah on her couch, resting my head in my hand. "Why don't you just describe what you're feeling for Damon to me and I'll help you translate." I offered.

"Who says it was Damon?" Rebekah was quick to argue. I just looked at her, unamused. "Fine." She pouted, and I waited for her to spill. It took several minutes, but eventually Rebekah's baby blue eyes welled up and I was confronted with an unexpected 900-year old deluge of emotion from my emotionally abused sister. "I don't want to lose him." Rebekah confessed, in between sobs as she clutched onto me like a frightened child, and I attempted to awkwardly comfort her; having not expected a reaction like this from my normally stoic 'little' sister.

"I know you don't. It's gonna be okay, Bekah." I promised, feeling shocked by the stories of her past lovers that Rebekah had spun for me, and the fates that each man had met during these rendezvous at the hands of her brothers; mostly Nik and Kol, and even on one occasion, Elijah.

My phone began ringing, scaring the both of us a little as I pulled away from Rebekah to answer the bloody thing (and turn down the volume).

"I'm going to get dressed." Rebekah told me, standing from the couch and heading towards her wardrobe.

"Righto." I responded absently as I finally found my phone and checked caller ID. "Damon." I muttered and hit answer. "Damon? Hey, did you find something?"

" _Yep. Managed to find the ledgers and it turns out that White Oak that we cut down; the lumber that came from it was delivered to the Wickery Bridge for the restoration."_ Damon sounded a bit stressed. But before I could confront him about it, Rebekah yelled right in my ear.

"I knew it!" She yelled and I cowered out of sheer fright before I got up from the couch and retreated from both it and Rebekah.

"Bloody hell, Rebekah!" I growled. "Give me a little warning next time and lower your voice." I scolded out of annoyance. I put the phone back to my ear. "So now what?" I asked Damon, as Rebekah rolled her eyes and went back to the closet to finish getting dressed.

I ignored her.

" _How fast can you and Rebekah get to Wickery Bridge? We've got a bonfire to make."_ Damon asked.

Suddenly, my phone was yanked from my hand and I spun round to see Rebekah holding it to her ear. She was fully dressed from head to toe, and I resisted the urge to strangle my sister, despite the fact that I was no match for her.

"Rebekah! Give me back my phone!" I protested and made a grab for it, but Rebekah easily sidestepped me.

"Oh, hush." She lightly scolded me, before focusing her attention on Damon. "You're really going to help us burn the white oak?" Rebekah asked him, sounding both suspicious and skeptical. Whatever Damon said to her, caused Rebekah's face to fall a little out of hurt. But just as quickly she seemed to recover and adopted a slightly indifferent air about her. "We'll see you when we see you. Just go!" She snapped down the line at Damon before hanging up and tossing me my phone.

I caught it with my freehand and eyed her with frustration.

"I thought that you didn't want to lose Damon?" I stated.

"I don't."

"Then talking to him like that won't do you any favors." I pointed out as I walked over to the door and opened it, sticking my head out the door to yell down the corridor. "Emma!" On cue, she appeared.

"How can I help?" She chirped.

"Could you fetch Rebekah a couple of bags of O-Pos, please? We're heading out on a short errand and she hasn't eaten yet." I instructed politely.

"Coming up!" Emma blurred away. I headed down the corridor towards Nik's room and knocked politely just in case Nik was in there changing or sleeping. When I got no reply, I cautiously opened the door and ducked inside. I walked back out a few minutes later, shrugging on one of Nik's leather jackets and a change in shoes. I almost collided with Rebekah in the hallway, sucking down a blood bag and eyeing me with slight resentment. "Feeling better?" I asked, knowingly.

"How did you know?" Rebekah asked, after swallowing her mouthful of her blood meal. I shrugged as we fell into step, side-by-side down the corridor and down the stairs.

"Observation. You reacted the same way Damon does when he hasn't had some blood in over a while." I explained, hurrying down the marble staircase and checking that I had everything I needed for this – hopefully – brief outing. "I went with my hunch and ordered you some blood bags to see if it would calm you down."

"Thank you." Rebekah mumbled, sincerely.

I smiled, "You're welcome. Shall we?" I opened the front door and stood back to let her go through first.

"Well, well. Where would you two lovely ladies be going at this time of the night?" Kol asked, as he stepped from the living room, also holding a blood bag in his hands as he eyed us both curiously.

"Don't be an ass, Kol." Rebekah scowled, pushing her empty blood bag into his chest before flouncing out of the door and into the cold night air. I grimaced; clearly two bags of blood were not enough to curb my sister's hunger, or her feisty attitude at present.

"We're going on a quick errand." I explained, wearily. "We'll be back soon." I promised and Kol, rather than looking offended, instead smirked at me unsympathetically.

"Good luck with that." He indicated to an impatient looking Rebekah. "Baby sister's going to be a delight when she is in this state. I suggest you allow some time for her to top up during this 'errand'. At least for your sanity." Kol told me.

"I heard that, Kol!" Rebekah yelled, and I quickly stepped outside and yanked the front door closed, listening to the muffled sounds of my 'twin' chuckling to himself fading off in the distance inside the mansion. "Ass." Rebekah spat, before returning her attention on me. "Are we going or not?" She demanded, a little calmer but no less irritated.

"Uh, yeah. Let's get this over with." I agreed, suddenly visited with a desire to do an about face and run back to the safety and sanctuary of Nik's bedroom … hopefully with him in there with me too.

* * *

 **Wickery Bridge  
** **Night.**

Rebekah and I made it to the Wickery Bridge, which was deserted except for some construction equipment that had been left behind by the crew the Mayor had hired for the restoration project. Along with the equipment, there was also a large stack of something hidden underneath a blue tarpaulin; protected from the elements.

Exchanging looks with my sister, we walked over to the stack and I used my dagger to cut through the thick rope tying down the tarpaulin and we pulled off the blue plastic sheet to reveal what had been hidden underneath. My eyes widened in shock when it revealed the large delivery of extremely pale white oak timber that Damon had mentioned was supposed to be transported here to the restoration site.

"Now what?" I blurted out loud.

"You burn it." Both Rebekah and I turned and spotted Sage standing off in the distance, observing us with a sober expression on her face.

"You again?" Rebekah growled, and I placed a calming hand on her shoulder. Sage ignored her in favor of coming over to where I was and pulling the tarpaulin completely off and impatiently tossing it to the side.

"We've got it under control, thanks. Damon already told us about the white oak." I told Sage, firmly. The redhead merely rolled her eyes, probably sensing the mistrust I was radiating, and grabbed a large armful of the timber and hefting it into her arms easily.

"I don't recall requiring your permission." Sage retorted, treating me as though I was some sort of errant child. "I have my own reasons for wanting to burn this White Oak."

"To protect Finn?" Rebekah sneered, drawing Sage's hateful gaze on her. "How touching." Sage ignored her and picked up her load to carry it to the middle of the bridge, constructing a crude teepee pile with the wood. "Not to mention pointless." The redhead bristled and let out a menacing hissing sound, that she aimed at my sister who did not look intimidated in the slightest. On the contrary, a malicious little smirk played about her full rose-hued lips that reminded me of Nik's. I sighed, making a mental note to shove a few more blood bags into Rebekah's arms when we got back to the mansion, as I headed for some nearby petrol canisters.

"Help me out here, Bekah. These things are heavy." I grunted underneath the weight of one of the canisters and pouted when I looked over and saw Rebekah pick up one in each hand as though they weighed like feathers. Rebekah glanced over to see if I needed help and rolled her eyes at my put-out expression.

"Don't pout, Grace. It's unattractive." She advised me, as we hefted our burden towards Sage's teepee and started splashing the wood with the petrol.

Once the wood was reeking of the sharp smelling compound, Sage produced a silver zippo lighter from the pocket of her black coat and flicked it open. She ignited it by dragging it across her denim clad thigh and then flung it at the teepee. Both Rebekah and I jumped back when the white oak caught alight with a large _whoosh,_ lighting almost immediately like rice paper underneath a naked flame, and I shielded my face from the radiant heat the stack emitted with my hand.

"Woah!" I blurted out and took several steps away from the bonfire as I started sweating, despite the chill of the night air. I suddenly hear the roar of a car engine thundering down the road behind me, and I heard a car door slam shut and footsteps walking briskly towards us. I glanced back and saw Damon looking at the bonfire with surprise.

"What did I miss?" He asked, casually.

"Quite a bit, actually." I responded with a smile, then thumbed over to my left where Sage was standing looking at the both of us. "You didn't say that Sage was gonna be involved in this."

Damon barely acknowledged his old mentor.

"That's because she invited herself." He drawled, then started glancing around, looking for something with a slightly confused frown on his face. "Your mansion is miles away from this bridge. How did you and Rebekah get here so fast? I don't see your car anywhere." He asked me, and I grinned.

"We came here _Twilight_ style." I responded. Only Sage seemed to understand what I meant by that, judging by the mildly amused smirk on her face.

" _Twilight_ style?" Rebekah repeated, coming over to me looking confused.

"What does that waste of a couple of trees have to do with how you got here so fast?" Damon looked at me, blankly.

I sighed tiredly, "There's a scene in both the novel and the movie adaptation, where Edward Cullen takes Bella Swan to a meadow so that he can show her something." I explained. "However, because the meadow was a fair distance away, and because Bella is a klutz that trips over air, Edward had to use a different, faster method of transportation." I said, conversational-like.

"Like what?" Damon scoffed. In response, I simply walked behind him and placed both my hands on his shoulders. "What are you doing?" He demanded, and instinctively hooked his arms underneath both my knees when I pushed up on his shoulders and straddled his back by hugging my thighs around his waist; and wrapping my arms around his neck as I clung for dear life.

"Like this." I said. "Then Edward just vamp-sped up the mountain, getting to the meadow in seconds."

"Oh. You mean like this?" Damon questioned, then without warning and before I could stop him; Damon blurred off into the surrounding trees, and blurred back. All while I tried desperately not to scream loudly into his ear … even if he would completely deserve it.

"Don't ever do that again!" I hissed into his ear and smacked his arm, as Rebekah frowned at me.

"But I didn't carry you on my back." She stated, and I gathered my patience.

"Doesn't matter how you carried her, blondie. The point your sister was trying to make was that you blurred here with Grace as your passenger." Sage cleared things up for her, and Rebekah scowled.

"Okay. Now that you have proven your point. Could you get off my back now, you're heavy." Damon teased, and I reached over and flicked him on the ear. "OW!" He yelled, as I jumped down from his back. "Was that necessary?!"

"Yeah. It was." I was quick to respond. "Never call a woman fat, even if you're just teasing. It won't end well." I scolded him.

Damon glared at me. "I didn't call you fat."

"But you called me 'heavy'. The implication is still the same." I retorted and both Rebekah and Sage nodded, backing me up.

"Whatever. I'll talk to you later." Damon turned and walked back to his car, still rubbing his ear. I pulled something from the confines of my pocket and jangled them.

"Not without these you're not." I said, and Damon turned and saw that I had his keys dangling from my hand. He immediately started patting himself down, before looking at me with disbelief.

"How'd you get those?" He demanded, walking back over to me to get them back, but I immediately stuffed them back into my pocket and backed off.

"Nah-uh. You're not getting these back just yet." I told him, earning an annoyed scowl from Damon, an amused look from Rebekah, and a surprised look from Sage, who hadn't left yet. This was strange, since she had supposedly completed what she had come to the Wickery Bridge for.

"I'm not kidding, Grace. Give me back my damn keys." Damon insisted, looking serious.

"So am I. You're not getting your keys back until you and Rebekah have reconciled." I insisted, pointing behind him at my sister.

"Don't bring me into this." Rebekah glowered at me, and Damon just turned and looked at her, hesitating a little.

I grinned in triumph.

"Get to it." I ordered and turned to saunter over to Damon's baby blue beauty, perching carefully on the bonnet. I sat there, watching what looked like an awkward conversation between my sister and my best friend.

"I'm impressed." I stiffened as Sage came over and leant against the bonnet, also watching Rebekah and Damon, and completely relaxed and at ease. "You really know how to handle him." She observed and I bristled slightly.

"You make it sound like Damon is a disobedient toddler or an out of control dog." I responded, folding my arms across my chest, huddling deeper into Nik's jacket to escape the cold night air and stuffing my hands into my armpits to warm them up.

Sage shrugged, "In a way, you're not that far from the truth when it comes to Damon. He can be quite the handful."

"Is there something else that I can help you with, Sage?" I questioned her intentions, feeling my dislike for Sage rising with every word she uttered. "But just to let you know, I have no idea where Finn could be." I was feeling a little anxious for some reason as I quickly changed the topic; not liking the way she was describing Damon, who was supposedly her friend and protégé from nearly a hundred-years ago.

"I want nothing from you." Sage responded, and that caused me to break eye contact with the little melodrama unfolding in front of me and looked at Sage with confusion. "I'm just going to give you some advice: enjoy what time you have with your beloved Niklaus, because if I don't get to spend the rest of eternity with my Finn, why should you?" She stated, her voice full of malice and a clear threat, and my mouth dropped open in both shock and outrage.

"Excuse me? What gives you the right to threaten me? I don't even know you!?" I retorted, angrily, and mystified that Sage would be that petty.

"Just tell Klaus that, when you next see him." Sage instructed, ignoring what I had just said as she turned on her heel and walked off into the darkness. I was not about to let that slight pass. I immediately slide off Damon's car and shouted back at her.

"Hey! I believe I asked you a question. Look at me when I'm talking to you." I ordered, and Sage turned to look at me. My little shout apparently attracted the attention of both Damon and Rebekah as they stopped talking almost immediately. "It's not my fault that Finn was daggered and left in a coffin for 900-years, you sanctimonious bitch!"

"Grace? What's going on?" I heard Damon shout at me, but I ignored him; still focusing on Sage.

"For fuck's sake. I was dead for the same amount of time and was only reincarnated nearly 22-years ago!" I pointed out, incredulously. "Did it ever occur to you, Sage, that if Finn was so consumed with thoughts about you, that the very second he was released from his coffin he would've gone in search?" I questioned her. "Clearly not. Because he's not here, is he?"

I made a show of gesturing about the place to prove a point.

"Watch yourself, girl. You don't know anything about him." Sage snarled back, looking like she wanted nothing more than to come over and strangle me. I scoffed at her words and found myself staring right into Damon's alarmed ice-blue eyes.

"Enough, Grace. You don't stand a chance against her if you go too far. You'll be as defenseless as a cat toy." Damon warned me. I narrowed my eyes at him, before shoving him aside so I could see Sage.

"That was probably the stupidest thing you could've said to me." I informed the ancient redhead, whose eyes narrowed dangerously. " _I_ know nothing about him? Honey, I _grew up_ with him. Finn was there when his brother, Kol and I were born, so I think I know a fair deal more than you do about my own brother; even if we're not of the same blood." I stated.

Sage slowly walked towards me causing Damon to instinctively step between us. She paid him no mind, instead focusing on my face.

"You're either very brave, or very foolish to call a vampire stupid. Still trying to decide which one." Sage mused, then turned on her heel to walk away. "Be seeing you." She blurred off, and Damon turned to glare at me.

"You really do have a death wish." He stated, frowning with disapproval.

I just looked at him defiantly.

"I hate being called out on something that wasn't my fault in the first place." I defended my actions, earning a snort from Damon.

"And that is worth risking your throat being ripped out, huh?" He placed both his hands on my shoulders to make sure I had his undivided attention. I frowned at this, instinctively getting defensive. "Do me a favour, sweetheart, don't pull an 'Elena'. You are better than that, we don't need a second." Damon advised, and I shoved him away out of annoyance and from being compared to a manipulative, spoilt teenage girl who thinks she's just being selfless in sacrificing herself for her family and friends, when in reality she is being quite selfish.

A perfectly manicured hand descends onto my shoulder, and both Damon and I glanced up at Rebekah's unamused face.

"Could you be any more of a condescending ass?" My sister asked Damon before grabbing my arm and leading me away. He suddenly blurs in front of us before Rebekah could scoop me up and blur us back home.

"Wait! Why don't I give you a lift home?" He suggested.

Rebekah and I sidestepped him.

"No thanks." Rebekah responded, then grabbed him by the throat when he steps into our path again.

"I insist. Seriously." He croaked, grabbing Rebekah's hands to prevent his larynx being crushed underneath her deceptively strong hands.

"Why is that?" I asked him, before remembering that I still had Damon's keys in my pocket. "Oh."

Damon smirked, "Exactly. Besides, we still need to have that conversation." He said this to Rebekah, who grimaced; obviously less than enthused by the idea and released him, allowing Damon to gasp in a lungful of fresh air. I let out a huge yawn, that I struggled to hastily cover up with my hand as I chucked Damon his keys and shuffled my way over to his Camaro, completely exhausted.

"Whatever. I just want to get home and sleep." I mumbled tiredly. I leant against the side of the car and shut my eyes. I must have dozed off for a split second, as I did not sense anybody coming up to me, and the next thing I knew somebody was shaking me awake.

"What are you doing out here, Grace?" I opened my eyes and saw Elijah standing beside me, looking for an explanation about why I was leaning against a car, half asleep on Wickery Bridge with a bonfire still crackling away in the middle of it.

I was about to answer him when Rebekah spoke up before I could.

"Elijah?" She moved away from a visibly frustrated Damon, who looked less than excited to see my older brother here at the bridge and walked over to us. "What are you doing here?" Rebekah asked him, obviously looking for any excuse she could find to avoid talking with and sorting out her feelings for Damon.

"Waiting for an answer from Grace about why the both of you are here." Elijah narrows his eyes at Damon, who trailed behind Rebekah as she approached her brother. "And with Damon Salvatore of all vampires?" Before Damon could say anything derogatory, that could earn him serious maiming; I pushed off from Damon's car and walked over to hug Elijah, partially as a distraction, and because I remembered fondly that both he and Nik made excellent 'living' pillows.

Since Nik was unavailable, I was content cuddling up with my second favorite pillow and Elijah instinctively wrapped an arm around me and held me close to him, as he waited for an explanation.

"I'd be happy to give you one. If you take me home first." I mumbled sleepily and scowled at Rebekah pointedly. "Bekah needs to have a heart to heart conversation first with Damon. Otherwise, we'd be home already." I told him, earning a glower from my sister in return. Elijah frowned at the three of us in bemusement, but eventually (and a little reluctantly, I noticed) he nodded.

"Of course. As long as I do get one, dearest." He told me, sternly. I hummed in agreement and tucked my head into Elijah's neck, after he swept me up into his arms bridal-style and started walking in the direction of town. As we passed by Damon and Rebekah, Elijah paused to leave a parting remark with his sister. "I'll be expecting one from you too, Rebekah. Don't dawdle." He warned her, before locking eyes on Damon who looked back at him, warily. "Have a pleasant night, Mr. Salvatore." Elijah nodded politely at him, before blurring away.

* * *

 **Mikaelson Mansion.  
** **Night.**

The second that Elijah had left Rebekah and Damon on the bridge to take me home, I guess I must have fallen straight to sleep because I don't remember what happened after our departure. Then I jumped in Elijah's arms and frowned when the next thing I heard was an anxious Nik suddenly bellowing at his brother, drawing me out of my dreamless nap.

"What the hell happened?" He demanded, and I instantly felt a very warm hand smoothing back my hair from my face and cupping my cheek as Elijah sighed tiredly. I smiled and leaned into the warmth because of how bloody cold it was outside in the night air.

"Relax. Nothing's wrong, Niklaus. Grace is just sleeping." Elijah reassured him. "Or at least she was, up until you bellowed out just now." He muttered, and I felt my equilibrium shift unexpectedly as my feet touched solid ground, and warm arms wrapped around my body to steady me. "Wake up, little one. You still owe me that explanation." I yawned as I rubbed at my eyes like a young child.

"Thanks, Elijah. There's nothing like a ten second nap." I drawled dryly and opened my eyes, focusing on Nik's amused face and smiling. "Hey Nik. Have a nice day?" I asked him, turning and stumbling a little as I walked towards the living room.

"Not as good as yours was apparently." He guessed, falling into step with me to make sure I didn't fall flat on my face, with Elijah following behind us. I let out a derisive snort.

"Yeah, if you call being threatened by a strange vampire a good day." I responded, and almost immediately Nik and Elijah frowned.

"Another vampire?" Elijah piped up, alert.

"Who threatened you?" Nik demanded, protectively. I went to take a seat on the couch and was redirected to Nik's lap at the last moment. I rolled my eyes but proceeded to answer their questions.

"Apparently an old mentor of Damon's from a hundred-years ago. Rebekah and I met her this morning when we went to the Wickery Bridge." I explained.

"What were you doing there?" Elijah asked, patiently.

"Following a hunch that Rebekah had, involving the reappearance of that White Oak Tree you guys supposedly burnt down a thousand years ago." I said, lying back and making myself comfortable against Nik who wrapped his arms around me.

"The White Oak Tree grew back?" Elijah was immediately alarmed.

"Back and cut down already. It turned out that the Salvatore's owned a milling lodge here in Mystic Falls during the 1860s and cut down an entire forest to help build the town, including the White Oak which was used to build the Bridge." I explained.

"That explains why the three of you had a bonfire burning on the Bridge when I found you." Elijah observed.

"But what does that have to do with the vampire that threatened you?" Nik steered the conversation back on point.

"Nothing. But she was there when Rebekah and I were at the bridge looking for the information." I said. "And it wasn't just me that she threatened, hon, it was you also." I stated, uneasily.

"Me? What for?" Nik was both confused and angry.

"Did she say what her name was?" Elijah pressed.

I shook my head.

"Didn't have to. Both Damon and Rebekah identified her as Sage." I replied and flinched at the ominous growl that uttered from Nik's lips. I let out a nervous laugh; Rebekah had not been lying when she said that she and Nik hated Sage.

"Sage is back in town?" All three of us looked up when Kol sauntered into the room, munching on one of my scones. "Delicious scone, sweetheart." Kol complimented me, as he came over and took a seat on the couch in front of Nik and me.

"Unfortunately." Elijah confirmed.

"Too bad that Finn doesn't know." Kol stated, finishing off the scone.

"Yeah. A real pity." I said, darkly. "She's really got it in for Nik. And she got really pissed when Rebekah and I told her that Finn skipped town with Esther." I reported. "Ow! Nik, not so tight." I complained, and Nik loosened his grip around my waist.

"Well, what were you expecting exactly? The bloody bitch is obsessed with Finn." Kol frowned at me, like it should have been obvious.

"So Rebekah told me, and from what I observed. Didn't stop Sage from cornering me at the bridge and laying down the facts." I retorted.

"Which were?" Nik asked me quietly, obviously trying and failing to hold back his foul temper.

"Sage told me: 'Enjoy what time you have with your beloved Niklaus, because if I don't get to spend the rest of eternity with my Finn, why should you?'" I muttered, trying to get off his lap. Instead, Nik just tightened his arms a fraction.

"She said what?" He sounded a bit disbelieving; pretty much how I felt when Sage had said it to me the first time.

"Sounds to me like Finn's stalker just implied our beloved Grace was just as responsible as we are that our manically-depressed brother was locked away for 900-years." Kol stated, and Nik flashed an annoyed glare at his brother.

"Yeah, I got that the first time. Thank you, Kol." Nik retorted, cuttingly.

"Just trying to help." Kol raised his hands up in the 'I come in peace' gesture.

"Well, don't." Elijah jumped in before Nik could verbally rip Kol another arsehole, before coming over and crouching down in front of me and taking my hand in his. I looked at him with confusion. "We're deeply sorry about what Sage said to you. It was not called for." Elijah said to me, sincerely.

"Why? It's not your fault some bitch with a holier-than-thou attitude decided to take out her frustration on the nearest member of the Mikaelson Family." I responded, dismissively. "It would've made more sense if she threatened Rebekah in a similar fashion. But just my luck, I copped the threat."

"There's no reason for the defeatist attitude." Elijah scolded me, and I immediately leveled a glare on him.

"Defeatist attitude? A few hours ago, a vampire I've never met before or have any desire of seeing again, just verbally handed me my ass for something that I had been dead for the duration of 900-years." I pointed out to him, causing all three Originals to wince at the memory. "I think I'm justified in feeling pissed off, and if I ever see the bitch again; I'll personally give her a fat lip … and pray I can get out again without loss of limb." I added, a little lamely.

"I have never been as proud as I am right now that you are my sister." Kol smirked proudly at me, and I gave him a strange look.

"Thank you, Kol. That's sweet." I responded, awkwardly. Elijah just shook his head at the both of us, while Nik was yet to say anything. However, in the next few minutes, Nik suddenly stands up – me and all – and gently puts me on my feet before storming from the room without another word. "Uh, Nik…?" I went to follow my obviously angry fiancé but was immediately stopped by Kol, who wrapped his hand around my wrist gently.

"Let him go." He warned me. I turned to look at him after Nik slammed the door to his study closed.

"What? Why?" I protested, then flinched when the sound of broken crockery and other things being thrown around was heard.

"That's why." Kol confirmed. "Don't you remember how he used to get whenever Mikael went at him hammer and tongs?" He asked me, and I cringed at the memories that immediately invaded my head. Kol nods in acknowledgement. "Yep, he's just letting out his frustration. He should calm down after a few hours." He reassures me.

"A few hours? What has he got to be frustrated over. I thought we were figuring out how to locate and deal with Finn and Esther?" I questioned, in confusion.

"Normally that wouldn't faze him, darling. What are threats to us nowadays? We usually get them daily; and the ones who threaten us are dealt with accordingly." Kol replied a bit too flippantly for my tastes. "It's when those whom you love and are innocent that also get the threat, well, that's what crosses the line."

"Which means, Grace, that you can expect to have at least one of us keeping a close eye on you until the current threat with Finn and Mother is over." Elijah told me, and I immediately protested.

"What?" I yelled.

"Normally, I'd side with you on this; but this time, I tend to agree with Elijah and Nik. We only just got you back, darling. We're not taking any chances." Kol sided with Elijah, surprisingly. I open my mouth to protest some more but then realized that if I did so, I would be acting very much like Elena, and that was the last person that I wanted to be.

"Fine. If that's what you think is best, I'll cooperate." I replied with a smile. I cringed when something else smashed in Nik's study. "I'll see you all later." I promised, heading out the living room door and for the winding staircase, but first made a pit stop at the kitchen to request something to eat, since I had missed out on dinner when Rebekah and I quickly left to deal with the White Oak at the Bridge.

* * *

After eating my fill of a hearty beef stew that Nik's hybrids had been working on this afternoon when I was hard at work creating scones, I then prepared myself a large mug of English Breakfast tea and headed up the service staircase to the second level of the mansion. I padded unhurriedly down the corridor towards Nik's bedroom and darted inside, setting down my tea after a quick sip so I could get changed and ready for bed in some simple cotton pajamas, thick woolen socks and my oversized white chenille jumper.

I immediately headed for the window seat, pulling my long dark brown hair back into a temporary ponytail and sat cross-legged on the cushion seat as I sipped at my drink taking in the night sky that was streaked with clouds passing by fast in the night air. Eventually, I abandoned the window seat, shutting the heavy drapes across and walked over to my side of the bed to immerse myself in some sketching. Which was how Nik found me when he eventually came up to bed about a half an hour later.

"Feel better?" I asked absently as I shaded my drawing with my pencil.

"Define better." Nik asked, after a split-second pause.

"You've released all your aggression and frustration when you trashed your study." I clarified, as Nik walked up to the end of the bed, studying me curiously.

"No." Was Nik's automatic response as he kicked off his boots and stomped his way over to his walk-in-wardrobe, peeling off his Henley in the same moment. I could not help but eye his fit and subtly muscular chest with admiration and smiled, feeling content.

"At least you're honest." I commented, and settled myself back against the headboard, reaching for my mug of tea. "Hope that you didn't break anything valuable." I added, filling in some details.

"Give me a little bit of credit, sweetheart." Nik admonished me, as he immerged from the walk-in dressed in some baggy sleeping boxers and a long-sleeved dark grey T-shirt, before flopping down on his side of the bed, causing me to bounce a little and almost spill my tea. He crossed his feet at the ankles and rested his laced hands together on his chest and I looked down at him with concern, as he still looked a tad bit stressed and no less angry than before. "Did she hurt you?" Nik randomly asked, out of the blue.

I blinked at him, "No. Mostly she made me feel uncomfortable." I replied, honestly. There was silence for a few moments, broken only by the sounds of my pencil scratching away at the paper and then me sipping at my tea.

"I'm so sorry you were dragged into this." Nik mumbled sleepily, and I paused and turned to look at him, surprised by the vulnerability I heard in his voice. "This whole thing is my fault, not yours."

I frowned. "How is it completely _your_ fault, Nik?"

"I was the one who daggered him in the first place."

"Because Finn was trying to off himself." I pointed out, setting aside my mug, sketchbook and pencil on my bedside table, and turning to face him, still cross-legged on the bed. "Besides, from what I heard the decision to dagger Finn was unanimous, and it was to preserve his existence."

"So why is Sage targeting us, specifically?" Nik argued and I sighed and lay down beside him, tucking myself into his side while Nik pulled me close.

"Who knows? More importantly, who cares what's going through Sage's warped little brain." I replied, and Nik frowned at the answer I gave. "However, if I had to give a straight answer, my best guess would be that she's jealous." I said.

"Jealous? Of what?" Nik looked skeptical.

"Our relationship." I replied, simply. "I only had a short amount of time in Sage's presence, and straightaway I could tell that she _is_ most definitely obsessed with Finn." I theorize.

"How could you tell?"

"When she refused to see reason when I explained the situation to her, and because I'd seen it before with my roommate back when I first started College." I explained, yawning a little.

"That's unfortunate." Nik observed, rubbing my arm with his hand.

"Completely. It unnerved me the first time; hadn't expected it to happen again this time round." I groused.

"What happened?" He asked, sitting up and supporting his head on his arm as he looked down at me curiously. I bit my bottom lip, hesitating a little before responding.

"My roommate and I went out to a Frat Party, just to see what it was like, and she got very drunk and hooked up with one of the Frat boys." I explained and smirked at the appalled expression on Nik's face. "What?" I grinned.

"You actually went to one of those parties?" He sounded disgusted.

"I think the question should be, how do you know those parties?" I returned the question at him, and Nik looked a bit put out.

"I was following a tip off from an anonymous source of a possible sighting of a Petrova doppelgänger." He looked embarrassed. "Obviously, this wasn't the case. But at the time I was famished and in search of a meal and stumbled upon a Frat Party full of drunken College students. I didn't want to spend too much time there, so I compelled a meal then left."

"But you were obviously there long enough to be turned off what you did see." I smirked at the deadpan expression on Nik's face. "Not that I blame you, actually. That frat party was the first and last one I ever attended if I'm being totally honest." I said, wrinkling my nose at the memory.

"Good. What happened next?" Nik asked, looking a bit impatient.

"My roommate had a two-month relationship with the Frat boy. Two, long nauseating months of watching or listening to these two idiots making complete fools of themselves." Nik smirked, unsympathetically. "But eventually, I could tell that he was more into the relationship than she was, and I became a bit concerned." I said, uneasy.

"Who ended the relationship?" Nik asked, getting a bit concerned. He must have seen a change in my mood.

"She did. After telling the guy to bugger off a few hundred times. He didn't take it very well, and eventually started stalking her to the point that both transferred to separate Colleges." I revealed. "Basically, I think Sage was probably more invested in the relationship than Finn was. Finn most likely saw her as a warm body for cuddling up to during the long winter nights. Which would explain why he didn't immediately run off to find her when he was undaggered."

Nik shrugged, "Makes sense. It also sounds to me that Sage is sired to Finn."

"Sired? You mean like your hybrids are sired to you?" I asked, surprised.

"It's exactly that. Except in Sage's case, she and Finn fell for each other and when she transitioned her feelings just escalated. My hybrids are sired to me because they feel grateful that I saved them from being forced to shift into wolves every full moon." I nodded, before yawning and rolling onto my back so I was facing the ceiling.

"So now that we've figured out why Sage is out for our blood, what are we going to do now?" I mumbled, sleepily.

"Well for starters, you're not going anywhere without at least one of us with you. We can't run the risk that Sage could do something sneaky behind our backs." Nik told me, and I grinned.

"I knew you were going to say that." I told him, and Nik raised an eyebrow.

"You did?"

"Yeah. It seems that Elijah and Kol know you better than you think." I said, and Nik grimaced.

"What a horrifying thought."

"Be fair. They don't want to lose me either." I scolded him, after smacking his arm so that it leveled out and Nik rolled towards me and suspended himself above my body, using his arms to support his weight. He smiled down at me, both in amusement and tenderness.

"Good. The world would suck without you in it." He said, sincerely. I wrapped my legs around his waist and pulled him down on top of me, wrapping my arms around his shoulders and responded to this by kissing him full on the lips.

"Good answer." I whispered and we resumed kissing passionately.

I privately wondered if Rebekah's night was improving too, and that she and Damon had a decent chat with one another. I guess I'll find out in the morning when she gives Elijah her promised explanation.

* * *

 **A/N: Finally finished this bloody chapter. I do apologise for my tardiness. But hopefully this made up for it! :)**

 **Please review and I'll see you next chapter! TTFN xx**


	64. I Spy With My Little Eye

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed the last chapter. Here comes the next one!**

 **This chapter has taken a long time to come to fruition due to some personal medical problems both for me and my mum. So, it took top priority over this story. Apologies for the delay :)**

 **I do not own** _ **The Vampire Diaries.**_ **All characters except for Grace belong to author L.J. Smith. This story belongs to me.**

 **Please review without flaming!**

 **Many thanks!**

* * *

 **I SPY WITH MY LITTLE EYE…**

" _Spying is a little like a game of chess: Sometimes you have to withdraw, somethings you have to sacrifice one of your pieces to win – preferably a knight rather than a king or queen."_ _ **~John Rhys-Davies.**_

* * *

 **Mikaelson Mansion.  
** **Morning.**

They say that if it does not rain, it bloody pours. Well, we were all about to learn that the hard way. It started when there came a loud knocking on Nik's bedroom door. Both Nik and I stirred almost immediately.

"What?!" I yelled, attempting to sit up. That was when I realized that this time, _I_ was the human teddy bear for Nik. We must have passed out like this after our heavy make out session last night. "Nik, let me up." I mumbled, trying to gently shove him off so I could get up. In response, Nik merely wrapped his arms tighter around my waist and started going back to sleep.

"Ignore it, love. It's just one of my rude, inconsiderate siblings trying to ruin our good morning." He tried to persuade me. I scowled at him, trying to think of a way to crawl out from his clutches so I could answer the door. Then the loud knocker started pounding again which made Nik sit up sharply, glaring at the bedroom door. "Whoever it is, you've got ten seconds to leave before I come out there and start maiming!" Nik yelled at the unfortunate visitor.

"I'd be interested to see you try, brother." Henrik responded, having suddenly used his ghost abilities to appear beside the bed.

"Holy shit!" I hollered, as Nik swore colorfully and both of us nearly fell out of the bed, completely caught off guard. When we recovered, we noticed that Henrik was curling in on himself and laughing so hard that he could have busted a rib had he been alive. "That's not funny, Henrik!" I growled, as Nik immediately sprang out of the bed to tackle his baby brother.

"C'mere!" He snarled, but Henrik easily side-stepped him and darted to the other side of the room, out of reach. "I hated when you did that back then, Henrik, and I still do now!" Nik recalled sourly as he picked himself up off the ground and perched on the side of the bed.

"I'm really sorry about that." Henrik giggled.

"You don't look very sorry." I threw back at him, and Henrik smirked.

"Nah, I'm not." He agreed cheerfully, dodging a pillow that I instantly chucked at him, and he looked at me with a dubious expression. "Seriously? You didn't learn from the first time you did that?" He indicated towards the pillow that fazed right through him.

"Yeah, well. You cheated." I pouted, indicating to his ability to become corporeal or non-corporeal at will.

"What the hell did you want?" Nik interrupted our banter; yawning, and obviously desiring a few extra hours of sleep. Henrik's smirk was immediately wiped from his face as he appeared to suddenly remember why he woke Nik and I up.

"Uh, Jeremy needs to talk to you, both." Henrik explained, earning a crabby look from his brother in the process.

"And this couldn't wait until a more appropriate hour?" Nik bitched, and Henrik glanced at the time on the alarm clock on Nik's side of the bed with a raised eyebrow.

"It's nearly 10:00 in the morning." Henrik pointed out, flatly. "And apparently Elena attempted to call him earlier." He added.

"Did she really? How nice." Nik replied, dismissively.

"Jeremy looked a bit nervous when he saw her name on his phone." Henrik explained, insistently. "I think he needs help."

"Tell him we'll be down in a few minutes." I instructed Henrik, who nodded and immediately darted from the room. Nik spun on the spot and looked at me with annoyance.

"What?" He yawned, frowning at me as I slid from the bed and headed for the walk-in wardrobe to pick something to wear for the day.

"The least we can do is try and help him, Nik. After all, we gave him sanctuary when Elena practically forced him to move to Denver against his wishes." I reminded him, as I picked out a pair of navy-blue skinny jeans with a brown plaited belt, a white button-down tunic top with rolled up sleeves and dark brown knee-high boots.

"We did, didn't we?" Nik frowned at the memory, before rolling his eyes and grabbing his clothes too. "Let's get this over with." He muttered, and I smiled and went over to plant a small kiss on his cheek.

"Lighten up, Nik. It's not going to be a hardship." I attempted to reassure him and earned a tiny smile back from him for my efforts.

* * *

A few minutes later, a thoroughly disgruntled Nik with slightly damp hair from a quick shower, came stomping down the staircase; dressed in his usual casual-style: a black T-shirt, dark denim jeans, a charcoal grey jumper and his usual black boots. I followed close behind him, and once we reached the landing we turned and nearly bumped into a sheepish Jeremy, who was holding two steaming mugs in his hands. Henrik stood not too far away, observing us curiously.

I grinned at Jeremy, warmly. "Hey Jeremy!" I took the mug that he offered me eagerly and took a sip. "Thanks, just what I was craving." I said, winking as Nik looked at Jeremy with a dumbfounded expression; apparently surprised at the thoughtful gesture and obvious olive branch that the nervous teen was offering him.

"Sorry for waking you, Klaus. I'd really appreciate your help, and Grace's too." Jeremy greeted Nik who eyed the black coffee the teen was offering him. He then slowly reached out for the mug and nodded to him in greeting.

"Thank you. How can I help you, mate?" Nik asked, surprisingly polite, as he took a generous sip of the coffee and walked in the direction of the dining room. Jeremy fell into step with him, obviously relieved that he had not been blown out of the water by Nik for waking him prematurely.

"I just need some advice about how to deal with Elena." Jeremy said, as we stepped into the dining room, which was already occupied by Elijah who was sipping at his own coffee and reading from the newspaper, and Kol who was tucking into a plate of bacon, eggs and sausage and drinking some blood.

Both Jeremy and I immediately grimaced seeing this, but thankfully we both recovered quickly, since we were used to seeing this nearly every morning when Rebekah was having her breakfast. Said Original was noticeably absent from the table, and I prayed it was because she and Damon had a positive conversation together and she had spent the night with him.

Nik sauntered over to the chair at the head of the table and took a seat, looking at Jeremy quizzically.

"Well, what do you usually say to her?" He asked him, setting aside his coffee and reaching for some toast. Jeremy hesitated as he sank down into a chair beside mine and began mulling over his answer.

"Elena's never sent me away before. I dunno what to say without making her suspicious or giving it away that I'm still in Mystic Falls." Jeremy confessed.

"What's going on?" Kol piped up, frowning a little at Jeremy with concern. I smiled; since Kol had been undaggered and he had gotten to know Jeremy, both boys had developed a rather unique friendship between them. Since then, Jeremy could be found hanging around with the younger Mikaelson brothers and allowing himself the chance to be a typical teenage boy with knowledge about the supernatural world.

"We're trying to help Jeremy come up with a way to fool Elena into thinking he's still in Denver, instead of hiding away here underneath her nose." I explained, and a mischievous grin spread across Kol's face, that made Nik, Elijah and me nervous.

"That sounds like fun. Count me in." Kol chirped enthusiastically.

"Kol…" Elijah spoke up, eyeing him sternly, and Kol immediately attempted to look innocent.

"What? You are seriously going to deprive me the opportunity to help out a friend in his time of need?" He protested, and both Nik and Elijah rolled their eyes.

"The last time you attempted to help out a 'friend', Kol, we ended up running away from an angry mob." Nik pointed out, looking annoyed.

"A simple misunderstanding." Kol insisted defensively, and Nik snorted not believing him.

"Sure, it was." He muttered dryly, reaching for his coffee and taking a sip from it.

Both Jeremy and I exchanged amused glances with each other, eager to learn what it was that had them running for their lives instead of relying on their instincts, which usually involved a bloodbath; if I remembered their history of how they dealt with people who betrayed or threatened them. However, before we could ask what happened, Elijah chimed in.

"Okay, enough." He said, firmly. "Why don't you call back Elena and just act like it's a normal conversation." Elijah suggested to an unsure Jeremy. "If we believe you are going off track or about to reveal something detrimental, we'll step in."

"Okay then." Jeremy reluctantly agreed, pulling his phone from his pocket and accessing his missed calls.

"Put it on loudspeaker when she answers, just so we can listen in on your conversation." I added, and Jeremy nodded as he searched for Elena's name, which I noted, had called in about 9:00 this morning. However, before he could, his phone immediately started ringing.

Elena's name flashed across the tiny screen.

"Speak of the devil." Kol quipped, as Jeremy hit answer and then loudspeaker.

"Hello?" He answered, trying to be as casual as possible.

" _Hey, Stranger. Why didn't you pick up before?"_ Elena's raspy voice suddenly came over the line, and Jeremy hesitated for a split second before responding.

"Oh, I was taking a shower. Didn't hear my phone." He improvised. Thankfully, Elena seemed to buy it. It also sounded like she was a bit upset. "So, what's up? Are you checkin' in on me?" Jeremy asked her.

" _Do you need checking up on?"_ Elena asked, curiously, causing Jeremy to panic.

"Well, I'm not flunking any of my classes. Yet." He improvised, and a tiny smirk spread across his face when he briefly eyed Nik, who looked at him warily. "And I got a dog."

I face palmed at the same moment that Nik scowled at him, unamused, while Kol had to stuff his napkin in his mouth to avoid laughing out loud at his brother's expense. While Elijah rolled his eyes at Jeremy's immaturity.

" _That's great!"_ Elena responded, apparently finding nothing suspicious about her brother being the proud owner of a new and totally fake dog, that he probably would not have been allowed to keep if he had been 'summoned' back to Mystic Falls. _"Hey, have you talked to Alaric lately?"_ Elena suddenly, and expectedly asked Jeremy. We all knew that that was bound to come up in conversation sooner rather than later.

"No, why?" Jeremy answered, truthfully. "Is everything okay?" He asked, getting a bit concerned. I must admit, I was interested to know if Alaric was okay too. Damon seemed to avoid the topic when it was brought up. I glanced over at Nik, Elijah and Kol and was pleased to see concerned looks on their faces too.

" _Yeah, everything's fine—"_ Elena lied, her voice cracking a little. _"—um, I just wanted to hear your voice."_ She confessed.

Jeremy swallowed hard, "Okay." He glanced helplessly at the rest of us, and I gave him the signal to wrap things up, sensing he was becoming uncomfortable with their conversation. He nodded, obviously eager to hang up. "Hey, can I call back later? I'm actually on my way out with some friends." Jeremy lied.

We heard Elena sniff a little on the other end of the conversation.

" _Yeah – um – of course, Jer. Go out, go have fun, and um – I – I just miss you."_ Elena said.

Jeremy winced, and my heart went out to him. Despite how betrayed he had originally looked when he asked us if he could stay here at the mansion, it was obvious that Jeremy did sincerely love his sister.

"Yeah." Jeremy attempted to be more upbeat to avoid raising suspicion in Elena. "Yeah, I miss you too." He said, sincerely. "Talk soon." He hangs up, and lets out a deep breath, looking extremely uncomfortable and very worried. "Shit. Alaric must be bad if Elena is acting this way." Jeremy mused. "Have you seen him recently?" He looked at me, questioningly.

"Yeah, yesterday at the bridge when I went with Rebekah to help her with her investigation into the White Oak Tree's reappearance." I confirmed. "He looked really uncomfortable, and a bit paranoid. Which isn't surprising considering what happened to Samantha Gilbert."

Jeremy narrowed his eyes. "Why didn't you mention this to me before?" He asked, a bit accusingly.

I frowned back.

"I was bit preoccupied with an obsessive, stalkerish 900-year old vampire who could snap me like a twig if she wanted to." I retorted. "At that point, Alaric's condition was the furthest thing from my mind, and even if I wanted to know more about my friend, Damon wasn't exactly forthcoming with the information either." I added.

"Figures." Jeremy grumbled, slouching down into his chair.

"On that note, I'm going to take a walk." I announced pushing back on my chair and walking towards the door.

"Um, where do you think you're going?" Nik almost instantly piped up, sounding stern. I froze and turned to look at him, reluctantly. "Are you forgetting something?"

I groaned.

"Seriously, Nik. I'm a big girl, I don't think anything is going to attack me between here and my short walk through the woods." I turned to continue walking and found my exit route blocked by Elijah.

"Not without one of us." Nik insisted, firmly.

I took two steps backwards away from my brother and glared heavenward and then at Nik.

"This is ridiculous." I groused.

"Until the situation with Finn and Mother is resolved, you're not going anywhere without one of us. We discussed this!" Nik growled, getting up from his seat and walking over to me. "Fancy a walk, Kol?" Nik asked him without taking his eyes off me, and Kol immediately stood up from his seat and walked over to us, much to my chagrin.

"Love one." Kol replied.

"Oh, c'mon!" I muttered underneath my breath, which unfortunately Kol and the rest overheard.

"Gee, thanks. I love you too." Kol said, sarcastically. I just looked at him with frustration.

"Wouldn't you rather be doing something else instead of escorting me across town and through the woods?" I asked him. Kol smiled, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and pulling me close enough that I could smell his expensive cologne.

"And miss out on the opportunity to reconnect with my favorite sister? Not a chance." He grinned, and I could not help but mirror it.

"Rebekah would slap you if she heard what you just said." I pointed out, and Kol shrugged.

"She's done worse, and yet I'm still here."

"More's the pity." I heard Nik mutter from across the room back over at the dining table.

I glance over at him, and then at Elijah who was standing not too far away from the table, ensconced in what looked like an urgent tense phone call. I noticed Nik occasionally glancing over at him, as though he were listening in on the conversation while taunting Kol at the same moment.

"Sod off, Nik!" Kol spat back, earning a smirk from Nik, and I giggled at their banter.

"Uh, hey? Can we come too?" Jeremy called out, indicating between himself and Henrik.

"You still got your necklace?" I asked him, and Jeremy nodded pulling free the chain from underneath his shirt.

"Haven't taken it off." He replied, eagerly.

"Why not? The more the merrier apparently." I agreed unenthusiastically, as Nik then instantly gets to his feet.

"Wonderful! Now, run along you four. We've all got things to do." He said, practically shoving us out the door. He glared warningly at Kol. "Take care of her, Kol. I mean it; one hair out of place—"

"I get it, brother. What exactly do you take me for?" Kol retorted back, looking mildly insulted as he pulled his arm away from my shoulders and strides from the room. "Let's go, poppet." He called back to me and I rolled my eyes.

I was immediately stopped, and I glanced back at a sober-faced Nik who had grabbed my wrist.

"Be careful." He urged, and I smiled at him.

"Always." I responded and kissed him. Suddenly my phone unexpectedly started ringing. "What the?" Nik and I stared at my phone as I immediately swiped right to answer it. "Hello?" I answered, a little uncertain.

" _Hey Grace."_

"Damon? What's up?" I asked, turning to leave after waving to Nik.

" _Actually, I want to talk to Klaus. If you wouldn't mind?"_ Damon requested, and I stopped dead in my tracks and turned to look at an equally surprised Nik and Elijah, who had just finished his phone call.

"Why? What's the problem?"

Damon let out an impatient sigh.

" _I've got bad news and even worse news that I think Klaus needs to know. Can you just put him on, please?"_ He requested, a little sharply.

I pulled the phone from my ear and held it out to Nik.

"For you, apparently." I stated, bewildered.

"So I hear. Put it on loudspeaker." Nik requested, and I stabbed at loudspeaker. Elijah came over to stand beside him as Kol came back in, looking annoyed.

"What's the hold up?" He asked, and immediately became alert when he saw the three of us staring down at my phone, looking serious. "What's going on?"

"What can I do for you, mate?" Nik asked Damon, ignoring Kol's question.

" _Stefan and I received a mysterious package last night from an anonymous caller."_ Damon went straight to the point. _"It turned out to be a large chunk of White Oak Wood that had been made into the Wickery Bridge sign."_

"So? Easy solution. Just burn the damn thing." Nik responded like Damon was a complete moron.

" _Easier said than done."_ Damon retorted. _"The hunk of wood came with a typed message explaining what the wood was and its purpose. Stefan and Alaric made stakes out of it early this morning."_ All four of us tensed up the second we heard this.

"And how did you know their intentions?" Elijah piped up, a little suspiciously.

" _Figures you'd have this call on loudspeaker."_ Damon bitched.

"Just answer the question, please." Elijah requested, with thinly disguised patience.

" _I tagged along, underneath the pretense that I was going along with their plans of killing Klaus and getting rid of you all once and for all."_ Damon responded, defensively.

"In other words, you were going to spy on them without being obvious that you were." I summed up.

" _Pretty much. They made a grand total of 12 White Oak Stakes, which they plan on distributing to the other Scoobies later today and learn how to use them."_ Damon confirmed.

"Why the sudden act of loyalty? What's in it for you?" Nik asked, also suspicious.

" _To keep my friendship with Grace in tact."_ Damon explained truthfully, surprising all three Originals and me in the process. _"Killing you and your family would put a serious dampener on it, and I like it the way it is already. I also kinda need to get out of Elena's clutches. She's really starting to piss me off, and there's only so much I can tolerate before I snap."_

"What do you mean?" I asked, imagining one scenario after another in my head, and not liking any one of them.

" _I think Elena has got it in her head that she's falling in love with me. I mean, who wouldn't? Have you seen me?"_ Damon stated, boastfully.

"Damon, quit flexing your ego and get to the point." I said, sternly.

" _The point is, I don't want to be involved in that drama. As far as I'm concerned, Stefan can have her. There's no contest."_ Damon concluded, and Kol let out a low whistle.

"Wow. That is unfortunate. Glad I'm not in your shoes, I'd have killed her already." He told Damon, matter of fact.

"And I would've pulled your spleen out through your throat if you so much as even tried." Nik countered, fiercely. "I still require Elena's blood to help me create more hybrids in the future."

Kol rolled his eyes, looking bored of Nik's not so empty threats. "Yeah, of course you do."

"Seriously! Guys, feel the room; we don't have time for this argument." I cut in, frustrated with their tedious bickering.

"Agreed." Elijah backed me up, looking at his feuding brothers disapprovingly before Damon's voice suddenly pipes up from my phone, and I jumped, having almost forgotten he was still there.

" _So, what happens now?"_ Damon's slightly amused voice drifts up from the phone.

"We need to make it seem like we are ignorant about the existence of those White Oak Stakes." Elijah took over the explanation, while the rest of us listened in earnestly. "Which means, you Damon, have to continue playing spy and go meet up with the others as previously planned."

" _Okay. Why?"_ Damon questioned.

"Yeah, why?" Kol demanded, looking at Elijah in confusion as Nik looked at him like he was mad.

"So, he can fly under the radar and not immediately be accused of being a narc when the rest of us eventually reveal that we knew all along." I chimed in, immediately understanding where Elijah was going with this plan.

"Precisely." Elijah confirmed.

"Better earn that Oscar statue, Damon." I added, playfully.

"You're also going to play spy too, sister. Alongside Kol when you go for your walk through the woods." Elijah pointed out to me, causing both Kol and me to look at him with disbelief.

"Wait, what?" I blurted out.

" _Conveniently where I'm going to be meeting up with Stefan and Alaric when they distribute the stakes, huh?"_ Damon guessed, and I let out a disbelieving scoff.

"You're encouraging me to eavesdrop?" I demanded, slightly miffed.

"What if she gets caught?" Nik demanded, protectively.

"She won't. I'll make sure of it." Kol declared, confidently.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, guys." I drawled, dryly.

"So, it's settled then." Elijah concluded.

" _What happens after that?"_ Damon wanted to know.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." I said to Damon. "See you soon." I abruptly hung up as I started grumbling to myself while stashing away my phone in the back pocket of my jeans.

So much for my plans of having a peaceful walk. I turned and grabbed Kol's wrist and stomped towards the front doors.

"Come on, Kol. Let's get this over with." I grumbled, half-dragging a slightly startled Kol along with me.

"Apparently we're going. Don't wait up!" He shouted back at a slightly amused Nik and Elijah, as he basically tripped and hopped after me trying to stay on his feet. We both met up with a confused pair of teenagers.

"What are you standing around gawking for? Let's go, we're burning daylight." I ordered and practically frog marched them out the door.

"What's eating her?" Jeremy muttered a little nervously at Kol who chuckled a little.

"Don't worry about it. Grace is just sulking because she's not getting her own way." He explained to him.

"I think you're mistaking me for Rebekah, brother dear." I called back, using a fake pleasant voice.

"No, I'm not." Kol replied in the same tone.

I turned my head to glare at him, but Kol simply smirked, winked and childishly stuck out his tongue. I begrudgingly let through a small grin.

"I've missed you, Kol. Don't change." I urged and Kol zipped over to my side to grab me in a bear hug and spontaneously spun me around like a rag doll. Pretty much how he used to do a thousand years before. "No! No, put me down, Kol!" I shrieked, in between joyful laughter.

"I missed you too, Grace. You really scared the hell out of me." He mumbled into my hair, when he placed me back on the ground and held me close to him.

"Uh, guys? I thought that we were going for a walk?" Henrik spoke up, and both Kol and I turned to look at him; almost forgetting in our nostalgic moment that both he and Jeremy were still standing there, looking weirded out.

"We are. We're just deviating a little from the original plan." I explained as Kol casually draped his arm around my shoulders.

"We're going to spy on your sister and her friends." Kol chirped, with a shit-eating grin on his face.

"Why? What did they do?" Jeremy asked, confused.

"Somebody anonymously sent Damon and Stefan a huge hunk of a wood that can permanently kill your hosts." I explained, bluntly.

"And whittled stakes for themselves. Twelve of them to be exact." Kol added, still smiling but his deep brown eyes flashed dangerously.

"How do you know that?" Henrik asked.

"Damon told us. That's why we took so long coming out." I explained.

"He decided to give us a heads up, and that's why we're off to spy on them during their little training session on how to take us down, apparently." Kol stated, looking amused by the very thought.

"Sounds fun." Jeremy replied, dully.

"My sentiments exactly."

Kol then immediately turned us both back on course and started forcibly leading me and the boys down the street towards town.

"No backing down now, Grace. You made a promise, now you gotta fulfill it." Kol reminded me sternly.

"Knock it off will you, you're starting to piss me off." I retorted, feeling crabby. "This family means everything to me, and just because I don't like being babysat doesn't mean I'm gonna shirk my duties. Alright?"

"Just so we're clear." Kol smiled.

* * *

 **The Woods.  
** **Day.**

The four of us made our way through the woods. The sunlight created a dappled pattern, filtering in from the canopies above our heads onto the grey pine needle strewn ground.

I had almost forgotten exactly how pretty these Virginian woodlands truly were. What with all the headaches that we had been experiencing recently, it was a bit difficult to stop and smell the roses. I found myself immediately regretting being such a sourpuss earlier, as I was currently having a ball talking and reconnecting with Kol. I smiled and readjusted my scarf, shoving my hands deep into the pockets of my jacket as a particularly chilly breeze blew by, causing Jeremy and me to recoil and groan in protest, hunching up to stave off the cold.

"God, why?" Jeremy wailed after the wind passed by.

I nodded in agreement, "That was mean."

"See how much fun we are having right now, Grace? I bet you're glad Nik made me come along with you?" Kol was cocky and I nodded as I rolled my eyes, knowing that he was trying to lighten up the mood.

"You're right." I agreed.

"Naturally." Kol responded playfully, and all three boys laughed as he easily dodged when I took a swipe at him for the comment. "What was I right about?" He asked, curiously.

I sighed heavily.

"I was being a bit of a brat before about the extra protection you guys were foisting upon me." I said as Kol took a seat beside me on the log, and both Jeremy and Henrik looked at me curiously.

"Well, why did you react that way?" Jeremy asked.

"I'm used to being independent." I said, feeling sheepish. "Ever since I started learning self-defense when I was twelve, and after my parents died; suddenly it was up to me to make sure that I survived by my own merits. The idea of somebody else stepping up to take up that task for me seemed like a bitter pill to swallow."

Kol nodded, "I agree and brava for admitting that. But remember darling, you're still human." He reminded me.

"What's being human got to do with anything?" Jeremy asked, looking confused.

"Haven't you ever heard of 'fight or flight'?" I added.

"Doesn't matter." Kol reached down to the ground for a random twig and started fiddling with it. "It's like you said earlier, Grace, during breakfast; to a vampire, especially one as old as Sage, you'd be as fragile as this twig." He demonstrated his point by easily breaking it in two with his fingers.

"You make your point very vividly." I winced, feeling even more foolish for my previous outburst as Jeremy eyed the broken halves of the stick uncomfortably.

"Have I? I'm not sure that I have as I'm not sure you've learned from the last time, dear sister." Kol eyed me sternly.

"The last time? What do you mean?" I blinked at him, confused.

Kol let out an exasperated sigh as he got to his feet and started to pace.

"I learned this lesson the hard way when I first transitioned as a vampire. Our emotions become heightened, and it does not take much for us to become angry and lash out. It's even harder to control it when you're young and inexperienced." Kol explained. "For me, becoming a vampire meant that my days as a witch were gone forever, and that was an emotional blow that I have never forgiven my mother for. I loved being a witch: having that connection with the Earth and nature meant everything to me, and when I lost that, I took out my frustrations and despair on many unlucky villagers in a blood-fueled rage."

I paled when I remembered back when Caroline completed her transition and what a scared and hysterical mess she had become as she struggled to come to grips with her new status as a newborn vamp.

"But I wasn't the only one who found the lifestyle of a vampire difficult to control." Kol continued.

"Nik struggled bitterly too." I spoke up.

"Correct. Are you beginning to remember?" Kol questioned and I frowned at him.

"No. Elijah and Rebekah told me. What should I be beginning to remember?" I questioned back.

Kol shook his head.

"It's not something I can tell you. But I can show you." Kol told me, and my eyes widened when I realized that he was hinting towards a Medium premonition.

I nodded reluctantly, as memory recollection was not exactly a smooth trip back and forth, and I offered him my left hand, palm up. Wordlessly, Kol took my hand and it felt like I had the wind knocked right out of me. My eyes snapped shut as I was thrown back into our past. To me it felt like several minutes, but in reality it was only a few seconds, and I blinked to clear away the fuzziness hovering around in my brain. Then shuddered when I started remembering what I had seen.

"Welcome back." Kol grinned.

I glowered at him before I gently grabbed my throat and cleared it, and then started massaging my upper gums; feeling extremely uneasy with what I had just briefly witnessed only seconds before.

"That burning feeling in your throat. Do you get that every time you crave blood?" I questioned my brother. He nodded slowly, and I grimaced sympathetically. "How can you stand it?" I mumbled, swallowing hard.

"It's not without extreme difficulty. But it gets easier over the years." Kol responded, gravely. "Do you remember everything now?" He asked, and I blinked at him in astonishment.

"You mean when Nik verbally attacked me after yet another bloody confrontation from your prick of a father?" I scoffed in disbelief. "No, I don't remember anything of what I just saw. Was it just after everyone was changed into vampires?" I asked Kol who nodded.

"A few months afterwards. I can't guess what Nik's true feelings were that day, except from what you saw, but Father bullying him mixed with our near constant hunger; you shouldn't be completely surprised that he reacted the way he did." Kol stated.

"My best guess is that I was so horrified that Nik had yelled at me that I must've blocked it out completely, unable to visualise the man I agreed to marry acting almost like Mikael, minus the physical violence."

"Weird. But understandable." Kol said. "Nik can be a scary bastard when crossed."

"No kidding." I said, sardonically. "But having said that, this is sort of my fault Nik lashed out at me like he did." I confessed, sheepishly.

Kol frowned, "How is it your fault?"

"Because Elijah warned me on an earlier occasion to just let Nik be. I brought what happened upon myself when I didn't heed his advice." I told him.

"When did our overly-moral brother advise you of that?"

"When I broke the rules and challenged Nik to a duel with swords. Mikael discovered us and gave us and even Elijah a severe tongue-lashing for letting me handle the weapon."

"Wait. You were there when that happened? Nik refused to speak to any of us for the rest of the night after Father humiliated him in front of the villagers." I winced apologetically. "But even so, you still didn't deserve being yelled at, regardless of how angry or embarrassed he had been. I told him so." Kol insisted.

I reached over and wrapped both arms around his shoulders, surprising him as I pulled him into a hug.

"I know. Thank you for being there for me at the time. I really appreciated it." I mumbled into his ear, and Kol returned the hug tightly.

"Never doubt that for a second. I will always be there for you. _We_ will always be there for you, just like we were back then." Kol insisted. "So, can you see why we insist that one of us tag along with you whenever you leave the house?"

I nodded, "So you can stop Sage if she suddenly does what Nik did back then." Kol nodded and I glanced around, frowning when I realised that neither Jeremy nor Henrik were within cooee of us. "Where did Jeremy and Henrik go?" I asked.

"They walked on ahead." Kol explained, then suddenly became alert when both boys suddenly came running into view.

"Guys! Somebody's heading this way." Jeremy reported, a little breathless from the run. Kol got up from his squat in front of me and closed his eyes. "What are you doing?" The teen demanded, then immediately fell silent when Kol sharply held up his hand for quiet.

"Well, well. If it isn't Nik's ripper buddy, and the pathetic band of brainless teenagers." Kol drawled sarcastically.

"And Damon?" I asked, mildly concerned.

"He's there. But we already expected that." Kol confirmed, looking at me with slight annoyance.

"I was just checking, Kol." I scowled at him. He ignored me and scanned the canopies above us, before focusing on the tree we were standing beside.

"Let's go." Kol suddenly said, grabbing Jeremy's arm and tugging him to the base of the tree.

"Where?" Jeremy asked, confused. Without responding, Kol simply wrapped an arm around his waist and blurred up the tree trunk, with Jeremy swearing colorfully the entire time. "A little warning would've been great!?" Jeremy shouted down from where he was perched. Kol jumped back down off the tree and landed gracefully and catlike beside Henrik, who had an amused look on his face while he was observing his friend's expected reaction.

"Relax, mate. You're in one piece, just don't let go of the tree branch." Kol shouted back up at him, before looking at me. "You're next." He stated, and I rolled my eyes and walked over to wrap my arms around his shoulders. In a split second I went from standing on solid ground, to perching a little precariously on a thick but sturdy tree branch beside a panicking Jeremy.

I slowly sat down, straddling the branch as Kol returned with Henrik.

"There they are." Henrik pointed and all of us followed his pointing finger towards Elena and Caroline who suddenly walked into view. Both were in the middle of an intense conversation.

Kol perched gracefully beside me, smirking.

"Wish that we had brought popcorn." He joked, and easily dodged the half-hearted swipe I aimed at him that nearly dislodged me from the tree branch. Luckily, Kol caught me before I could go far. "Easy, poppet. It's a long way down." He admonished, lightly. "Now, shush. We're missing the conversation." I glanced down at the two girls and right away, I could tell Caroline was not loving what Elena had to say.

"Alaric Saltzman killed my father?" She stated, angrily.

Elena and I winced.

"I can't expect you to be okay with this. But at least these herbs that Bonnie's giving him, they're healing him and they're keeping the dark side buried." Elena tried to justify Alaric's actions.

"Yeah, and that's supposed to make everything okay?" Caroline speeds up her pace in her anger, but Elena grabs her arm and turns her friend to face her. Caroline is very obviously crying.

"No, Caroline, it's not okay. It's horrible and I feel horrible about it, but he's a victim of something supernatural, he didn't ask for this, it just happened to him." Caroline just looked at her, not saying a word. I found this interesting, as it appeared that not everything was sunny in Caroline's world when it came to Elena, despite the girl's attempt at being sincere or comforting. "Just like Bonnie's mom, I mean, she didn't ask to become a vampire. And neither did Stefan or Tyler."

"Or me." Caroline did not smile causing Elena to sigh, obviously trying and failing to make her friend feel better.

"None of you asked for this, but who would I be if I just turned my back on any of you?"

"Doing us all a really big favour?" I muttered underneath my breath and heard Kol chuckle. The girls' conversation immediately stopped when Matt appeared, looking confused and frowning at both girls as he held up his phone at them.

"Hey. What's with the cryptic secret meeting text?" The blonde quarterback asked Elena who shrugged, also looking just as lost as he did.

"I don't know. Stefan just said to meet here." She replied, as Matt's eyes locked onto something over her shoulder.

"Why don't we ask him then?" Matt suggested, causing both Caroline and Elena to turn around as both Stefan and Damon walked up them; Stefan looking all business and determined, and Damon a bit distracted.

I pulled out my phone from my pocket and texted him.

' _We're right above you all.' – G._

I hit send and put my phone away. A few seconds later Damon tugs his phone from his jacket pocket and briefly checks it, before looking up at the trees and spotting us. I mock saluted him, Jeremy and Henrik waved and Kol smirked. Damon's eyes widened at little, probably because of Jeremy's presence here. But he gave a subtle nod to acknowledge we were there, before giving his whole attention to his brother, who was looking around.

"Where's Bonnie?" Stefan demanded. "I texted her too."

Caroline and Elena immediately looked sad and guilty, probably because of all the shit that has happened to Bonnie's mum recently, due to Damon's instincts and quick thinking at the time. Damon did confess later (and between us) that he did regret doing what he did, but if he had not, we'd have all been screwed and at Esther's mercy. I may not like Bonnie because of her arrogant attitude, especially towards Nik, Damon and at times Stefan. But nobody deserves to have their lives changed, even if it meant saving a life or multiple lives in the process.

"Um, Bonnie's mom bailed on her. Again." Caroline explained. "So, I think we should leave her out of this one."

"So, what are we doing here?" Matt asked, glancing around at everybody that was assembled there.

"We found some more white oak." Both Kol and I stiffened, despite knowing this already. Everyone looked at the brothers with shock, and Damon immediately shut down and waved a dismissive hand. "Long story, wait for the movie." He said, before anybody could ask questions.

However, Elena just could not help herself.

"Hang on. White oak? You have a weapon that can kill Klaus?" Both Kol and I frowned at the way she sounded just a little too hopeful.

"Nope." Stefan throws down a duffel bag. The white oak stakes we already knew were inside, clunked together ominously. "We all have a weapon."

"Shit…" Jeremy muttered what we were all thinking.

"Where did you find white oak? I thought it was all burnt when Rebekah set fire to the bridge." Elena asked, looking suspicious.

I glanced down at Damon in surprise; why did he omit my involvement with _that_ adventure last night? I glanced over at Kol, who also looked a bit taken aback as well. Stefan squats down beside the duffel and unzips it, pulling out very sharp stakes and distributing them.

"Who knows? It was sent to us anonymously." Damon responded and looked really tense, as Stefan immediately went right to business.

"Klaus has always been one step ahead of us, but now we have the advantage. We're all armed, and they are all linked, meaning we only need to kill one of them." Stefan lectured them. "We need to seize the best opportunity, which means we need to prepare for every opportunity." He glanced over at Damon, who immediately took over.

"Scenario number one." Damon grabbed Elena's arm and moved her to one side. "You get to play Klaus." He tells her. Elena raises an eyebrow, but nods.

"Okay."

"Rebekah is our target." Stefan tells them, causing Damon and I to widen our eyes in alarm while Kol growled menacingly. "So, we distract her and catch her off guard." Stefan seemed too focused on their plans to eliminate Nik and the rest of our family, to really notice Damon was extremely uncomfortable and looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here.

But Caroline noticed, if the slightly concerned frown on her face spoke any volumes. She returned to her attention back on Stefan, who apparently wasn't finished with his drill sergeant manner of talking.

"To do that, we need to keep Klaus separate and occupied."

"How are we gonna do that exactly?" Matt raised his hand to grab Stefan's attention. All eyes swiveled towards Caroline, who immediately looked like a cornered puppy.

"Caroline." Stefan replied. The blonde looked appalled by the implication.

"Me?" Stefan nodded. She immediately frowned, chucked her stake back to the duffel and started backing off. "Forget it." She scoffed. Everyone except for Damon looked at her in shock. "I'm not playing the distraction for Klaus." Caroline insisted, firmly.

"Why not?" Elena demanded, frowning at Caroline disapprovingly.

"Two reasons: 1) Klaus isn't as bad as you're all making him out to be." She said, angrily. "He and I actually sat down and discussed my feelings about my dad's death, and helped me cope. You don't do that if you're a heartless monster with no morals."

"What's the other reason?" Matt asked, curiously.

"I don't want to lose my friendship with Grace either. She helped me out with all my issues since becoming a vampire, while you all were too focused on trying to find ways of getting rid of Klaus and his family." Caroline declared.

I was speechless; we were all witnessing an obvious rift being wedged in the Elena/Caroline friendship, right before our very eyes. I had initially believed that Caroline had taken what was said in our heart-to-heart conversation during the ball with a grain of salt. Color me stunned that I obviously had an impact on her.

"How could she do that? She's not even a vampire." Elena pointed out, looking irritated.

"Not all of my problems are vampire related, Elena. While you were trying to dodge Damon and Stefan to go talk to Klaus's mom, Grace noticed that I was upset and came over to talk with me." Caroline explained. Elena looked a little guilty, which caused Caroline's already stony face to become even angrier. "We ended up chatting for a while and she even told me about her past, including her past with Klaus and his siblings."

"Really? All it took for you to betray us all and go on Klaus's side was that?" Elena said, sounding snide. "Why didn't you come to me if you were so upset?" She asked, looking hurt when Caroline didn't correct her about defecting to Nik's side.

"I shouldn't have to, Elena. If you really were my friend, you would've noticed earlier." Caroline retorted. "Besides, it's not like you really care. You've been too wrapped up in getting back Stefan and figuring out how to kill Klaus." Caroline made another attempt to leave. "You'd rather spend time with Bonnie than hang out with me and discuss my issues."

"That's not true!" Elena protested.

"Don't kid yourself. You've been avoiding me ever since I became a vampire. Count me out." Caroline stormed off.

Damon looked at her with sympathy, before turning to his brother and the others.

"Hey, Caroline! Wait up!" Damon suddenly called out, much to everybody's shock.

"Where the hell are you going?" Stefan demanded.

"Who me? I defected ages ago, long before it became fashionable. Caroline and I know a good thing when we see it. Toodles." Damon turned on his heel and walked towards a surprised Caroline and breezed past her without a glance. Matt, Caroline and Stefan watched him go with mixed reactions. But Elena immediately jogged after him looking betrayed, hurt and confused.

"Quick! Let's go after them before they go out of hearing range." I muttered urgently at Kol, who wordlessly blurred all three of us down the tree to solid ground. I sprinted after Elena and Damon before Kol could stop me and noticed that Elena had somehow managed to catch up with Damon before he could speed away. I stopped behind a nearby tree and cautiously peered around the trunk; praying that I couldn't be seen.

"Why?" Elena questioned him, grabbing Damon's arm to stop him. Almost immediately Damon jerked his arm out of her grip.

"What's it to you?" Damon raised an eyebrow at her.

"Why would you side with Klaus over us? He killed me, Damon. Doesn't that mean anything to you?" Elena insisted, and I heard Kol snort as he eventually caught up.

"Where are Jeremy and Henrik?" I whispered, not looking at him.

"They decided to hang back and keep watch on Stefan and that blonde kid." Kol replied carelessly. We watched as Damon shrugged before replying to Elena's accusation.

"I didn't give it much thought." Damon admitted. "Besides, I wasn't aware that I required your permission to change sides." Damon retorted, snidely.

Elena reacted like he had just slapped her.

"But what about me?" She whispered, brokenly.

"What about you?" Damon snapped. "When are you going to get it through your thick head, Elena, that I don't like you?" He told her harshly and Elena's face flamed red out of embarrassment and anger. "Besides, even if I was interested; I still wouldn't for three very good reasons: I'm already seeing someone, you look too much like Katherine, and I'd have to put a paper bag over your head to stop myself from killing you every time I look at your face." I noticed Elena's hand clenching into a white-knuckled fist; something that Damon apparently noticed, as a cruel smirk spread across his face. He moved in for the kill. "And also, why would I go after Stefan's sloppy seconds?" Damon declared.

I audibly gasped and clapped a hand over my mouth when Elena hauled off and gave Damon one hell of a slap across his face.

"I believe she just took a direct hit." Kol joked, and I had to stifle a giggle at the sarcastic quip as Damon easily recovered and looked at Elena with a 'are you kidding?' expression on his face.

"Feel better?" Damon chirped, massaging his slowly reddening cheek, as Elena attempted to roast him alive with her glare.

"You're a pig, Damon." Elena growled, tears in her eyes.

"Sticks and stones." Damon smiled, unfazed. Elena brought all of this upon herself, and it was nobody's fault but her own that she could not handle the truth when it was pointed out to her. "Now, if you'll excuse me. I've got places to go, people to see and a best friend to visit." He wiggled his fingers in the air in mock farewell, then turned and walked away leaving a seething Elena glaring holes into the back of his head.

"Well, that went well." I said, letting out a chuckle and turned towards Kol to prepare to head home to the mansion to report in. However, he gently grabbed my arms to stop me.

"Wait a minute, darling. It's not over yet." Kol stated and indicated with his head at something over my shoulder. I turned and spotted a shocked Caroline standing not too far away from where Elena was. The girl in question slowly turned to make her way back to where she had left Stefan and Matt with the duffel bag of white oak stakes but stopped when she saw Caroline.

"Caroline?" Elena looked at the blonde with hope in her eyes and voice, but Caroline merely looked at her with indifference before walking on. "Wait, Care! What about Tyler? He's still got his sire bond with Klaus; don't you still want to find a way to get rid of it?" Elena attempted to appeal to her friend's goal of saving her boyfriend from his hybrid sire bond.

Caroline stopped and looked over her shoulder.

"Yeah. But using one of my mom's weird sayings: 'you catch more flies with honey, than with vinegar.' I figured asking him nicely might get me what I want." Caroline retorted, then continued walking as she added: "You might want to give it a try some time."

* * *

"Now we can go." Kol declared, as we watched Caroline blur away and Elena slump dejectedly, stomping her way back towards Stefan and Matt. When the coast was clear – or as clear as Kol could make out – we stepped out from behind the tree, glancing in the direction Elena had just taken minutes earlier.

"I'll see if I can help Caroline with getting Tyler released from Nik's sire bond. It's the least we can do." I decided, earning a thoughtful look from Kol.

"You might have a few problems with that, love. Nik can be very stubborn when people are trying to change his mind." He cautioned me.

I shrugged, "Nothing ventured, nothing gained."

I pulled out my phone and texted Jeremy.

 _'We're heading back. When Elena returns, walk in the direction she came from. You should find Kol and me.' – G._

I sent the message and slipped my phone back into my pocket as I leaned against the tree trunk, soaking up the afternoon sunshine warming the skin on my face.

"I wonder what Nik and Elijah were up to while we were spying on this pathetic bunch?" Kol mused out of interest just as Jeremy and Henrik came jogging into view, both looking a bit worried.

"I guess we'll find out when we get back." I responded, looking at both boys with concern. "What's wrong?" I asked as Kol studied them curiously.

"We continued observing Stefan and Matt like you said." Jeremy revealed.

"And?" Kol prompted, frowning a little at the chagrined face Jeremy and his baby brother were making. Whatever it was that they observed clearly was not good.

"And it looks like you're gonna have to watch your backs from now on." Henrik reluctantly revealed. "At least, until a plan is made to get rid of the stakes." He added.

"What made you come to that conclusion?" I asked, glancing back up at where Stefan and Matt had been having their little tête-à-tête in Elena's absence.

"Stefan made Matt and Elena promise to keep the stakes hidden, safe and secret, and to look for the perfect opportunity to strike." Jeremy filled in the blanks.

Kol instantly smirked at the challenge.

"Is that all?" He scoffed, unimpressed. "I say bring it. They've got twelve stakes to work with, which means twelve chances to eliminate us."

I scowled at him disapprovingly, "Must you be so cavalier and jocular about all this? This is your _existence_ that you are gambling with here, Kol. Not to mention your brothers and Rebekah's." I scolded. "You can't afford to be cocky."

"Must you spoil all my fun, dearest? It's been a long time since I've had any worthy sport." Kol complained. I exchanged a worried glance with Henrik before sighing. I personally wondered if this reckless attitude Kol had right now, was one of the reasons why Nik daggered him for as long as he did.

"Whatever, Kol. Do what you want." I muttered, walking off in the direction both Damon and Caroline had taken.

* * *

 **Mikaelson Mansion.  
** **Day.**

I walked with a purpose up the street towards the Mansion, lost in thought, while Kol, Jeremy and Henrik followed in the rear.

"Where's the fire?" Kol asked me when I eventually stopped in front of the pedestrian gate and started letting myself in. When I didn't respond straight away, Kol rolled his eyes. "You're still upset with me, aren't you?" He questioned me.

"Gee, what gave it away?" Jeremy dryly asked before I had the chance to open my mouth to answer. I threw Jeremy an annoyed look before sighing and pushing open the gate, stepping aside to let everybody else through too.

"I'm not upset. Disappointed with what little regard you apparently have for yourself, but not upset." I said as I shut the gate and started walking towards the double front doors. "And I'm trying to figure out the best way to tell Nik, Elijah and Rebekah that they have to have eyes in the back of their heads until further notice." I added, shoving my front door key in the lock.

"I always found the blunt approach the most effective method of communication." Kol shrugged, draping his arm over my shoulder.

"Of course." I replied, rolling my eyes as I shrugged it off, and got the door open. Stepping inside, Jeremy and Henrik started towards the staircase while Kol and I made a beeline for the living room; where Kol headed straight for the wet bar and fixed himself a double scotch, and I sat down heavily on the couch staring into space.

"We'll be in Jeremy's room." Henrik announced as both boys took their bid for freedom before either of us could acknowledge them.

"Care for a drink, darling?" Kol indicated towards the selection of liquor and I eyed off the half-full _Maker's Mark_ bottle with interest.

"Bourbon, neat." I asked and took a generous sip when the glass was pressed into my outstretched hand. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Kol acknowledged, taking a sip from his own drink. He didn't speak for several minutes, before he eventually took a seat on the coffee table in front of me. "I shouldn't worry, Grace." He spoke up, drawing me from my thoughts again as I looked at him doubtfully. "This isn't the first time this family has been threatened, and I dare say it won't be the last either."

"How comforting?" I replied. "What about the situation with Finn and Esther?"

Suddenly, the front doors were flung wide open without warning, and I watched completely dumbfounded as in stepped Nik dragging in Finn, whom he immediately throws into the foyer. Rebekah saunters in behind Nik, shutting the doors behind her.

"I daresay we're about to find out." Kol said, knocking back his drink and striding towards the entrance to watch the commotion; looking to all intents and purposes completely unfazed that Nik was manhandling their eldest brother.

I cautiously followed, wondering what the hell was going on.

"Gather your witch. Let's get his blood and get on with it." Rebekah suggested, causing Finn to glare up at them.

"You can't force me to help you." He insisted. Nik squats in front of Finn and smiles nastily at him.

"Oh, I most likely could, but why force when I can persuade?" Nik questioned him before pointing towards the staircase. We all glanced up at the person walking down it, and my mouth fell open in disbelief.

"Sage?" Finn gasped. She beams at him with happiness shining in her green eyes as Finn slowly gets to his feet but does not walk towards her.

"Hello, Finn." Sage greets him and closes the distance between them, embracing him. As expected, I saw Finn stiffen. He was obviously less than happy to see her, which confirmed my theory that Sage was sired to Finn, and he only saw her as something to cuddle up to during those long winter nights.

"What the fuck is this?" I demanded, grabbing everyone's attention as I immediately stepped out from the living room, feeling confused.

"Grace?" Nik looked at me with surprise, probably because of my outburst.

"What is she doing here?" I asked both Nik and Rebekah.

"It's all part of the plan to stop Mother's plans, love." Nik insisted, and I looked at him in bewilderment.

"You do remember me telling you that she threatened both of us, right?" I questioned him, and Nik nodded.

"Yes, I do." He responded.

"But that was only if I wasn't reunited with Finn so we can have the chance to be happy." Sage piped from where she was clinging to a miserable looking Finn. I glowered at her over Nik's shoulder.

"Right. And that's what, supposed to make it all okay now? You threaten us with our lives if you don't get what you want, but the second you get your beloved Finn back everything's peachy?" I spat, scornfully. "That's big of you."

"You still can't force me to help you." Finn insisted, and Nik was about to angrily launch himself at his brother when I stepped in, wanting to avoid a family brawl. Sage immediately hissed at me, but I just looked at her flatly.

"Oh, you can shut up." I barked at her before getting Finn's attention. "May I have a private word with you, please?" I asked him. Finn nodded, looking guarded, and disengaged himself from Sage.

"Back in a moment." He politely promised her. I pulled Finn further up the staircase, ignoring the curious and slightly suspicious looks from everyone else and started talking to Finn in a low voice so that only he could hear me.

"Finn, the sooner you cooperate with Nik, the faster you can get away from _her._ " I pointed out, indicating towards Sage. "Just give us some of your blood, pretend to be lovey-dovey with Sage and then take the next opportunity to ditch her. Deal?"

"Lovey-dovey?" Finn looked at me with a perplexed expression. I rolled my eyes, mentally kicking myself for using 21st century slang when Finn wasn't used to it just yet.

"Pretend that you're still into her." I translated.

Finn frowned, "What makes you think that I still don't have feelings for Sage?"

"By the mere fact that you openly flinched when she hugged you." I pointed out. Finn looked sheepish. "Now, do we have an accord?" I held out my hand for him to shake. Finn looked at it, then at Sage, then at a frowning Nik and curious Rebekah and Kol, and back at my face.

He sighed heavily.

"You got a deal." He agreed, taking my hand and making a 'gentlemen's agreement' with me. I smiled and knocked back the remainder of my bourbon and handed the glass to Finn.

"Fill it up." I requested, as Finn reluctantly took the glass from me.

"How much?" He asked, tiredly.

"Just a mouthful." I instructed. Finn nodded and bit into his wrist with the familiar crispy apple crunch noise and let his blood ooze into the glass. He handed it back to me and I smiled gratefully. "Thank you."

"Of course." Finn responded, smiling a little when I pecked him on the cheek; and scowled at Sage when she growled at me for doing so. I made my way back downstairs to hand a surprised Nik the blood-filled glass.

"Thank you, sweetheart." Nik said, taking the glass from me and looking at Finn dubiously. I pecked him on the cheek and headed in the direction of the kitchen.

* * *

 **A/N: Finished finally! Thanks for your patience. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I** **apologize** **if it's not as great as the other chapters have been.**

 **Please review with kindness.**

 **TTFN xx**


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